Posted-By: auto-faq 3.3 (Perl 5.008)
Archive-name: good-newgroup.txt
Posting-frequency: weekly
Last-modified:
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URL:
http://www.gweep.ca/~edmonds/usenet/good-newgroup.html
How To Write a Good Newgroup Message
Copyright (c) 1996-2001, Brian Edmonds
$Revision: 1.19 $ $Date: 2001/07/23 06:50:23 $
This document may be freely retransmitted in Usenet or email;
permission to reproduce in any other media should be requested from
the author, Brian Edmonds <brian@gweep.ca>. The latest edition of this
FAQ can be found on the web at:
*
http://www.gweep.ca/~edmonds/usenet/good-newgroup.html
* send mail to
majordomo@gweep.ca with the following line in the
body: get faq good-newgroup.txt
While the information given here is specifically aimed at people
interested in creating groups in the alt hierarchy, most of the advice
is equally valid, at least at the technical level, in any hierarchy.
Note that most hierarchies have their own local set of rules governing
how new groups are created, so while advice given here regarding
alt.config may not apply, you should consult whatever guidelines or
rules may be in force in the hierarchy you are considering a new group
for.
Thanks to Bill Hazelrig, Eli the Bearded, and others for ideas and
suggestions in writing this FAQ.
__________________________________________________ _______________
Contents
* Contents
* What is a newgroup message?
* Why do I need to write a ``good'' one?
* Do I really have to go through alt.config first?
* The ``For your newsgroups file'' information
* What is a charter?
* What should I not include in a newgroup message?
* What is a ``Control'' header?
* I've written a control message, where do I send it?
* What if I want the newsgroup moderated?
* I've been rmgrouped, what should I do?
* What is a ``booster'' message?
__________________________________________________ _______________
What is a newgroup message?
A newgroup message, or more accurately a newgroup control message is
fundamentally a news posting with a few special headers, and usually
some extra information in the body of the message. The basic
expectation is that such a posting will create the specified newsgroup
on machines throughout the world. Technical information on the news
system, including the format of control messages can be found in RFC
1036, available at
*
http://www.gweep.ca/~edmonds/usenet/rfc1036.txt
*
ftp://ftp.internic.net/rfc/rfc1036.txt
In keeping with the wording in many RFCs, I will be using the
following terms in the rest of this FAQ:
MUST
This is an absolute requirement. If you do not follow it, then
your newgroup message will be technically invalid and
automatically ignored by any correctly functioning news site.
SHOULD
This is not mandatory, but following it will greatly increase
the acceptance of your newgroup message and your newsgroup will
get better propagation as a result.
MAY
This is optional, and will have little influence on the
acceptance of your newgroup message.
SHOULD NOT
While not technically wrong, doing this will reduce the
acceptance of your newgroup message and ultimately hurt the
propagation of your newsgroup.
MUST NOT
This will make your newgroup message technically invalid and
have a large negative impact on the future of your newsgroup.
__________________________________________________ _______________
Why do I need to write a ``good'' one?
Some people may tell you that none of the suggestions given below are
important, and as long as you don't violate any MUST NOT restrictions
your newgroup message will work. To a point this is true, and your
newsgroup will be created at some sites. However, at many sites, the
news admins will ignore newgroup messages that do not follow at least
a good portion of the advice in this FAQ.
On top of this, some individuals (aka control freaks, or the cabal
(there is no cabal)) will actively respond to ``bad'' newgroup
messages with an rmgroup (remove group) message. This does not mean
the newsgroup will be erased at all sites, but it will be at some, and
at many others, the news admins will give serious consideration to
such a message as a recommendation that the newsgroup not be created.
The odds are that the news admin will know, and often respect the
opinion of the person sending the rmgroup message, while you will
probably be unknown to them. In short, your newgroup message is
unlikely to be well received.
__________________________________________________ _______________
Do I really have to go through alt.config first?
