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From: Colin_Douthwaite@equinox.gen.nz (Colin Douthwaite)
Newsgroups: alt.ascii-art
Subject: Re: Talk: Crossposting with rec.arts.ascii
Date: 24 Nov 1994 21:02:08 GMT
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Bob Allison (boba@wwa.com) wrote:

>   I cannot speak for other moderators.  Some are dictators I'm 
> sure, but I'm not one of them.  Nobody has anything to fear from 
> posting or cross-posting to r.a.a.  


My comments were not aimed at the r.a.a. moderator or indeed any 
other specific moderator but at the protocols followed when a 
moderated newsgroup appears in a newsgroup listing. 

The posting goes first to the moderated group and later is released 
to the unmoderated groups. ( Thinking about it I wonder why it's 
done like that - it is a form of control on the unmoderated groups - 
or did I miss something somewhere ? ). 

I am uncertain what happens if a moderator rejects a posting for 
actual inclusion in the moderated group - presumably it is the 
moderator's decision whether to forward it to the unmoderated 
groups. If it is a silly or offensive posting perhaps it goes no 
further.  

Many users _do not know_ what actually happens to their posting if a 
moderated newsgroup is included in the newsgroup line. I certainly 
didn't know until Jorn Barger explained it in a posting shortly 
after r.a.a was created in May/June.  

When sending a follow-up to an existing posting it is not readily 
apparent that the existing newsgroup line contains moderated 
newsgroups ( unless of course you are already aware of the status of 
all the listed groups ). I respond to many postings without realising 
what the status of each newsgroup listed actually is.

Until very recently my access site did not carry r.a.a ( and many 
other groups ) and it was simply impossible to post from here to 
that newsgroup. A message would appear saying " the newsgroup r.a.a 
is not a valid newsgroup at this site".  

As I pointed out in my original posting users who post their 
messages _non-interactively_ might not even see such a warning and 
then be puzzled why their postings did not appear in the 
newsgroup(s). Their message will never reach any of the "invalid" 
newsgroups - moderated or not. 

I will still be interested to learn what happens to a posting that 
has _more than one_ moderated newsgroup included in its newsgroups 
line list - presumably it could get stuck anywhere along the line.

Quite a tricky place this Net :-)


Oh yes - a picture:


                  ____________________ 
                 |  ________________  |
                 | |                | |
                 | | ALL Newsgroups | |
                 | |  are invalid   | |
                 | |  at this Site  | |
                 | |     :-)        | |
                 | |________________| |
                 |____________________|
                     ///// ______|_
                  / ////// ******* \
                 / (//////) *******  \
: .. ... .  . ..--- ////// ------ ())*(() ..  . ...
               _____|____|_____  (*()(()))
              /                \ (((((*(()
             |                  |()(()(())_
             |                  |(((()(*() |
             \                  '\()*)))(  |
              \                   \(((((  /
               \              .    \___. (
                \            / \    |:| ) \
                |            | |`------'   |
                \____________/  \_________/

.........................................................


Bye,