Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!linac!unixhub!shelby!unix!Teknowledge.COM!uw-beaver!milton!sumax!ole!johnny5!garvey From: garvey@johnny5.uucp (Joe Garvey) Newsgroups: news.software.b Subject: Re: Why do I get junk newsgroups? Summary: what about major sites filtering these groups Message-ID: <1991Feb21.051023.8661@johnny5.uucp> Date: 21 Feb 91 05:10:23 GMT References: <20752@teda.UUCP> Organization: J5 Research -- Bothell, Wa. Lines: 55 In article , tale@rpi.edu (David C Lawrence) writes: > In article <20752@teda.UUCP> mikel@teda.UUCP (Mikel Lechner) writes: > > Since my system does not list this newsgroup in its active file, > these messages end up in "junk" and go no further. It seems like a > mistake to pass on articles to bogus newsgroups. > > Yes and no. Henry and Geoff will maintain that it is a feature which > helps the propagation of valid new groups, and this is a reasonable point > which I appreciate. It also leads to greater traffic in groups carried by > very few people, but who manage to communicate (?) with each other through > the junk spools of intermediate sites, which is a questionable feature. > This perpetuates problems like continued posting to "comp.sys.ibm.pc" > which was replaced months ago with "comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc". Since almost all mail passes thru the major sites, why not have the sites filter "junk groups". In those cases where the newsgroup header is wrong (comp.sys.ibm.pc), the header could simply be modified, and that article propigated correctly. I've recently examined the local flow of articles into junk... we're not talking about an overwhelming number. When enough major sites started to do this, many of these articles would be damped out before getting too far. This of course assumes these sites keep up with changes to the newsgroup hierarchy. :-) In the cases of "dumb" (my point of view) news groups like alt.stupid.putz, I don't know what the net can do. Obviously in alt, nothing... it's the way alt works. In the case of "psuedo real" groups like comp...novell, I think you have to let them propigate... as long as there's interest. I'm having exactly that problem now. Johnny5 is a relatively new site. My neighbors (on the net) have been less than meticulous (sp?) keeping their active files current. I created my active file from theirs. Now, I find some junk groups... that clearly aren't junk. Posting queries on what are valid groups draws marginally useful responses. My solution has been to examine the articles... if they look good, then I do a local new group. This only aggrevates the problem, because anyone who gets a feed from me will use my active file as a starting point... further propigating possibly bogus (groups not having gone through the normal creation proceedure) news groups. But what else can I do? No one I know reads junk. But if there are useful postings, I want them seen. The only other method would seem to be a "newgroup" moderator... which I actually wouldn't mind... but I can see upsetting many people. [BTW, I heard Gene Spafford has stopped posting his list of newsgroups, is this true?] -- Joe Garvey uucp: sumax!ole!johnny5!garvey J5 Research map entries are wrong for johnny5. They're Bothell, Wa. being fixed. Please use address above.