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Moderated Newsgroups FAQ

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Hugh Watkins

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Jan 26, 2002, 11:40:25 PM1/26/02
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"Denis McKeon" <Dmc...@swcp.com> wrote
snip

> # I would be happy to get suggestions for changes to this draft,
> # preferably structured as replacement text, or as diffs.
> #
> # Version 0.7.00 included many small changes/additions based on suggestions
> # from a number of people. Since the purpose of the FAQ is to describe
> # existing policies, and not to set policy, I posted diffs and a
> # request for comments from knowledgeable net.folk on some of the changes
> # and suggestions to news.groups and/or news.admin.net-abuse.policy
>
> Moderated Newsgroups FAQ
>
> This is for people who know a little about Usenet and other Internet
> newsgroups, and who want to know more about moderated newsgroups.

snip

> Section 4 - What are the technical requiremnts for moderation?
> Q4.1 What is the absolute minimum needed to act as a moderator?
> Q4.2 Can one act as a moderator: from a PC? off-line? over POP?
> Q4.2 over PPP/SLIP? without a shell account? without knowing Unix?
> Q4.3 What resources do most active moderators have?
> Q4.4 What software tools are useful for moderation?
> Q4.5 Is knowing Unix optional? Does it help to know Unix?
> Q4.6 What moderation tools are available in non-Unix environments?
> Q4.7 Can you moderate from an on-line service? (AOL, CIS, etc.)


Section 5 - What are the responsibilities and ethics of the moderator's job?
Q5.1 How and when are moderators selected or elected?
Q5.2 How do I become a moderator?
Q5.3 What training do moderators receive?
Q5.4 Where are the criterion for moderation published?
Q5.5 May a moderator modify a message?
Q5.6 What does a moderator do with rejected messages?
Q5.7 What do I do if I disagree with a moderators decision?
Q5.8 May a moderator initiate threads and engage in discussion?
Q5.9 What happens if the moderator is on holiday or ill?
Q5.10 Is there a private discussion group for moderators only?
Q5.11 May a user be banned ?

