Re: Is gnu.groff.bug Moderated?

[Russ Allbery]

Ralph Corderoy <address@hidden> writes:

> Sorry, I don't quite get what you mean.  The newsgroup is moderated but
> automatically lets all mailing list gatewayed stuff through, including
> the spam?

All that moderation means for newsgroups is that all posts are mailed to a
submission address rather than being posted directly to the newsgroup.  In
this case, the submission address is just the submission address to an
open mailing list, which includes a mail to news gateway that posts to the
newsgroup.

The effect of this system is to synchronize the mailing list and newsgroup
so that they both receive the same traffic.  There is no human in the
loop, no one screening posts, and no limitations on what posts go through,
hence all the spam that you see (much of which is actually mailing list
spam that gets gated to Usenet).

The reason to make the newsgroup moderated is to simplify the
synchronization, since otherwise a news to mail gateway would be necessary
and would be subject to the whims of propagation.  This is a fairly
reliable way of linking a mailing list to a newsgroup.  It doesn't have
anything to do with screening of content.

-- 
Russ Allbery (address@hidden)             <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>