Like you, I have never subscribed to a moderated group, so I have never thought about it, in decades. I simply thought that the news protocol
would know about it and handle it "somehow".
telnet news.blueworldhosting.com 119200 nnrp.usenet.blueworldhosting.com InterNetNews NNRP server INN
telnet paganini.bofh.team 119200 paganini.bofh.team InterNetNews NNRP server INN 2.6.4 ready
My summary below (likely wrong) is my attempt at describing for those
teams how the moderation process works, particularly in this specific
case for the two (free) news servers hosted by Jesse & Ivo
respectively, although this is no slight on them as we're simply
using their servers as common testable examples of servers we are
familiar with that we also trust.
Privacy is a key component of this question as privacy is pervasive
(e.g., privacy is why I wrote my own newsreader decades ago on
Solaris).
One specific question we have is whether a user can "email" directly
to a moderated newsgroup (when privacy is involved), so let's call
that Q1, while another question we have is if they can, how are the
headers structured (since they're different from normal smtp email
headers) which we'll call Q2 and yet another question we have is how
does the moderation flow work from user to moderator when a
newsreader speaking only nntp is used, which is Q3.
Summarized, with privacy in mind, may we ask the peering group:
Q1: Can users email a post to a moderated newsgroup with email
privacy? Q2: If using throwaway mail servers, what additional headers
are required? Q3: How does "typical" moderation work when the nntp
header email is bogus?
I think, based on my tests, that the normal process is that the news
server admin decides which moderated groups he wants to peer and then
he figures out how each moderated group wants to be notified, where,
it seems, as John Gilliver noted, "in some cases there's a sort of
central clearinghouse".
Note that sending the article to the first server failed, but sending
it to the second server seems to have not failed, but it still needs acceptance.
Summarized, with privacy in mind, may we ask the peering group:
Q1: Can users email a post to a moderated newsgroup with email privacy?
Q2: If using throwaway mail servers, what additional headers are required?
Q3: How does "typical" moderation work when the nntp header email is bogus?
. . .--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
It's not a Usenet article till that happens. Don't preload NNTP headers. Never do that. Just don't. How do you not understand this?
Adam H. Kerman wrote:
It's not a Usenet article till that happens. Don't preload NNTP headers.
Never do that. Just don't. How do you not understand this?
If you mail your article to the moderator, you should add the same headers you would add if you'd post the article to a moderated group, i.e. at
least a Newsgroups: header. There's nothing wrong with that.
Adam H. Kerman wrote:
It's not a Usenet article till that happens. Don't preload NNTP headers. >>Never do that. Just don't. How do you not understand this?
If you mail your article to the moderator, you should add the same headers >you would add if you'd post the article to a moderated group, i.e. at
least a Newsgroups: header. There's nothing wrong with that.
. . .
Please pick this apart if there are technical flaws in this writeup!
2. Our NNTP server forwards the post to the moderator. The server sends
the submission as email to the moderator's address for that group.
The address is normally formed by replacing periods with hyphens and
appending @moderators.isc.org.
Note that a bogus or nonworking
"From" address is common on Usenet and is normally acceptable.
The domain can be real but the address is designed to not be real.
3. The moderator reviews the submission. They read the post in their
moderation queue and check that it is on topic, that it follows the
group's rules, and that it is not spam or abusive. A real email
address is usually not required. A bogus address only matters if the
moderator needs to contact us or if the group has rules requiring
real identities.
4. If the moderator approves the post, they reinject it into Usenet.
The moderator or their software adds an Approved header during this
reinjection, for example...
Approved: moderator@example.org
This header tells Usenet servers that the article is authorized for
the moderated group. The moderator's system posts from a trusted
host or authenticated account, so servers accept the Approved
article.
5. Usenet servers distribute the approved article. Because it contains
a valid Approved header and comes from a trusted injection point,
servers propagate it normally.
Our original From header, even if it
is bogus, is usually preserved unless the moderator changes it.
For a direct email... as far as I can tell... (which may be wrong)...
1. We compose our article in our MUA. Instead of posting through NNTP,
we prepare to send it as email directly to the moderator or to the
ISC moderation relay. This method is allowed for moderated groups as
long as we supply the correct Usenet headers.
3. We include all required Usenet headers in the email body.
headers must appear exactly as they would in a normal Usenet post.
At minimum we include:
From:
Newsgroups:
Subject:
Date:
Message-ID:
References: (optional)
Organization: (optional)
User-Agent: (optional)
We do not include a spoofed Approved header.
That is frowned upon as it is added only by the moderator.
4. We place a blank line after the headers. After that blank line we
write the body of our article. The email now contains a complete
Usenet article wrapped inside an email envelope.
"Maria Sophia" appeared to be talking about Path and Injection headers
that are expected to be added by the News server at injection.
Adam H. Kerman wrote:
"Maria Sophia" appeared to be talking about Path and Injection headers
that are expected to be added by the News server at injection.
I very much appreciate your technical help, but I disavow your accusations.
. . .
having said that bluntly, so as to put as stop to Adam's wildly
inappropriate assumptions based on his own psychological needs, I will
THANK Adam and others for the expert advice on how moderation works.
. . .--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
1. We post our article from our newsreader to our NNTP server. The
server receives it using the NNTP POST command. The server checks
the group flags and sees that misc.test.moderated is moderated, so
it does not inject the article directly into the group.