snip

make them aware of your plans.
>
> Section 4 - What are the technical requiremnts for moderation?>
> ------------------------------
>
> Subject: Q4.1 What is the absolute minimum needed to act as a moderator?
>
> connectivity, hardware, software, capability, time, and effort
>
> connectivity - an account with reliable mail delivery and news access
>
> hardware - a computer and a modem
>
> software - for connectivity, e-mail, and news
>
> capability -
>
> enough technical know-how to configure the software
>
> a working knowledge of mail and news RFCs
> (RFC 822, MIME RFCs, RFC 1036, son-of-1036, GNKS)
>
> the ability and access to edit or insert most of the headers
> on outgoing news messages
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Subject: Q4.2 Can one act as a moderator: from a PC? off-line? over POP?
> over PPP/SLIP? without a shell account? without knowing Unix?
>
> Again, like many things on the net, the answer to all of these
> questions is: "Yes, but it depends."
>
> A moderated *discussion* group that expects fast (< 1 hour)
> turn-around for messages will have requirements different from
> moderated announcement groups that generally have no need for
> turnaround faster than 24-48 hours.
>
> At least one (low-volume) group is moderated from a laptop,
> under MS-Windows, with e-mail software downloaded from the net.
>
> Most moderators probably operate from a Unix host,
> but there is no requirement that they do so.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Subject: Q4.3 What resources do most active moderators have?
>
> At the current state of the art of net news, a typical
> setup for doing moderation would include, either on the
> part of the moderator or the tech support person:
>
> familiarity with the topic and with the Usenet community
>
> several hours of spare time per week for at least a year
>
> an account with a well connected robust site
> (ISP, company, university)
>
> good relations with the system administrator of that site
> (awareness, permission, and any mail aliases needed)
> (ISPs may charge for hosting moderated groups or mailing lists)
>
> experience with two or more mail and news programs
> (e.g., Elm/Pine/Mush, procmail/formail, trn)
>
> familiarity with two or more scripting languages
> (e.g., Perl, Bourne/Korn/Bash shell, awk)
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Subject: Q4.4 What software tools are useful for moderation?
>
> An e-mail user agent that can:
>
> handle whatever volume of mail you expect
>
> sort, select, and filter incoming messages
>
> send selected messages to other programs,
> or save them in a readable file format.
>
> A news posting agent that can:
>
> produce RFC 1036 compliant news articles
>
> accept messages from other programs,
> or read them from an e-mail file format.
>
> insert and delete message headers
>
> do other header mangling as needed
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Subject: Q4.5 Is knowing Unix optional? Does it help to know Unix?
>
> Yes and yes.
>
> Most of the tools to assist in moderation are available in a Unix
> environment, and if you plan to use a variety of scripts and
> programs to support the moderation process, you may want to use a
> Unix "shell" account to handle the moderation mail rather than a
> dialup IP (PPP, SLIP) account.
>
> On the other hand, if you have the tools to handle a volume of mail,
> posting news, and some scripting in a non-Unix environment, go for it.
>
> If you are comfortable with the Unix environment, and
> you have been thinking of setting up your own home Unix box,
> and you have a reliable mail/news connection, go for it.
>
> The key word is *reliable* - group readers may accept a small loss
> of messages, but a loss of more than a few percent between the
> net and your moderation process would likely be seen as unacceptable.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Subject: Q4.6 What moderation tools are available in non-Unix environments?
>
> # example set-ups wanted for DOS, Windows 3.1*,95,NT, Mac, OS/2, VMS, others.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Subject: Q4.7 Can you moderate from an on-line service? (AOL, CIS, etc.)
>
> I have not found anyone who does among 300 or so moderated groups.
>
> To act as a moderator, you will need to have write access to most of
> the headers on outgoing news messages - and most on-line services
> will not allow a normal user to mangle those headers.
>
> If it were possible to access those headers, there are other issues:
>
> You would probably want to down-load all prospective messages,
> process them off-line, and then upload the resulting approved news
> postings and any e-mail responses (FAQs, rejections, etc.)
>
> If you want a short delay, and a short message turnaround time,
> you would be faced with repeating that process 4-6 times per day.
>
> Doing that in a menu-based environment could become tiresome quickly,
>
> I would not say it is impossible to act as an effective moderator in
> that sort of environment, but I would not try it. I think it would
> very likely be easier in a less structured environment - such as a
> shell account. Contrasting reports from anyone moderating an active
> newsgroup from an online service are welcome.

**********************************************

Section 5 - What are the responsibilities and ethics of the moderator's job?

Q5.1 How and when are moderators selected or elected?
Some are self selected when a group is started.

Q5.2 How do I become a moderator?
Apply to the existing moderator or group.


Q5.3 What training do moderators receive?
Most moderators are self taught from FAQ and usenet experience.

Q5.4 Where are the criteria for moderation published?
http://www.google.co.uk/search?num=100&hl=en&q=usenet+policy+moderation+&btnG=Google+Search&meta=


http://www.google.co.uk/search?num=100&hl=en&q=BBS+policy+moderation+&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

http://www.google.co.uk/search?num=100&hl=en&q=%22%2Bthe+well%22+policy+moderation+&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

Q5.5 May a moderator modify a message?
No, not without the permission of the writer or copyright owner.
"You own your own words"
and have responsibility for them too.
http://www.well.com/confteam/etiquette.html

Q5.6 What does a moderator do with rejected messages?
Return them to sender with or without comment.

Q5.7 What do I do if I disagree with a moderators decision?
A moderators decision is final but you may politely email your views to the moderator or group.

Q5.8 May a moderator initiate threads and engage in discussion?
Yes this is the most important part of the work of a moderator. In other words a moderator is a stimulating host
aiming to build up his group.

Q5.9 What happens if the moderator is on holiday or ill?
He asks a deputy to cover for him.

Q5.10 Is there a private discussion group for moderators only?
Not to my knowledge yet. A list should be started.

