Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!utah-cs!utah-gr!thomas
From: thomas@utah-gr.UUCP (Spencer W. Thomas)
Newsgroups: net.news
Subject: Reducing net abuse
Message-ID: <904@utah-gr.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 2-Sep-83 12:05:49 EDT
Article-I.D.: utah-gr.904
Posted: Fri Sep  2 12:05:49 1983
Date-Received: Sat, 3-Sep-83 05:00:00 EDT
Lines: 23

I am a little hesitant to reopen this box of horrors, but the recent
spate of "foo" articles has brought me to it.  A bunch of us were
sitting around yesterday communicating via sound waves (a new concept!),
bemoaning the fact that you always have novice users who will do this
sort of thing.  Since school is starting up around the country, it will
probably get a LOT worse before it gets even a little better.  In fact,
I have noticed that net.general submissions are WAY up.

Anyway, we came up with what I think is a rather neat idea.  The news
system (2.11, or whatever), could maintain a list of "authorized"
submitters.  You would get on that list by reading the netiquette (sp?)
document AND answering a quiz.  If you scored sufficently well on the
quiz, you would be added to the list.  Someone not on the list would
either not be able to submit at all, or perhaps their message would have
to be "vetted" by a local guru before going out to the net.  Sounded to
me like it would not be too hard to implement (except for "forcing" sites
to install the new news version), would only discriminate against the
stupid (:-), and should solve many of the "wrong group" problems we are
currently seeing.

Comments?

=Spencer