Xref: utzoo news.admin:8333 news.misc:4288
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!umich!yale!think!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!psuvax1!eds1!wa3wbu!ka3adu!compnect!dave
From: dave@compnect.UUCP (Dave Ratcliffe)
Newsgroups: news.admin,news.misc
Subject: Re: Do you restrict your users?
Summary: Well, he VOLUNTARILY un-roted it, so....
Message-ID: <454@compnect.UUCP>
Date: 15 Feb 90 21:33:19 GMT
References: <90042.134648LRL@PSUVM.BITNET> <90043.092940LRL@PSUVM.BITNET>
Organization: John Core at home, Harrisburg,PA
Lines: 60

In article <90043.092940LRL@PSUVM.BITNET>, LRL@psuvm.psu.edu (Linda Littleton) writes:
> So far, in just one day, I've gotten over 20 answers to my question of
> how to deal with users saying inappropriate things on the net.  I will
> summarize later, but for now see that I need to clarify the questions.
> 
> 2a. Who issues the warnings and deals the user's appeals?  Does this
>     generally befall the news administrator?
> 

   Should fall to the News Administrator. That's what he/sh is there for
   after all. 

> 2b. Do you wait for users to call bad stuff to your attention, or does
>     someone go looking for it?

    My system recieved over 4000 new articles last night. To 'go
looking' for no-no's in all that traffic would take forever, not to
mention out-bound traffic. THEN you have to decide just what constitutes
a no-no. One person's no-no is another persons snicker. Probably best to
handle things on an individual basis as they are objected to. 

> >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 should clarify that it way a high level professor who rot13'd the
> message and then complained to my boss's boss's boss, who told me to
> cancel the article.  I did (just from our local system) and am wondering
> how others would have handled this.
> 

Your high level professor walked into the posting with both eyes open.
He DE-ROTed it all by himself (no smoking gun pointed at his head) then
proceeded to complain about the 'nasty stuff' he saw. Was the boss's
boss's boss  TOLD that it was an encoded posting? Since this is no major
league big user system I run here, I would have just told him to leave
the ROT13 stuff alone next time. Possibly the same action done with tact
would have worked at your site (I have no tact, ask my friends :-) )

Personally, my feeling is that those who tread into the Usenet waters
should be made aware that certain conditions exist. Some objectionable
(to some) postings will turn up. If they don't want to read them, stay
out of the newsgroups where they flourish (alt.sex, alt.flame,
alt.humor, etc...). Remind them that in the real world, people DO use
profanity in their conversation on occasion and that this too shall
pass. Usenet is like a big party with hundreds of conversations going on
all over the place. As with a party, if you overhear something you find
objectionable, tell the person who posted it, wait to see how everyone
else reacts, or move on to another group. 
 
Sometimes it's REAL nice running a small site.....
 
          *>> Dave <<*

[------: Dave Ratcliffe :---------: UUCP: uunet!wa3wbu!ka3adu!compnect!dave :-]
: Small sites make it easier to   : 2832 Croyden Rd.  Harrisburg, Pa. 17104   :
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[.................................:...........................................]
             One of these days, I'm gonna ROT13 my .sig file