Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site sdcsvax.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!prls!amdimage!amdcad!decwrl!decvax!ittatc!dcdwest!sdcsvax!brian
From: brian@sdcsvax.UUCP (Brian Kantor)
Newsgroups: net.news
Subject: "orphaned response" considered harmful (a constructive mild flame)
Message-ID: <1026@sdcsvax.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 5-Aug-85 01:34:47 EDT
Article-I.D.: sdcsvax.1026
Posted: Mon Aug  5 01:34:47 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 6-Aug-85 05:36:28 EDT
Organization: UCSD wombat breeding society
Lines: 67

I'm probably flaming in the wrong newsgroup, but doesn't this one take
the cake:

	...
	Posting-Version: notesfiles
	From: Anonymous@hpfcla.UUCP (Anonymous)
	Newsgroups: net.flame
	Subject: Re: Orphaned Response
	Message-ID: <35800001@hpfcmp.UUCP>
	Date: 27 Jul 85 02:08:00 GMT
	Date-Received: 2 Aug 85 23:31:51 GMT
	References: <524@wdl1.UUCP>
	Organization: Hewlett-Packard - Fort Collins, CO
	Lines: 12
	Nf-ID: #R:wdl1:524:hpfcmp:35800001:37777777600:403
	Nf-From: hpfcmp!Anonymous    Jul 26 18:08:00 1985
	...
	
As if Orphaned Responses weren't bad enough, now we get Anonymous
Orphaned Responses!  And with a references line to a previous article,
its still orphaned!  Severely heavy sigh.

Whoever designed this misbegotten abortion of a news system (hint:
"notes") should be taken out and maimed.

Actually, on a saner note, what are the implications of writing a simple
filtering front end to inews to discard this kind of noise?  Or perhaps
just moving it to net.orphaned.response?

A Modest Proposal:

Seems to me that some general mechanism for editing and redirecting news
could be very helpful.  It would be nice, for example, to be able to
specify some of the following to clean up news:

	1. All orphaned responses are returned to the sender's host's
	system administrator's mailbox with a request to clean up their
	news software.

	2. Anything posted to net.flame and anywhere else is placed only
	in net.flame.

	3. Anything posted to net.general and anywhere else is dropped
	from net.general.

	4. Anything posted to more than 2 newsgroups is put in net.misc.

	5. Anything posted in net.general from a bell site is put in
	nj.forsale.

	etc, etc, etc.

True, I'm not completely serious about these particular proposals, but
don't they give you furiously to think about what could be done with
some sort of really nice semantic analyzer and a header recomposer?  Or
maybe just a thundering great awk script?

Perhaps in my copious free time I'll try to come up with something.

---
	Brian Kantor	UC San Diego

	decvax\ 	brian@ucsd.arpa
	akgua  >---  sdcsvax  --- brian
	ucbvax/		Kantor@Nosc 

"3 units and counting..."			(sorry, Gene)