You SHOULD propose every new newsgroup on alt.config, and allow at
least a week for discussion before sending a newgroup message. While
this is not an absolute requirement, if you do not propose the
newsgroup in alt.config, many news admins will not create it, and you
are almost guaranteed to get more than one rmgroup message in
response.
You also SHOULD pay close attention to advice given to you about your
proposal. Some of it may be flames or knee-jerk reactions, but some of
it will be valuable in modifying your proposal so that it is likely to
be created at a greater number of sites. If you accept and follow any
advice as best you can, it is very unlikely that your newgroup message
will attract any rmgroup messages.
In your newgroup message, you SHOULD include a brief summary of when
you proposed the newsgroup, and the ensuing discussion. This is not
strictly necessary, but if the discussion was more than a couple days
ago, it helps to refresh the memory of those admins who participated.
Some people try to pull a fast one by claiming that their newsgroup
was proposed in alt.config, when really it wasn't. Almost always,
someone will call them on it, and the resulting rmgroup messages will
reduce the newsgroup's chance of survival.
You also SHOULD include in this section any traffic or readership
statistics you have which show that this newsgroup is likely to be
actively used by many people. This is actually the one area where many
otherwise reasonable proposals fall down, so consider it carefully and
try to collect as much quantitative (numerical) evidence as you can
both before and during the discussion in alt.config.
__________________________________________________ _______________
The ``For your newsgroups file'' information
This information SHOULD be in every newgroup message. It contains the
descriptive text that many news readers will display to users as extra
information to help them decide if they want to subscribe to the
newsgroup. The description SHOULD be meaningful, as it is part of the
way you will be advertising the newsgroup to prospective readers. The
description SHOULD fit with the newsgroup name on one line (80
characters), otherwise it will display unattractively in many news
reading programs. For some newsgroups with particularly long names,
this may not be reasonable, however, so it is by no means an absolute
requirement.
The actual format of such an inclusion consists of two lines (with no
text immediately before or after). The first is the phrase ``For your
newsgroups file:'', while the second line is the newsgroup name, one
or more spaces or tabs, and the description. Both lines should have no
other text or spaces before them on the same line. An example:
For your newsgroups file:
alt.video.laserdisc LD players and selections available for them.
Typically, this section will be placed first in a newgroup message,
though placing the summary of the alt.config discussion first is also
reasonable.
__________________________________________________ _______________
What is a charter?
Every newgroup message SHOULD contain a description of what the
newsgroup is supposed to be for, commonly referred to as its charter.
Ideally you should write this before proposing the newsgroup on
alt.config, and adjust it according to recommendations given there.
One or two short paragraphs is usually sufficient for a charter. If
you can't explain what the newsgroup is for in this amount of space,
then you should probably give serious consideration to whether or not
it's really a good idea. This isn't a hard and fast rule though, so if
there is a lot that needs to be said about the newsgroup, do so. Just
remember, you don't want to bore the news admins who are reading
this...
As part of the charter, you MAY also include pointers to more
information on the topic of the newsgroup, such as web pages, mailing
lists, or ftp sites.
You should also keep a copy of the charter, as it makes an excellent
starting point when creating a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
document for your new newsgroup.
__________________________________________________ _______________
What should I not include in a newgroup message?
In your newgroup message, you SHOULD NOT argue that any merits of the
subject matter imply that it deserves a newsgroup. This is at best
irrelevant, and to some news admins is a very bad argument, serving
only to annoy them (thus making an rmgroup response more likely). The
main consideration for most news admins is simply how many people are
likely to read the newsgroup.
You also SHOULD NOT refer to the newsgroup as having passed a vote for
its creation. There are no votes in alt, so any such implication is
likely to provoke an rmgroup response.
You also SHOULD NOT make reference to the existence of any other alt
newsgroup as justification for the creation of your newsgroup, as
almost invariably this will be a bad argument, even if it doesn't seem
like one to you. If you equate your newsgroup with one that some news
admin somewhere considers to be a bad newsgroup, then you will be
hurting the acceptance of your newsgroup.
