Subject: Re: Is it you or My Server?
From: wtmorgan@pilot.msu.edu (Bill Morgan)
Organization: Michigan State University
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 98 10:54:23
Message-ID: <MOD$981113.16870@rec.gardens.ecosystems>
References: <MOD$981108.4170@rec.gardens.ecosystems> <MOD$981110.17612@rec.gardens.ecosystems> <MOD$981111.28070@rec.gardens.ecosystems>



In article <MOD$981111.28070@rec.gardens.ecosystems>, madhouse
wrote:

> I recently posted a question, and was surprised to find that the group
> is moderated. My post took about over a day to make it to the group.
This is not the usual time lag, but occasionally, it does take that long.
In an unmoderated group, the message goes from you to your local server,
and from there, it propogates as other servers "check in" with each other.
Dependeing on how well your local server is connected with the world, this
may be a very rapid or somewhat slow process. You always see it when you
check the group, of course because it was on the local server first. That
does not mean thay everyone else can see it, though. Still, it is usually
much speedier than in a moderated group.

In a moderated group, messages have to get from your site to the host site,
be mailed to the moderator, be approved (or rejected), and if approved then
propogate from the host site. Even if the moderator is on line at the time,
and approves your message instantly, you may not see the posting for
awhile. Of course, most of our moderation is done by a robot program. That
speeds things up considerably for most articles. Articles are approved if
the robomoderator finds no potential problems, otherwise it bounces the
article to one of us. If the article must come to Ron, Bill or myself, it
will of course be slowed. If we have to discuss whether or not to approve
it (the case sometimes with marginally acceptable articles), it takes
longer still.

> None of the other gardening ngs I read are moderated and I do not find
> much that is inappropriate in them. What does appear is ushered out
> quite effectively.
I disagree a bit here. There are a lot of pyramid schemes, sex ads,
commercial postings and such at rec.gardens. The other groups are a bit
quieter in that regard.

>
> I think that a newsgroup of this kind is vital and exciting, only if it
> is immediate. I know that for myself, if I ask a question, I like to
> check several times a day to see what answers appear.
>
> As no one, no matter how conscientious, can possibly be on line
> constantly to sort through each post.

That's true, of course. We do the best that we can, but we can't be on line
all the time.

>
> A question to the moderator: What percentage of posts do you find are
> off topic? How much spam does the group receive? What motivated you to
> establish the group as a moderated ng?
The main motivator was not so much the above types of posting as it was
cross-posting. The concern was that so much would be cross-posted that
rec.gardens.ecosystems would be swamped with rec.gardens traffic. And of
course, the main reason that people wanted a sseparate group (both at
r.g.ec and r.g.edible) was that rec.gardens was too big, too noisy. People
want a smaller, easier to follow group where they don't have to sift
through so much chaff to get to the wheat.

I think that most of the r.g.ecosystems crowd like the smaller, less
cluttered group, even though delays are inevitible. One indication of this
is that when one of us approves an article that is marginal for inclusion
here, we sometimes get e-mail from people who want to know why we didn't
reject it.

This makes it a balancing act for us. We don't want to exclude or delay
articles unnecessarily, but we don't want to include the things that some
people find objectionable. There are always a few borderline postings, and
those give us the most trouble.

The group was established as per UseNet protocols with an initial proposal,
a long period of discussion, and a public vote. The reasons for starting it
as a moderated group were hashed over thoroughly during the discussion, and
that is how it was accepted during the vote.

>
> As a lucker, until now in this ng, I hope my observations help. I love
> the idea of this newsgroup.
Thank you for your comments, and I hope that you continue to participate.

Regards,
Bill

--
Bill Morgan
wtmorgan@pilot.msu.edu
Center for Room Temperature Confusion

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