*Newsgroup messages are now being filtered through the mailing list*

[Chris Ilias]

Hey folks,
This is an announcement about the way this forum is configured.

This forum is an amalgamation of a mailing list, newsgroup, and google
group. Every message sent to the mailing list (hosted by Mozilla) is fed
to the newsgroup (hosted by Giganews). Every message posted to the
newsgroup is sent to the mailing list, and fed (along with messages from
the mailing list) to the Google Group (hosted by Google). Every message
posted to the Google Group is fed to the newsgroup, which then sends it
to the mailing list. Using this method, people can subscribe and post
messages via whichever of the three access-points they prefer, and still
get the benefit of community members from other access points.
Basically, instead of being three separate forums, it appears as one.


_The problem_
In recent years, the fact that Mozilla does not host two of those access
points has caused issues. For example, we've been seeing a lot of spam.
That spam is being posted via Google Groups, who has been doing very
little to stop spam on Google Groups.

_The solution_
This issue came up in 2010, and the proposed solution for all Mozilla
forums was posted at
<https://wiki.mozilla.org/Discussion_Forums/Proposal>. Generally, the
solution was to set the newsgroups to write-moderated, requiring
messages be approved by a moderator before being appearing in the forum.
The moderator address was set to the mailing list address, so filters on
the mailing list could be used to automatically approve messages from
most posters. We have now implemented this solution on the Firefox
support newsgroup.

_How it affects you_
Newsgroup subscribers: Initially, there may be some latency for messages
appearing after being posted, while I build the auto-approve list. Once
I've got the settings and filters refined, I'm going to set it to
auto-approve all messages that have past through filters, and this
should not affect how you read or post to the newsgroup.
Mailing list subscribers: Your first post after the switch will require
moderator approval, but from that point on, it should not affect how you
read or post.

I've set replies to this post to go to mozilla.general. I'll subscribe
to that group, so I can address any replies in public.

Thanks everyone. The spam issue should be fixed now. :)

--
Chris Ilias <http://ilias.ca>
Mailing list/Newsgroup moderator