"Drew Lawson" wrote
So how can this group be moderated?
...
Your postings to a moderated Usenet group are quickly diverted by
the first (compliant) server they pass through. They are sent to
the moderator to say yea/nay and then (for yea) sent back into the
Usenet server world with a tag marking them as approved. Then they
get forwarded everywhere.

Of course, if the annoying auto-mod program keeps auto-rejecting
your posts, the process can take a different turn.


This process sounds cumbersome, but it's actually even worse. It is based on
a moderator being conscientious in deeming posts worthy of being sent on to
be posted. It also assumes that the moderator holds no grudges and has some
sense of integrity. And it is also slow, since no one sits by their computer
all day and waits for posts to arrive.

I haven't noticed that this group has any particular axe to grind or is
infested with trolls (as others have been). The people who post are more
polite and considerate than almost any other group I know of. Changing to a
moderated group is a pretty drastic way to control content, and I haven't
seen many posts here that are so worrisome as to need it. In my opinion,
it's an extreme solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

A much better way is to use killfiles. If you use any of the more popular
email/newsgroup programs, they all have the ability to exclude any poster or
any post containing some particular character sequence. That way, you
control what you see (or not). If others want to see everything then they
can. In my experience, that's a much more workable way to accomplish
responsible self-censorship.

BTW: If you use Google to read newsgroups, it has no filter mechanism. You
see it all. That's a good reason to get off there and get a newsreader with
filtering. They are lots of them, and some of the best are free. Mozilla
Thunderbird (http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/) is a good one. Xnews and
NewsPro are also very popular ( see www.download.com ). I believe that all
three are available for both PCs and Macs.


Michael
New Orleans, Louisiana USA
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