Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!tektronix!uunet!kitrain!amgraf!huver From: huver@amgraf.UUCP (Huver) Newsgroups: news.admin Subject: Let's think about moderation, news admins. Keywords: better control on using news Message-ID: <194@amgraf.UUCP> Date: 24 Sep 88 07:44:04 GMT Distribution: na Organization: Amgraf Inc., Kansas City Lines: 41 Most "problem" articles result from inadequate understanding on what the newsgroups are about. To remove this type of articles via moderation would require lots of time, time that no one really has. Aside from having all news administrators perform "good" work educating their local users, the one thing we really need is: A better local newsgroup access control method. Suppose we add to the article posting programs one more restriction of who can post to what groups? A file that lists top newsgroups followed by user logins, for example: news usenet, newsadmin, root comp newsadmin ellen, tomk, ... \ (and more) gnu ... can be set up easily. This way, local filtering can be done with little pain, and it is more effective than centralized moderation. Optionally, this may be extended to apply to reading newsgroups as well (see below). And to William B. Thacker's posting on USENET "pandering obscenity or contributing to the delinquency of minors" (by letting 12 year-olds read alt.sex): This is a responsibility of the local news administrator. Currently, one can set up the system NOT to accept certain groups; or write up a shell script to remove articles from unwanted groups. Either way, these groups will be "empty" to all local users, 12 or 21 year-olds alike. But if the above proposal gets implemented on reading newsgroups, then a news admin can grant access to selected users. If a news admin then lets a 12 year-old read alt.sex, that news admin is liable, not USENET itself (who really is just an entity like any public media; and in my opinion, the best one). -- "You laugh at FSF? Just think: the Japanese give money, equipment, and loan personnel to FSF!" -huver {uunet!kitrain, plus5}!amgraf!huver