Pete Weiss wrote:

> As I recall, the American list-2-news-2-list gateway was built upon NETNEWS
> software for VM.  AFAICT there is nothing magical about the American site,
> _other_ than the human beings who dedicated themselves to this service.
> There are many LOCAL NETNEWS gateways e.g., a campus NETNEWS system will
> subscribe/gate to a LISTSERV(R) list and only distribute to that campus.

Interesting, but that begs the original question.  As I have seen it in
operation, the most EFFECTIVE way to operate an informational USENET
site and keep the spammers and jerks off of it is to run it from a
moderated discussion list.  This is what I want to do.

The only way the L-Soft listowner's manual explains how to do that is
through the American U gateway.

If there are gateways that are only local, that is not what I am looking
for.

I have to go through the FAQs again, but I did not see information in the
Big Eight faqs saying how to create a USENET site that is accessible only
via a moderated discussion list.  One of the subscribers here kindly
offered what appears to be the only solution.

But I think what a lot of us are asking is whether or not L-Soft is going
to help us out here in any way -- at least provide information if nothing
else.

Ben's response (which is pretty much a duplicate of the response I've been
getting for two months now) is "Oh, you don't WANT to gate to USENET" and
"OH, USENET's going to die out anyway."

Well, pardon me, but that's not my experience.  And I don't want to have
to write a dissertation on it.  Can my request be respected just as it is
without the answer being, "Aw, if you were REAL knowledgeable you wouldn't
want to do it"?

The answer that Eric gave from L-Soft on the ease-home list was that
it would be too expensive because too few listowners would want to do it,
so they're not going to even offer it at a fee basis.

Is there anyplace in clear language that explains how to do what I want
to do -- GATE AN EXISTING, MODERATED DISCUSSION LIST TO USENET IN SUCH
A WAY THAT NO ONE CAN POST WITHOUT GOING THROUGH THE MODERATOR OF THE
DISCUSSION LIST?

If the answer is, check the FAQs, Jack -- well, I was hoping for a
shortcut here.  Hard to have to say it out loud, but one of the
serious disabilities of my illness is I have a hard time reading
and comprehending large amounts of written material.  That's one of
several reasons I'm on sick leave from my university.  (I have
chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome, CFIDS, also known
by the ridiculous name of chronic fatigue syndrome, and I have it
quite severely.  The purpose of my lists is to provide support,
information, and a center for advocacy for people with my illness.
The one we want to gate to USENET would be connected with a nonprofit
on-line organization for PWC's (people with CFIDS).  Yes, we have a
website.  But we also want access to a USENET gateway.)

Finally, if the American U gateway is on its last legs (which it appears
to be -- but it would be nice to hear from SOMEONE who is in the know
whether this is actually the case) -- what are all of those people who
already USE that gateway going to do?

Mary Schweitzer