Subject: Re: vetted postings--or am I screwing up?

From: [email-masked] (Jonathan M. Elson)
Date: 6 Dec 1996 19:46:56 GMT

Les Whitaker ([email-masked]) wrote:
: Are the postings on this board vetted? .i.e. scanned by someone for
: inclusion/exclusion? Or am I messing up the procedure somehow? None of my
: posts in the last two weeks have been posted. howcum?
: Les Whitaker [email-masked]

This newsgroup is NOT moderated.  Some of us wish it were!  The NNTP
protocol which propagates these messages across the world, site by site
is like a bucket brigade, passing messages from one to the next.
If any site goes down, has a bad network link, gets overloaded, etc.
messages can be lost.  Some sites allow only so much traffic/hour, any
excess it thrown away.  So, a LOT of messages are lost.  In the binaries
groups, up to 30% of the postings are discarded.  I don't know whether this
is due to the name of the group having 'binaries' in it, the size of those
posts, or some other aspect.  I don't think 30% of the posts here are lost,
but I am quite sure that more than a few are!  I scan this group something
like twice a day, and some of the threads really start in the middle, so
I know something is being lost.  On the other hand, NNTP can be very slow,
and it is not uncommon to see a reply to an earlier question show up, and 
then, 3-4 DAYS later, the original question appears!  There are also
'rogue cancellers', which are automated programs (or unauthorized persons)
who cancel messages at random, or with an intention of annoying someone.

Hope this at least explains some of how it works (and doesn't work).
					Jon

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From: Regis Galbach <[email-masked]>
Date: 6 Dec 1996 16:40:50 GMT

This one got posted.  And there can't be anyone screening or they've just 
decided to pick on you 'cuz there is some pretty crappy commercials that 
roll through in between the good 'stuff'.

regis

"Les Whitaker" <[email-masked]> wrote:
>Are the postings on this board vetted? .i.e. scanned by someone for
>inclusion/exclusion? Or am I messing up the procedure somehow? None of my
>posts in the last two weeks have been posted. howcum?
>Les Whitaker [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Fitch R. Williams)
Date: Mon, 09 Dec 1996 14:17:10 GMT

>Les Whitaker [email-masked]

No, the postings are not vetted.   At times wthey will come
in slugs of 200 to 250, (I got four eachof the preceeding
days, then suddenly 248 this AM)  other days I only get a
few.  

I did find out this morning that the news server at my ISP
is acting up.  They have a backup server and told me how to
get access to it, so hopefully I will have fewer dry days.

Fitch

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From: "Les Whitaker" <[email-masked]>
Date: 6 Dec 1996 16:36:07 GMT