I was thinking about this in the shower this morning (always a dangerous
proposition to be sure!) and wanted to share this with ya'll.
 
 
WHEREAS
a) many sites are beginning to restrict listserv lists
b) some users prefer Usenet groups while others prefer direct e-mail for
      the same discussion
c) listserv lists generally have a higher signal::noise ratio than
      unmoderated news groups
d) listserv lists make usenet group moderation a piece of cake
e) listserv lists make multi-moderator newsgroups possible (at least, it
      will when Eric gets the Moderator: tag for list headers done)
f) it will allow for semi-moderation of Usenet groups.  In this case,
      the newsgroup moderator would be the Listserv list, but the list
      itself would be Send=Public.  The Filter: tag could be used for
      problem posters.
g) not everyone can read Usenet groups - an email option would then be
      available to them.
 
 
I PROPOSE:
That a program be written that receives e-mail and puts the contents
into the appropriate Usenet group.  Going the other direction could
be nice, but my primary focus is on this one way direction (you'll see
why later).
 
 
DISCUSSION:
Not being especailly well versed in Usenet lingo, I'm somewhat at a
disadvantage here, but I suspect that it should probably handle the
the 2 most popular forms of Usenet server protocols: NNTP and INN.
 
I guess this would also mean that this program be written for Unix
systems first since it's my belief that most Usenet deamons run
there.  I know that NETNEWS already does this, but it's not reasonable
to expect that the few NETNEWS sites accomidate all the possible
Listserv <--> Usenet possibilities.
 
 
EXAMPLES (real life, I'm already doing this):
I am the moderator for a Usenet group that has an estimated 1000
subscribers.  The email address for the posts to be delivered is a
listserv list (Editor=me).  Listserv already nicely puts in a
Newsgroup: tag  (Newsgroup=group.name).  Currently one of the
subscribers is a nice NETNEWS site (thanks Jim) that is doing the
crossposting chores.
 
The nice-ities about this is:
* I can have other Editor= tags for people that always post stuff that
  should be approved.  Significantly less work for me (there's now
  about 60 of these folks).
 
* After Eric gets the Moderator= tag put in the next version, the posts
  which come from the other folks can be split up among a group of
  people (not a small matter when we're talking about 75 posts/day).
 
* I own a different list (Send=Public) that will soon be a Usenet group
  set up like (F) above, ie it will be a moderated group, but the posts
  will be sent to the listserv list.
 
 
 
What do ya'll think?
 
Is it already done?
 
------------------------------------------------------------------
Chris Barnes                                 (409) 846-3273 (home)
[log in to unmask]                        (409) 845-9520 (work)
 
"If the mind can conceive it, the body can achieve it."
      Napoleon Hill  (in his book _Think & Grow Rich_)