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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!floyd!vax135!ukc!root44!addw
From: addw@root44.UUCP (Alain Williams)
Newsgroups: net.news
Subject: Re: Reducing net abuse.
Message-ID: <4159@root44.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 14-Sep-83 07:43:02 EDT
Article-I.D.: root44.4159
Posted: Wed Sep 14 07:43:02 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 15-Sep-83 06:35:09 EDT
Lines: 41


	I like Spencer's idea of the news system maintaining a list of
"authorised" submitters.
	I feel, however, that whereas a control system that relied on some
local guru/priest/news-system-guardian to police it would cut down the garbage
produced by new unix users it would not cut down the crass about what real
programmers should or should not do. (The sort of person most likely to submit
that kind of junk is the sort of person that regards him/her-self as a local
guru and/or would take a joy at "beating the system" and submitting trash
if he wasn't an authorised user.)

	The problem as I see it is how to keep the interesting newsgroups
clutter free - I couldn't care less what goes into net.jokes, net.general etc.

	An idea we came up with here was to have closed submission newsgroups.
The point being that only certain people can submit to the groups, the list of
people being decided by some 'editorial board' for that group. In a way it
would work like a magazine except that once you had been accepted by the
'editorial board' you could submit what you wanted. Presumably if you started
submitting junk the board you remove you from the list.

	Ok, how will it work?
	The news system on each machine will know which news groups are closed
submission groups and will have a list of allowable authors (in the form
site!u-id). Not only will it stop new articles being submitted from illegal
authors but it would quietly loose any such incoming articles. It is this last
feature that would make the system work: if a particular site did not enforce
the submission rules, or someone got round the censorship, the illegal news
won't get far anyway -so no problem; if someone created a bad news item by
nefarious means then as it was transmitted the routing info added would point
a finger of guilt at the site thus allowing the net mafia to go round with the
cement overshoes.

	There is the gist of the idea. It will allow us to have things like
net.real.unix.wizards. How membership of the editorial boards is to be
decided on is the sort of political rhubarb I don't want to know about. (You
don't have to read a newsgroup if you decide that you don't approve of the
editorial board).

	Alain Williams
		vax135!ukc!root44!addw