*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 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 Thunderbird
support newsgroup.

_How it affects you_
Newsgroup subscribers: Unless you've received a message from myself or
another moderator in the past notifying you that your messages are
eligible for removal[1], then *this shouldn't affect you*.
[1]<https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/forums/cancellation/>
If you /have/ received a message saying your messages are eligible for
removal, then each of your messages need to be approved before they
appear in the forum.

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.

Google Groups subscribers: Every message via Google Groups has to be
approved before it appears in the forum...period. Sorry, but that's
where the spam/trolls are coming from.

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