__________________________________________________ _______________
What is a ``Control'' header?
That, and the ``Approved'' header are the two special headers that
every newgroup message MUST contain. In addition, the message SHOULD
contain a specially formatted ``Subject'' header. The special
``Subject'' header is not strictly required, but is strongly
recommended for compatibility with older news servers.
The ``Control'' header MUST be comprised of the word ``newgroup'',
followed by the name of the newsgroup. The ``Approved'' header SHOULD
contain your email address, or that of your news admin if he/she is
sending the newgroup message for you. The ``Subject'' header SHOULD be
identical to the ``Control'' header except that it is prefixed with
the word ``cmsg''. (Inclusion of a Subject header in this format is no
longer required, but is a good idea for backwards compatibility). An
example:
Subject: cmsg newgroup alt.video.laserdisc
Control: newgroup alt.video.laserdisc
Approved:
brian@gweep.ca
Note that the contents of the ``Subject'' and ``Control'' headers
SHOULD NOT contain uppercase letters. Use of mixed case is not
strictly prohibited, but it is rarely used and may break some
software. Use of uppercase letters in newsgroup names is strongly
discouraged in proposed revisions to RFC1036.
These headers MUST occur with all the other message headers, and if
they only occur in the body of the message, it will be treated as if
they were absent. How you can accomplish this depends on your system
and the news software you use. You may even be prevented by the system
from including them. In any case, if you are unsure how to include
such headers, ask your news admin.
__________________________________________________ _______________
I've written a control message, where do I send it?
Control messages are posted just like any other news article. There
are two schools of thought over what newsgroup(s) they should be
posted to, however. The first approach is to post them to the group
which you are creating. This has the advantage that the control
message will only travel to sites which carry related groups, and will
not bother sites which do not carry them. However, some news servers
will not allow local posting to groups which do not exist, resulting
in a chicken and egg problem.
The other school of thought is to post them to alt.config, as it is a
centrally recognized group that is likely to be carried at every site
that carries the alt hierarchy. If your server allows posting to
non-existent groups, then combining these two approaches, and
crossposting the control message to both alt.config and the group you
are creating is entirely reasonable.
Note that if posted correctly, a control message will not actually
appear in any of the groups you post it to. This is because the server
recognizes it as special and posts it to the pseudo-group control (or
on some servers control.newgroup). You should not post directly to any
of the control groups, as while it does not generally seem to cause
problems, they do not function in quite the same way as normal
newsgroups. On many sites there is no guarantee that messages so
posted will not simply vanish into the ether.
If you do post a technically correct control message, but find it
shows up in the normal groups instead of in control, check the headers
of the posted message. It is likely that either your reader or your
server does not allow users to post control messages, and strips the
``Approved'' and/or ``Control'' headers. In this case, you will have
to contact your local news admin and request his or her assistance.
Providing him or her with a prewritten copy of the newgroup message
will make his or her job much simpler.
__________________________________________________ _______________
What if I want the newsgroup moderated?
In this case, all of the above requirements and advice still apply,
and there are a few additional things you need to know. First off,
running a moderated newsgroup is often tough work, and you will need
to have a good understanding of how both news and mail operate. In
fact, if you didn't already know and understand most everything I've
said already in this FAQ, you may not be ready to undertake newsgroup
moderation.
That said, there are two additional requirements for creating a
moderated alt newsgroup. First, you SHOULD provide both submission and
contact email addresses in the body of the message. The submission
address is where postings are mailed for approval, and the contact
address is where other moderator related mail, such as questions or
comments, should be sent. These are typically included immediately
following the ``For your newsgroups file'' section, and are in a form
resembling the following:
Moderator submission address:
alt-fred-moderated@gweep.ca
Moderator contact address:
brian@gweep.ca
The submission address MUST be the address where you will be accepting
postings for approval, and it is strongly advised that it be an
address which is dedicated to this task alone (your private email
address is a bad choice). You SHOULD make arrangements for a backup
moderator who can monitor this address and approve postings in the
event of the primary moderator suffering an extended absence from the
net. You also SHOULD include a brief summary of the intended
moderation policy, and a list of the names and email addresses of all
initial moderators.