2. Our NNTP server forwards the post to the moderator. The server sends
the submission as email to the moderator's address for that group.
The address is normally formed by replacing periods with hyphens and
appending @moderators.isc.org. Note that a bogus or nonworking
"From" address is common on Usenet and is normally acceptable.
The domain can be real but the address is designed to not be real.
3. The moderator reviews the submission. They read the post in their
moderation queue and check that it is on topic, that it follows the
group's rules, and that it is not spam or abusive. A real email
address is usually not required.
A bogus address only matters if the
moderator needs to contact us or if the group has rules requiring
real identities.
4. If the moderator approves the post, they reinject it into Usenet.
The moderator or their software adds an Approved header during this
reinjection, for example...
Approved: moderator@example.org
This header tells Usenet servers that the article is authorized for
the moderated group. The moderator's system posts from a trusted
host or authenticated account, so servers accept the Approved
article.
5. Usenet servers distribute the approved article. Because it contains
a valid Approved header and comes from a trusted injection point,
servers propagate it normally.
Our original From header, even if it
is bogus, is usually preserved unless the moderator changes it.
For a direct email... as far as I can tell... (which may be wrong)...
1. We compose our article in our MUA. Instead of posting through NNTP,
we prepare to send it as email directly to the moderator or to the
ISC moderation relay. This method is allowed for moderated groups as
long as we supply the correct Usenet headers.
2. We set the To address to the group's submission address. For Big-8
groups the standard form is the group name with periods changed to
hyphens, plus @moderators.isc.org. Example:
misc.test.moderated -> misc-test-moderated@moderators.isc.org
3. We include all required Usenet headers in the email body.
These
headers must appear exactly as they would in a normal Usenet post.
At minimum we include:
From:
Newsgroups:
Subject:
Date:
Message-ID:
References: (optional)
Organization: (optional)
User-Agent: (optional)
4. We place a blank line after the headers. After that blank line we
write the body of our article. The email now contains a complete
Usenet article wrapped inside an email envelope.
Had I known how it works, I would have written up a tutorial instead since I'm a rare breed of person who delights in edifying everyone around me.
1. We post our article from our newsreader to our NNTP server. The
server receives it using the NNTP POST command. The server checks
the group flags and sees that misc.test.moderated is moderated, so
it does not inject the article directly into the group.
2. Our NNTP server forwards the post to the moderator. The server sends
the submission as email to the moderator's address for that group.
The address is normally formed by replacing periods with hyphens and
appending @moderators.isc.org. Note that a bogus or nonworking
"From" address is common on Usenet and is normally acceptable.
The domain can be real but the address is designed to not be real.
3. The moderator reviews the submission. They read the post in their
moderation queue and check that it is on topic, that it follows the
group's rules, and that it is not spam or abusive. A real email
address is usually not required.
A bogus address only matters if the
moderator needs to contact us or if the group has rules requiring
real identities.
4. If the moderator approves the post, they reinject it into Usenet.
The moderator or their software adds an Approved header during this
reinjection, for example...
Approved: moderator@example.org
This header tells Usenet servers that the article is authorized for
the moderated group. The moderator's system posts from a trusted
host or authenticated account, so servers accept the Approved
article.
5. Usenet servers distribute the approved article. Because it contains
a valid Approved header and comes from a trusted injection point,
servers propagate it normally.
Our original From header, even if it
is bogus, is usually preserved unless the moderator changes it.
For a direct email... as far as I can tell... (which may be wrong)...
1. We compose our article in our MUA. Instead of posting through NNTP,
we prepare to send it as email directly to the moderator or to the
ISC moderation relay. This method is allowed for moderated groups as
long as we supply the correct Usenet headers.
2. We set the To address to the group's submission address. For Big-8
groups the standard form is the group name with periods changed to
hyphens, plus @moderators.isc.org. Example:
misc.test.moderated -> misc-test-moderated@moderators.isc.org
3. We include all required Usenet headers in the email body.
These
headers must appear exactly as they would in a normal Usenet post.
At minimum we include:
From:
Newsgroups:
Subject:
Date:
Message-ID:
References: (optional)
Organization: (optional)
User-Agent: (optional)
4. We place a blank line after the headers. After that blank line we
write the body of our article. The email now contains a complete
Usenet article wrapped inside an email envelope.
Had I known how it works, I would have written up a tutorial instead since I'm a rare breed of person who delights in edifying everyone around me.
If I may, I'd like to propose the following process as a preliminary
attempt at describing what happens when we post to a moderated newsgroup.
1. We post our article from our newsreader to our NNTP server. The
-a server receives it using the NNTP POST command. The server checks
-a the group flags and sees that misc.test.moderated is moderated, so
-a it does not inject the article directly into the group.
2. Our NNTP server forwards the post to the moderator. The server sends
-a the submission as email to the moderator's address for that group.
-a The address is normally formed by replacing periods with hyphens and
-a appending @moderators.isc.org.
4. If the moderator approves the post, they reinject it into Usenet.
-a The moderator or their software adds an Approved header during this
-a reinjection, for example... -a-a-a-a Approved: moderator@example.org
-a This header tells Usenet servers that the article is authorized for
-a the moderated group. The moderator's system posts from a trusted
-a host or authenticated account, so servers accept the Approved
-a article.
5. Usenet servers distribute the approved article. Because it contains
-a a valid Approved header and comes from a trusted injection point,
-a servers propagate it normally.
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