Re: [boost] NNTP/newsgroup questions [was: move to mailman]

From: Jason Stewart (res0054p_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-03-12 12:24:44

>Dave Abrahams and I think a newsgroup is worth pressing for, and I'm going
>to coordinate the effort.

Great!

>Q. Open to the public or limited to Boost members?
>A. Limited to Boost members. The best of all worlds would be a single
>signup for the mailing list would also enable newsgroup posting.  (Limited
>to members seems to me so worthwhile as to be worth a lot of effort to get
>it working.)

The latest version of INN can use a python or perl script to authenticate 
against a database or other means. It should be easy to check that against 
a list somewhere. This can control reading and posting.

>Q. How do we prevent spam and other off-topic posts to the newsgroup?
>A. Depend on "limited to members" to stop most of the problem posts. The
>key would be to use the same policies for the newsgroups as for the list.
>(In other words, intercept newsgroup postings, and forward them to the list
>only. If the message is accepted for posting on the list, then it will be
>automatically gated to the newsgroup. The reality may be a lot messier.)

The above should take care of this. If only members are allowed to 
read/post then spammers would have to join which they are unlikely to do.

>Q. How do we prevent spammers from harvesting email addresses from
>postings?
>A. Given the answers to the questions above, harvesting is less likely, but
>still possible.  Mailman has an option to "Hide the sender of a message,
>replacing it with the list address", but warns this may be annoying as
>headers no longer show the name of the actual poster.  Seems to be it would
>be better to remove the poster's email address, but not name. I'll check to
>see if that is possible.

Same as above. They could not read the messages unless they had permission.

Jason Stewart