Note that while including this information is not strictly mandatory,
if you fail to do so, your newsgroup will not work. Most sites are
configured by default to send postings to a special address at
moderators.uu.net, so unless you have made prior arrangements with
them all postings will be going into a black hole. It may be possible
to arrange for the moderation address to be honoured at UUNET, which
is in fact a very good idea, but do not assume it will happen
automatically. You can email the moderation contact at
moderators-request@isc.org to inquire.
Second, you MUST append the word ``moderated'' to the ``Control''
header of your message (and to the ``Subject'' header too, though this
is only strongly recommended). This is what will actually indicate to
the news software that this newsgroup is to be moderated.
While `self-moderated' groups are technically possible, and have been
implemented on a few special occasions such as alt.hackers and
alt.sysadmin.recovery, you should not consider it for your group. Many
newsreaders will not allow users to self-moderate for the simple
reason that this is abuse when done in regular moderated groups. If
you cannot find a real moderator for your group, a self-moderated
version will almost assuredly be a failure.
__________________________________________________ _______________
I've been rmgrouped, what should I do?
The most important first step is if this has made you upset, take a
break. Go for a walk, fix yourself a snack, take a nap, but most of
all, give yourself time to cool off. A hasty, emotional response will
only make things worse.
Next, carefully read any explanation included in the text of the
rmgroup message, and read over this FAQ again. If there is anything
here that you failed to do, or or anything that you did and should not
have, then you're in trouble. Your best bet in this situation is to
privately mail the individual who sent out the rmgroup and admit your
mistake. Explain that you did your best, and appeal to them to help
you correct your error and and either send a new newgroup message for
you, or if necessary return to alt.config again for another discussion
period.
If you did in fact do everything right, and the rmgroup message has
cited you for a mistake you did not make, then you should again mail
the individual who sent the rmgroup. Politely explain that you have in
fact followed all the guidelines and give them any more evidence you
have of this that is not already in the newgroup message. Most of the
time it will simply have been a lapse of attention on the other
person's part, and he/she will be only too happy to remedy the
situation by resending your newgroup message for you, with a note to
the fact that their earlier rmgroup was incorrect.
If, in either of these cases, you have mailed the originator of the
rmgroup message and a few days pass with no response, you should then
go back to alt.config and post a polite message explaining your
dilemma. Do not attack the person behind the rmgroup message, or
complain about the unfairness of the situation, simply state your case
as clearly and concisely as you can. Once the situation has been
resolved, you may then want to request that one of the alt.config
regulars resend your newgroup message for you.
__________________________________________________ _______________
What is a ``booster'' message?
A ``booster'' message is essentially exactly the same as a newgroup
message. In fact, all it is is just sending another newgroup message
so that hopefully sites which either did not see, or which ignored the
first message will create the group the second time around. When
sending a booster newgroup, you SHOULD add a short paragraph at the
beginning of the body of the message explaining that this is a booster
message, and include information such as when the group was first
created and why you're sending the booster.
Note that you should not send boosters too often, as typically news
admins are notified of newgroup requests by email from the news
server, and you don't want to annoy anyone by cluttering up their
mailbox. After creating a new group, sending a booster every couple
weeks for the first month or so is typically a good idea, and then
perhaps every six months to a year after that, but be careful not to
overdo it. It is generally far more effective in getting a site to
carry a new newsgroup to have one of their users request it, than it
is to send multiple newgroup messages.
__________________________________________________ _______________
Brian Edmonds, July 23, 2001
EOF
"news.verizon.net" <vze1ss9o@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:vAM1b.1767$t57.780@nwrdny01.gnilink.net...
> can you make your own newsgroups?