Q5.11 May a user be banned ?
Yes if a spammer or totally off topic, or unethical, or ignorant of netequette after repeated warnings.
Yes after a warning if the poster makes ad hominem arguments or personal attacks which are upsetting to other users.
"Play the ball not the player"

> end of Moderated Newsgroups FAQ

*********************************************

I have about 5 years of moderation experience on two Danish BBS, (modelled onThe Well http://www.well.com/conf/guidelines.html )

and we used a menu based environment (FirstClass or Centrinity) without serious problems. The conferences are read every 24 hours
and unwanted messages were closed / restricted but not deleted and the poster emailed and asked to modify what had been said or
delete the message personally. If he did not they were eventually expired by the server.

Training was by a one day course and by social meetings off line two or three times a year.

A moderators forum was essential for developing new moderators how would be given access to the new group a few weeks before going
public.


Hugh W

An example >> http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/4933/rfd.htm

>> MODERATION POLICY:
It should be stressed at the outset that posts to s.c.c. will not be moderated according to their content. No one will be denied the
right to post to s.c.c. provided they follow the guidelines of the charter. No censorship, editing, or moderation will be done based
on expressed opinions. There is no wish to avoid discussion of inflammatory subjects on s.c.c. There is no wish to have fewer or
less political postings, on the contrary politics is very much on-topic in the proposed s.c.c. <<< and much more

more YOWYOW

http://www.google.co.uk/search?num=100&hl=en&q=%22you+own+your+own+words%22&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

http://www.google.co.uk/search?num=100&hl=en&q=yoyow&spell=1

Arthur L. Rubin

unread,
Jan 27, 2002, 2:29:12 PM1/27/02
to
Hugh Watkins wrote:

> Section 5 - What are the responsibilities and ethics of the moderator's job?
>
> Q5.1 How and when are moderators selected or elected?
> Some are self selected when a group is started.

Selected by the proponents of the group, actually.

>
> Q5.2 How do I become a moderator?
> Apply to the existing moderator or group.

Apply to the existing moderator. If the existing moderator
does not exist, write to group-advice, although you can
write to the group if you are white-listed by a
robo-moderator.

...

> Q5.4 Where are the criteria for moderation published?

Bad choice of links. Aside from it being from google.co.uk,
it would be more appropriate to check //groups.google.com. It
would be even MOVE appropriate to check out the references to
see how many of them are crazy.

...

> Q5.5 May a moderator modify a message?
> No, not without the permission of the writer or copyright owner.
> "You own your own words"
> and have responsibility for them too.
> http://www.well.com/confteam/etiquette.html

That's the Well's policy. I am not convinced that it's USENet
policy.

...

> Q5.8 May a moderator initiate threads and engage in discussion?
> Yes this is the most important part of the work of a moderator. In other words a moderator is a stimulating host
> aiming to build up his group.

Not necessarily.

>
> Q5.9 What happens if the moderator is on holiday or ill?
> He asks a deputy to cover for him.

Or he just doesn't post for a while.

...

>
> Q5.11 May a user be banned ?
> Yes if a spammer or totally off topic, or unethical, or ignorant of netequette after repeated warnings.
> Yes after a warning if the poster makes ad hominem arguments or personal attacks which are upsetting to other users.
> "Play the ball not the player"

Moderators can set their own policy for banning users, presumably
consistent with the group charter. I see no reason how they can or
why they should be restricted to the the reasons given.


>
> > end of Moderated Newsgroups FAQ
>
> *********************************************
>
> I have about 5 years of moderation experience on two Danish BBS, (modelled onThe Well http://www.well.com/conf/guidelines.html )
>
> and we used a menu based environment (FirstClass or Centrinity) without serious problems. The conferences are read every 24 hours
> and unwanted messages were closed / restricted but not deleted and the poster emailed and asked to modify what had been said or
> delete the message personally. If he did not they were eventually expired by the server.

It should be noted that this is impossible to emulate on USENet.
I have no doubt as to the poster credentials on BBSs, but I
_dO_ have doubts as to his understanding of USENet. For
example, the 120 or so character line length is not considered
appropriate in most USENet groups.

--
Arthur L. Rubin 216-...@mcimail.com


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