Closed Bug 65456 Opened 24 years ago Closed 24 years ago

Only accept posts from people who have read the FAQ ("robo-moderated" newsgroup)

Categories

(mozilla.org Graveyard :: Server Operations, task)

task
Not set
normal

Tracking

(Not tracked)

RESOLVED WONTFIX

People

(Reporter: afranke, Unassigned)

References

()

Details

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(1 file)

There is a general agreement that reporting bugs to the newsgroups is a bad thing. To avoid spamming developer newsgroups with bug reports, some "catchy" non-developer newsgroups like mozilla.bugs.browser and mozilla.bugs.mailnews may be created to attract attention. Their only purpose is to make potential posters read the FAQ. (I have linked to a draft for such an FAQ above.) The goal is to force people to read the FAQ first. Therefore, these groups should be made moderated, and a program should be set up to be the moderator. This program should only allow posts that either a) contain the URL of the FAQ in the message body or b) are from someone who has successfully posted to that group before (in this case, the URL of the FAQ should be appended to the posting, if it's not already contained in the message, see alternative b) in bug 65451) If the post is rejected, a message should be sent to the poster that contains the URL of the FAQ and asks him to read the FAQ and then re-post the modified message. Condition b) will increase usability a lot for those who frequently post to these groups (e.g reply & answer the questions raised there). A nice side effect of this mechanism is that these groups will be completely free of spam.
Again, this idea was covered at the time of the newsgroup reorg. AIUI, we agreed to leave it, and see if the other measures we are taking reduced the flow of bug reports to the newsgroups. Gerv
from bug 65451: ------- Additional Comments From Ben Bucksch 2001-01-14 14:28 ------- [...] I like the requirement to read the FAQ before being able to post. If a reader posts for the first time, the msg doesn't get through until he answers to the software with a keyword (similar to the mailing-list subscription confirmation). The keyword (and its existance) is mentioned only in the FAQ. Once the poster sent the keyword, that From address is free to post (and the first post is automatically posted). It could be implemented via a moderated newsgroup, just that the moderator is software. Who could implement it? (I guess, Netscape IT wouldn't.) ------- Additional Comments From Ben Bucksch 2001-01-14 14:31 ------- Of course, the first post should bounce with a hint to the FAQ URL.
In answer to Gerv: This is just to put this alternative on the table, visible for everybody, and to evaluate the related technical issues. If other means are sufficient to cut down on clueless posts, that's fine. See also Ben Bucksch's thread on n.p.m.webtools titled "Require to read FAQ before posting". It looks like such a mechanism is used for comp.lang.perl.misc: news://news.mozilla.org:119/B687A00C.3A25%25zach%40zachlipton.com Well, I see that your current proposal still doesn't contain any .bugs newsgroups... I was referring to news://news.mozilla.org:119/3A349C7A.EAE522F5%40univ.ox.ac.uk > > 1. Create some "catchy" additional newsgroups that are not intended to be > > used as a development communications channel in the first place (e.g. > > mozilla.bugs.browser, mozilla.bugs.mail-news). > > 2. Make them moderated by a robot that points new posters to an FAQ page. > > OK, I'm almost convinced. Does anyone else have any arguments pro or con > for this? > > Gerv and news://news.mozilla.org:119/3A34D373.833A2826%40univ.ox.ac.uk > mozilla.bugs.*; trying to post to these gets a reply pointing to the FAQ > on how to search Bugzilla and file bug reports (as drafted by Andreas.) So > no posts ever make it through at all. This is rather hacky, but I think it > might well be effective. > > [...mozilla.users... snipped] > > My (current ;-) view is that we should have bugs.browser and > bugs.mail-news (and perhaps a couple more), as above. We should also have > users.general and users.wishlist - both as discussion-traps. They are > unmoderated, but wishlist has a regularly-posted FAQ URL.
> I guess, Netscape IT wouldn't. I doubt. "Netscape IT's" (what is it?) resources are extremely limited and focused to other things. But stay tuned.
OK, it's a fair cop, guv :-) Seriously, we can always create more later. As they are currently envisaged, they are just a bit hacky, so I was hoping we could get away without them. Gerv
I just notice the summary. I intended this proposal for *most* mozilla newsgroups, not just mozilla.bugs.*. Changing SUMMARY.
Summary: automatic moderator for mozilla.bugs.* newsgroups (only accept posts from people who have read the FAQ) → Only accept posts from people who have read the FAQ
Re-adding "newsgroup" and "moderate" to summary to make the bug easier to find.
Summary: Only accept posts from people who have read the FAQ → Only accept posts from people who have read the FAQ ("robo-moderated" newsgroup)
Moving to nobody until we have better picture of where we'll be going with mozilla.org support by IC.
Assignee: rko → nobody
this is a bad idea. marking wontfix.
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 24 years ago
Resolution: --- → WONTFIX
Dawn, lots fo people on .general thought, this (or bug 65451 ior something similar) is a good idea. Please be at least more verbose. REOPENing.
Status: RESOLVED → REOPENED
Resolution: WONTFIX → ---
Also note that there are different opinions on whether this mechanism should only be applied to a few "artificial" newsgroups like mozilla.bugs.* which do not exist yet, or to some other newsgroups, too. Ben: I hope that it's not controversial that this mechanism, if applied at all, should be applied to one or a few newsgroups first, and only extended to other newsgroups if it seems to "work" and its assets seem to outweigh its drawbacks, _and_ there are reasons to expect similar benefits with "ordinary" newsgroups. For this reason I suggest this bug to be about the (hopefully least controversial) "first stage" where this mechanism is applied to the mozilla.bugs.* newsgroups only, for now. I think it's always a good idea to give a reason when marking an RFE wontfix.
1) as gerv mentioned, i believe the newsgroup reorg will address many of our problems. 2) setting up a byzantine mechanism for posting to a newsgroup isn't going to deter anyone from spamming normal groups. if anything it will make things it worse because then there will be a lot of complaints about not being able to post. No matter what you do there will be people who don't read directions.
Status: REOPENED → RESOLVED
Closed: 24 years ago24 years ago
Resolution: --- → WONTFIX
> isn't going to deter anyone from spamming normal groups. I disagree. If we were able to move a simple "not for Netscape users" (or IMO better "developers only") message before posting, I guess, at least 50% of OFFTOPIC posts would be avoided. Many people just look for "mail" in the newsgroup names and post there. We will avoid these guys. IMO, this was in incredible good idea. :-(
Dawn, please read the attachment. Another side-effect just came to me: This will completely avoid spam. I am subscribed to a few Mozilla mailinglist (not many, maybe 5 or 7), and these are the main source for spam in my mailbox. I'd be happy, if we could cut on that, too.
Product: mozilla.org → mozilla.org Graveyard
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