>
>
Posted-By: auto-faq 3.3 (Perl 5.008)
Archive-name: good-newgroup.txt
Posting-frequency: weekly
Last-modified:
Version:
URL:
http://www.gweep.ca/~edmonds/usenet/good-newgroup.html
How To Write a Good Newgroup Message
Copyright (c) 1996-2001, Brian Edmonds
$Revision: 1.19 $ $Date: 2001/07/23 06:50:23 $
This document may be freely retransmitted in Usenet or email;
permission to reproduce in any other media should be requested from
the author, Brian Edmonds <brian@gweep.ca>. The latest edition of this
FAQ can be found on the web at:
*
http://www.gweep.ca/~edmonds/usenet/good-newgroup.html
* send mail to
majordomo@gweep.ca with the following line in the
body: get faq good-newgroup.txt
While the information given here is specifically aimed at people
interested in creating groups in the alt hierarchy, most of the advice
is equally valid, at least at the technical level, in any hierarchy.
Note that most hierarchies have their own local set of rules governing
how new groups are created, so while advice given here regarding
alt.config may not apply, you should consult whatever guidelines or
rules may be in force in the hierarchy you are considering a new group
for.
Thanks to Bill Hazelrig, Eli the Bearded, and others for ideas and
suggestions in writing this FAQ.
__________________________________________________ _______________
Contents
* Contents
* What is a newgroup message?
* Why do I need to write a ``good'' one?
* Do I really have to go through alt.config first?
* The ``For your newsgroups file'' information
* What is a charter?
* What should I not include in a newgroup message?
* What is a ``Control'' header?
* I've written a control message, where do I send it?
* What if I want the newsgroup moderated?
* I've been rmgrouped, what should I do?
* What is a ``booster'' message?
__________________________________________________ _______________
What is a newgroup message?
A newgroup message, or more accurately a newgroup control message is
fundamentally a news posting with a few special headers, and usually
some extra information in the body of the message. The basic
expectation is that such a posting will create the specified newsgroup
on machines throughout the world. Technical information on the news
system, including the format of control messages can be found in RFC
1036, available at
*
http://www.gweep.ca/~edmonds/usenet/rfc1036.txt
*
ftp://ftp.internic.net/rfc/rfc1036.txt
In keeping with the wording in many RFCs, I will be using the
following terms in the rest of this FAQ:
MUST
This is an absolute requirement. If you do not follow it, then
your newgroup message will be technically invalid and
automatically ignored by any correctly functioning news site.
SHOULD
This is not mandatory, but following it will greatly increase
the acceptance of your newgroup message and your newsgroup will
get better propagation as a result.
MAY
This is optional, and will have little influence on the
acceptance of your newgroup message.
SHOULD NOT
While not technically wrong, doing this will reduce the
acceptance of your newgroup message and ultimately hurt the
propagation of your newsgroup.
MUST NOT
This will make your newgroup message technically invalid and
have a large negative impact on the future of your newsgroup.
__________________________________________________ _______________
Why do I need to write a ``good'' one?
Some people may tell you that none of the suggestions given below are
important, and as long as you don't violate any MUST NOT restrictions
your newgroup message will work. To a point this is true, and your
newsgroup will be created at some sites. However, at many sites, the
news admins will ignore newgroup messages that do not follow at least
a good portion of the advice in this FAQ.
On top of this, some individuals (aka control freaks, or the cabal
(there is no cabal)) will actively respond to ``bad'' newgroup
messages with an rmgroup (remove group) message. This does not mean
the newsgroup will be erased at all sites, but it will be at some, and
at many others, the news admins will give serious consideration to
such a message as a recommendation that the newsgroup not be created.
The odds are that the news admin will know, and often respect the
opinion of the person sending the rmgroup message, while you will
probably be unknown to them. In short, your newgroup message is
unlikely to be well received.
__________________________________________________ _______________
Do I really have to go through alt.config first?
