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From: tar@ksuvax1.cis.ksu.edu (Tim Ramsey)
Newsgroups: news.admin,news.misc
Subject: Re: Do you restrict your users?
Message-ID: <1990Feb12.090559.18975@deimos.cis.ksu.edu>
Date: 12 Feb 90 09:05:59 GMT
References: <90042.134648LRL@PSUVM.BITNET>
Sender: @deimos.cis.ksu.edu
Reply-To: tar@ksuvax1.cis.ksu.edu (Tim Ramsey)
Followup-To: news.misc
Organization: Kansas State University, Dept of Computing & Information Sciences
Lines: 55

In the referenced article, LRL@psuvm.psu.edu (Linda Littleton) writes:

[ ... ]

>1. Do universities limit student posting in any way?

Speaking for my Dept. only, we used to.  When we first made news available
we did not forward postings from our undergrad system to off campus sites.
After some coaxing, Higher Ups decided to allow undergrad articles to be
sent off campus on sort of a trial basis.  Since then (somewhere around two
years ago), we have had very few problems.

>2. How do you deal with a user who posts inappropriate stuff?  What
>   kinds of things do you deem "inappropriate"?

Generally, I begin by sending the author mail explaining why I think his/her
article was inappropriate.  I might suggest that the user cancel the article
if I think that is warranted.  If the user doesn't comply, I might bump the
problem up the chain of command (to the system administrator).

Examples of inappropriate articles would be UNIX questions that should be
sent to our local consultant mailing list, questions posted to the wrong
newsgroup (a C question posted to talk.abortion, for instance), or articles
dealing with obviously illegal subject matters (chain letters, software
piracy, etc.).

I almost never cancel a user's article without his/her permission or
instructions from Higher Ups.

>3. What do you do when users complain about articles posted at another
>   site?  Our most recent complaint was against a rotated posting
>   in rec.humor that contained racist, anti-semitic, anti-homosexual,
>   foul language, and everything else.

I tell them to 1) put the author and/or subject in their KILL file, 2) stop
reading that group, and/or 3) email the author and complain to him/her.

>4. Are there electronic filters for any of this?  If so, do they just
>   look for specific "bad words" or are more sophisticated things
>   being done?

I've not heard of any, but then I haven't looked.

>5. Our management is concerned that we could be sued for things our users
>   use our system to say or for things (said by users of other systems)
>   that our computer propogates.  Is there any precedence for this?

Here go the net.lawyers again.  IMO, the only worthwhile advice you'll get
is from an attorney.

--
Yup, I'm an undergrad.
Tim Ramsey                         Dept. of Computing and Information Sciences
Internet: tar@ksuvax1.cis.ksu.edu  Kansas State University, Manhattan KS 66506
UUCP:  ...!{rutgers,texbell}!ksuvax1!tar   (913) 539-4977 (voice) 2-7114 (FAX)