XPost: news.groups, rec.arts.comics.dc.universe, rec.arts.sf.tv   
   XPost: rec.arts.tv   
   From: a@a.uk   
      
   Let me just check that I've got this right.  Your idea, as I understood it,   
   is basically to set up a moderated group that runs alongside an unmoderated   
   group, so that everything that arrives in the unmoderated group is   
   automatically submitted to the moderated group for approval?  And maybe have   
   two levels of moderated group, so that the "lo-mod" filters out just the   
   spam, and then the "hi-mod" takes what's left and vets it more thoroughly?   
   I can't say I understood all the finer points of your posting.  But that's   
   the general idea, is it?   
      
   Sounds good to me.  And I'm no Usenet expert, but it sounds to me as if it   
   could work.  I don't think it would require news servers to actively take up   
   some new system, as with some of the "Usenet 2" proposals.  Just a simple   
   forwarding setup on the moderator's computer, to pipe the postings through   
   to the moderated group.   
      
   Since all postings would be available on the moderated group for those who   
   wanted them, it would keep the "free debate" aspect of Usenet, one of its   
   few remaining advantages.  I think the people who objected to this idea as   
   censorship must have misread your postings - they were a bit complicated,   
   true.  What this system would really be is a highly efficient third-party   
   killfile - just as optional as a real killfile, but somebody else would run   
   it for you.  I'd use it.   
      
   It occurs to me that some "lo-mod" groups could even be kept by a   
   robomoderator, such as the STUMP program.  That's quite capable of removing   
   the bulk of the spam, which would be enough to make many groups much more   
   convenient to use.  You'd still need a human moderator to set the   
   robomoderator's filters, run the "hi-mod" group, if any, and publicise the   
   group a bit; but their workload would be much less.  It might even be that   
   this would avoid some of the copyright issues, since there would be no   
   regular human involvement in the "lo-mod" group - it would be almost a   
   passive conduit in that sense, just a better-arranged one.   
      
   By the by, do you have to crosspost quite so wildly?  I didn't like to   
   remove the other groups, in case you don't actually read news.groups.  I've   
   known it to happen.   
      
   --   
   A. B.   
   My e-mail address is zen177395 at  zendotcodotuk.   
   I don't check that account very often, so tell me on the newsgroup if you've   
   sent me an e-mail.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)