You SHOULD propose every new newsgroup on alt.config, and allow at
least a week for discussion before sending a newgroup message. While
this is not an absolute requirement, if you do not propose the
newsgroup in alt.config, many news admins will not create it, and you
are almost guaranteed to get more than one rmgroup message in
response.
You also SHOULD pay close attention to advice given to you about your
proposal. Some of it may be flames or knee-jerk reactions, but some of
it will be valuable in modifying your proposal so that it is likely to
be created at a greater number of sites. If you accept and follow any
advice as best you can, it is very unlikely that your newgroup message
will attract any rmgroup messages.
In your newgroup message, you SHOULD include a brief summary of when
you proposed the newsgroup, and the ensuing discussion. This is not
strictly necessary, but if the discussion was more than a couple days
ago, it helps to refresh the memory of those admins who participated.
Some people try to pull a fast one by claiming that their newsgroup
was proposed in alt.config, when really it wasn't. Almost always,
someone will call them on it, and the resulting rmgroup messages will
reduce the newsgroup's chance of survival.
You also SHOULD include in this section any traffic or readership
statistics you have which show that this newsgroup is likely to be
actively used by many people. This is actually the one area where many
otherwise reasonable proposals fall down, so consider it carefully and
try to collect as much quantitative (numerical) evidence as you can
both before and during the discussion in alt.config.
__________________________________________________ _______________
The ``For your newsgroups file'' information
This information SHOULD be in every newgroup message. It contains the
descriptive text that many news readers will display to users as extra
information to help them decide if they want to subscribe to the
newsgroup. The description SHOULD be meaningful, as it is part of the
way you will be advertising the newsgroup to prospective readers. The
description SHOULD fit with the newsgroup name on one line (80
characters), otherwise it will display unattractively in many news
reading programs. For some newsgroups with particularly long names,
this may not be reasonable, however, so it is by no means an absolute
requirement.
The actual format of such an inclusion consists of two lines (with no
text immediately before or after). The first is the phrase ``For your
newsgroups file:'', while the second line is the newsgroup name, one
or more spaces or tabs, and the description. Both lines should have no
other text or spaces before them on the same line. An example:
For your newsgroups file:
alt.video.laserdisc LD players and selections available for them.
Typically, this section will be placed first in a newgroup message,
though placing the summary of the alt.config discussion first is also
reasonable.
__________________________________________________ _______________
What is a charter?
Every newgroup message SHOULD contain a description of what the
newsgroup is supposed to be for, commonly referred to as its charter.
Ideally you should write this before proposing the newsgroup on
alt.config, and adjust it according to recommendations given there.
One or two short paragraphs is usually sufficient for a charter. If
you can't explain what the newsgroup is for in this amount of space,
then you should probably give serious consideration to whether or not
it's really a good idea. This isn't a hard and fast rule though, so if
there is a lot that needs to be said about the newsgroup, do so. Just
remember, you don't want to bore the news admins who are reading
this...
As part of the charter, you MAY also include pointers to more
information on the topic of the newsgroup, such as web pages, mailing
lists, or ftp sites.
You should also keep a copy of the charter, as it makes an excellent
starting point when creating a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
document for your new newsgroup.
__________________________________________________ _______________
What should I not include in a newgroup message?
In your newgroup message, you SHOULD NOT argue that any merits of the
subject matter imply that it deserves a newsgroup. This is at best
irrelevant, and to some news admins is a very bad argument, serving
only to annoy them (thus making an rmgroup response more likely). The
main consideration for most news admins is simply how many people are
likely to read the newsgroup.
You also SHOULD NOT refer to the newsgroup as having passed a vote for
its creation. There are no votes in alt, so any such implication is
likely to provoke an rmgroup response.
You also SHOULD NOT make reference to the existence of any other alt
newsgroup as justification for the creation of your newsgroup, as
almost invariably this will be a bad argument, even if it doesn't seem
like one to you. If you equate your newsgroup with one that some news
admin somewhere considers to be a bad newsgroup, then you will be
hurting the acceptance of your newsgroup.
