Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!seismo!mcvax!ukc!its63b!scott
From: scott@its63b.UUCP
Newsgroups: news.admin,news.software.b
Subject: Re: Using "local" as a newsgroup name considered harmful
Message-ID: <587@its63b.ed.ac.uk>
Date: Fri, 14-Aug-87 09:19:29 EDT
Article-I.D.: its63b.587
Posted: Fri Aug 14 09:19:29 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 16-Aug-87 08:45:56 EDT
References: <434@acornrc.UUCP>
Reply-To: scott@its63b.ed.ac.uk (Scott Larnach)
Organization: Unix Support, Edinburgh University Computing Service
Lines: 31
Xref: utgpu news.admin:763 news.software.b:716

In article <434@acornrc.UUCP> bob@acornrc.UUCP (Bob Weissman) writes:
>It turns out that there's a site called ozdaltx.uucp which uses "local"
>not as a distribution name, but as a top-level newsgroup name.  I.e.,
>my poor user was getting drivel from "local.general", a newsgroup
>local to ozdaltx, because of cross-posting.

We have a local.general newsgroup too, and it turns out that the
article in question, namely:

+--
| From: root@ozdaltx.UUCP (root)
| Newsgroups: sci.med,local.general
| Subject: STRESS DIET :-)
| Message-ID: <4157@ozdaltx.UUCP>
+--

gets to our site (since we get sci.med) and then inews inserts it into
both newsgroups. So _our_ local newsgroup gets anything posted to
someone else's local group that's cross-posted to a worldwide group!

I still run 2.10.3 news, which removes unknown newsgroups from the
Newsgroups: line. This feature was removed in 2.11 I think. Perhaps it
should be reinstated for "local.*". The only other thing I can think
of offhand is to stop crossposting between local.* and anything else.

Presumably the same effect takes place in crossposting between
"general" and something else, on sites that have "general" instead of
"local.general".

Scott Larnach
Edinburgh University Computer Service