__________________________________________________ _______________
What is a ``Control'' header?
That, and the ``Approved'' header are the two special headers that
every newgroup message MUST contain. In addition, the message SHOULD
contain a specially formatted ``Subject'' header. The special
``Subject'' header is not strictly required, but is strongly
recommended for compatibility with older news servers.
The ``Control'' header MUST be comprised of the word ``newgroup'',
followed by the name of the newsgroup. The ``Approved'' header SHOULD
contain your email address, or that of your news admin if he/she is
sending the newgroup message for you. The ``Subject'' header SHOULD be
identical to the ``Control'' header except that it is prefixed with
the word ``cmsg''. (Inclusion of a Subject header in this format is no
longer required, but is a good idea for backwards compatibility). An
example:
Subject: cmsg newgroup alt.video.laserdisc
Control: newgroup alt.video.laserdisc
Approved:
brian@gweep.ca
Note that the contents of the ``Subject'' and ``Control'' headers
SHOULD NOT contain uppercase letters. Use of mixed case is not
strictly prohibited, but it is rarely used and may break some
software. Use of uppercase letters in newsgroup names is strongly
discouraged in proposed revisions to RFC1036.
These headers MUST occur with all the other message headers, and if
they only occur in the body of the message, it will be treated as if
they were absent. How you can accomplish this depends on your system
and the news software you use. You may even be prevented by the system
from including them. In any case, if you are unsure how to include
such headers, ask your news admin.
__________________________________________________ _______________
I've written a control message, where do I send it?
Control messages are posted just like any other news article. There
are two schools of thought over what newsgroup(s) they should be
posted to, however. The first approach is to post them to the group
which you are creating. This has the advantage that the control
message will only travel to sites which carry related groups, and will
not bother sites which do not carry them. However, some news servers
will not allow local posting to groups which do not exist, resulting
in a chicken and egg problem.
The other school of thought is to post them to alt.config, as it is a
centrally recognized group that is likely to be carried at every site
that carries the alt hierarchy. If your server allows posting to
non-existent groups, then combining these two approaches, and
crossposting the control message to both alt.config and the group you
are creating is entirely reasonable.
Note that if posted correctly, a control message will not actually
appear in any of the groups you post it to. This is because the server
recognizes it as special and posts it to the pseudo-group control (or
on some servers control.newgroup). You should not post directly to any
of the control groups, as while it does not generally seem to cause
problems, they do not function in quite the same way as normal
newsgroups. On many sites there is no guarantee that messages so
posted will not simply vanish into the ether.
If you do post a technically correct control message, but find it
shows up in the normal groups instead of in control, check the headers
of the posted message. It is likely that either your reader or your
server does not allow users to post control messages, and strips the
``Approved'' and/or ``Control'' headers. In this case, you will have
to contact your local news admin and request his or her assistance.
Providing him or her with a prewritten copy of the newgroup message
will make his or her job much simpler.
__________________________________________________ _______________
What if I want the newsgroup moderated?
In this case, all of the above requirements and advice still apply,
and there are a few additional things you need to know. First off,
running a moderated newsgroup is often tough work, and you will need
to have a good understanding of how both news and mail operate. In
fact, if you didn't already know and understand most everything I've
said already in this FAQ, you may not be ready to undertake newsgroup
moderation.
That said, there are two additional requirements for creating a
moderated alt newsgroup. First, you SHOULD provide both submission and
contact email addresses in the body of the message. The submission
address is where postings are mailed for approval, and the contact
address is where other moderator related mail, such as questions or
comments, should be sent. These are typically included immediately
following the ``For your newsgroups file'' section, and are in a form
resembling the following:
Moderator submission address:
alt-fred-moderated@gweep.ca
Moderator contact address:
brian@gweep.ca
The submission address MUST be the address where you will be accepting
postings for approval, and it is strongly advised that it be an
address which is dedicated to this task alone (your private email
address is a bad choice). You SHOULD make arrangements for a backup
moderator who can monitor this address and approve postings in the
event of the primary moderator suffering an extended absence from the
net. You also SHOULD include a brief summary of the intended
moderation policy, and a list of the names and email addresses of all
initial moderators.
Note that while including this information is not strictly mandatory,
if you fail to do so, your newsgroup will not work. Most sites are
configured by default to send postings to a special address at
moderators.uu.net, so unless you have made prior arrangements with
them all postings will be going into a black hole. It may be possible
to arrange for the moderation address to be honoured at UUNET, which
is in fact a very good idea, but do not assume it will happen
automatically. You can email the moderation contact at
moderators-request@isc.org to inquire.
Second, you MUST append the word ``moderated'' to the ``Control''
header of your message (and to the ``Subject'' header too, though this
is only strongly recommended). This is what will actually indicate to
the news software that this newsgroup is to be moderated.
While `self-moderated' groups are technically possible, and have been
implemented on a few special occasions such as alt.hackers and
alt.sysadmin.recovery, you should not consider it for your group. Many
newsreaders will not allow users to self-moderate for the simple
reason that this is abuse when done in regular moderated groups. If
you cannot find a real moderator for your group, a self-moderated
version will almost assuredly be a failure.
__________________________________________________ _______________
I've been rmgrouped, what should I do?
The most important first step is if this has made you upset, take a
break. Go for a walk, fix yourself a snack, take a nap, but most of
all, give yourself time to cool off. A hasty, emotional response will
only make things worse.
Next, carefully read any explanation included in the text of the
rmgroup message, and read over this FAQ again. If there is anything
here that you failed to do, or or anything that you did and should not
have, then you're in trouble. Your best bet in this situation is to
privately mail the individual who sent out the rmgroup and admit your
mistake. Explain that you did your best, and appeal to them to help
you correct your error and and either send a new newgroup message for
you, or if necessary return to alt.config again for another discussion
period.
If you did in fact do everything right, and the rmgroup message has
cited you for a mistake you did not make, then you should again mail
the individual who sent the rmgroup. Politely explain that you have in
fact followed all the guidelines and give them any more evidence you
have of this that is not already in the newgroup message. Most of the
time it will simply have been a lapse of attention on the other
person's part, and he/she will be only too happy to remedy the
situation by resending your newgroup message for you, with a note to
the fact that their earlier rmgroup was incorrect.
If, in either of these cases, you have mailed the originator of the
rmgroup message and a few days pass with no response, you should then
go back to alt.config and post a polite message explaining your
dilemma. Do not attack the person behind the rmgroup message, or
complain about the unfairness of the situation, simply state your case
as clearly and concisely as you can. Once the situation has been
resolved, you may then want to request that one of the alt.config
regulars resend your newgroup message for you.
__________________________________________________ _______________
What is a ``booster'' message?
A ``booster'' message is essentially exactly the same as a newgroup
message. In fact, all it is is just sending another newgroup message
so that hopefully sites which either did not see, or which ignored the
first message will create the group the second time around. When
sending a booster newgroup, you SHOULD add a short paragraph at the
beginning of the body of the message explaining that this is a booster
message, and include information such as when the group was first
created and why you're sending the booster.
Note that you should not send boosters too often, as typically news
admins are notified of newgroup requests by email from the news
server, and you don't want to annoy anyone by cluttering up their
mailbox. After creating a new group, sending a booster every couple
weeks for the first month or so is typically a good idea, and then
perhaps every six months to a year after that, but be careful not to
overdo it. It is generally far more effective in getting a site to
carry a new newsgroup to have one of their users request it, than it
is to send multiple newgroup messages.
__________________________________________________ _______________
Brian Edmonds, July 23, 2001
EOF
"news.verizon.net" <vze1ss9o@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:vAM1b.1767$t57.780@nwrdny01.gnilink.net...
> can you make your own newsgroups?
>
>