UK Newsadmin's FAQ

> --- Begin Message ---
> This FAQ is prepared by Charles Lindsey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> for the
> purpose of disseminating the current status concerning management of the uk.*
> hierarchy to newsadmins throughout the UK and elsewhere.
>
> I don't know whether these particular questions are in fact "Frequently
> Asked", but I certainly believe that they should be.
>
> Comments and suggestions for future editions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] please.
>
> This FAQ is archived at
>     <http://www.usenet.org.uk/newsadmins.html> and at
>     <ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/usenet/news-info/news.answers/uk/newsadmins-faq>
>
> --- End Message ---
> --- Begin Message ---
>         1.  Recent Changes
>         2.  Who manages the uk.* hierarchy?
>         3.  Who is control?
>         4.  What is usenet.org.uk?
>         5.  Who are the UK Volunteer Votetakers?
>         6.  What about the wales.*, scot.*, ni.* and england.* hierarchies?
>         7.  So which groups should I take on my site?
>         8.  How do I send articles to a moderated group?
>         9 . Who are the moderators of the uk.* groups?
>         10. What other sources of information are there?
>         11. Where can I find an up-to-date list of newsgroups?
>         12. PGP signature of control messages
>         13. What other questions are there?
>
> --- End Message ---
> --- Begin Message ---
> Tue Apr 23 15:09:49 BST 2002    Cleanup of moderation submission
> Mon Aug  5 19:46:39 BST 2002    New Demon Committee representative
> Mon Dec  9 11:45:06 GMT 2002    New Energis Committee representative
> Sun Feb  9 11:55:17 GMT 2003    New committee
>                                 england.* and ni.*
> Wed Apr 23 14:04:20 BST 2003    Coopt Graham Drabble;
>                                 Dave Williams as Control
> Wed Jul  2 16:32:41 BST 2003    Mentors, Jack Howard, Jon Ribbens,
>                                 eunet, europa, moderators, INET
>
> --- End Message ---
> --- Begin Message ---
> Four documents set out the procedures for creating and/or removing/renaming
> newsgroups within the uk.* hierarchy.
>
>     GUIDELINES FOR GROUP CREATION WITHIN THE UK HIERARCHY
>         <http://www.usenet.org.uk/guidelines.html>
>         <ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/usenet/news-info/news.answers/uk/guidelines>
>     VOTING PROCEDURES WITHIN THE UK HIERARCHY
>         <http://www.usenet.org.uk/voting.html>
>         <ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/usenet/news-info/news.answers/uk/voting>
>     THE UK USENET COMMITTEE
>         <http://www.usenet.org.uk/committee.html>
>         <ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/usenet/news-info/news.answers/uk/committee>
>     GUIDELINES FOR UK USENET MENTORS
>         <http://www.usenet.org.uk/mentors.html>
>
> Three of these documents were accepted on 7 Aug 95 following a vote conducted in
> uk.net.news, with the results, respectively, of
>                 (93 yes : 13 no)
>                 (91 yes : 13 no)
>                 (76 yes : 23 no)
> The Mentors document was added on 13 Jul 2000 (17 yes : 8 no).
>
> Essentially, they provide for a Committee to be elected each October, with a
> person known as Control, answerable to the Committee, to oversee the process
> of group creation, and a group of mentors to assist proponents with the
> preparation of RFDs.
>
> After the most recent elections, in October 2002, the Committee comprises
>
> Permanent members
>         For BTnet -     Martin Stewart
>         For Demon -     Clive D. W. Feather
>         For Energis -   Euan Galloway
>         For PSINet -    No current representative
> Ex Officio as Control
>         Dave Williams
> Open members
> Until Dec 2003
>         Dave Mayall
>         Peter Corlett
>         Graham Drabble (coopted following the resignation of Sarah Reeson)
> Until Dec 2004
>         Charles Lindsey
>         Alan Ford
> Until Dec 2004 or Dec 2005
>         Geoff Berrow
>         Thomas Lee
>         Andrew Gierth
>
> The committee as a whole may be reached by email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> --- End Message ---
> --- Begin Message ---
> The Committee have appointed Dave Williams as Control, and Charles Lindsey
> as Deputy Control.
>
> For official purposes Control may be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] It is
> required that all RFDs and CFVs should be posted to uk.net.news.announce in
> accordance with the Guidelines document, and it is advised that all those
> responsible for the administration of news servers in the UK should subscribe
> to that group.
>
> BTNet, Demon, Eunet-GB and Pipex wish it to be known that they will in
> future honour all and only newgroup and rmgroup control messages for the
> uk.* hierarchy issued by [EMAIL PROTECTED], and they urge all other
> news administrators to adopt that same policy.
>
> --- End Message ---
> --- Begin Message ---
> A domain name. Silly question! Next?
>
> But to be serious, it is a domain name set up to facilitate communication
> with the Committee, in such a manner that the relevant officers can be
> reached even if their identities change. Currently, the following services
> are available.
>
>         [EMAIL PROTECTED]               to reach Control
>         [EMAIL PROTECTED]               to reach the whole Committee
>         [EMAIL PROTECTED]               to reach the group of independent
>                                         UK Volunteer Votetakers
>         http://www.usenet.org.uk        the UK Usenet Website
>
> --- End Message ---
> --- Begin Message ---
> A group of people, independent of the Committee, who are empowered by the
> VOTING PROCEDURES to conduct votes. The coordinator of this group is Jon
> Ribbens, reachable via [EMAIL PROTECTED] They also have their own
> website at <http://www.ukvoting.org.uk>.
>
> --- End Message ---
> --- Begin Message ---
> For wales.*, there is a similar elected committee (reached at
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]) and control (reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED])
> and also a website at <http://www.wales-usenet.org/>.
>
> For scot.* there is also an elected committee, (reached at
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]) and control
> (reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED]) and also a website at
> <http://www.scot.news-admin.org>.
>
> For ni.*, the contact addresses are Paul Gregg [EMAIL PROTECTED] and John
> Kennedy [EMAIL PROTECTED], and the website is at
> <http://www.ni.org>.
>
> For england.*, the contact address is Darren Wyn Rees
> [EMAIL PROTECTED], the control address is
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] and the website is at
> <http://www.england.news-admin.org>.
>
> --- End Message ---
> --- Begin Message ---
> Well that is your prerogative to decide. If you want to take a standard uk.*
> "full feed", then you should accept the periodic 'newgroup', 'rmgroup' and
> 'checkgroups' control messages issued by [EMAIL PROTECTED], and (for the
> uk.* groups) no others. You may of course decide to take less than this if
> your disc space and/or range of interests are limited.
>
> It is possible to automate the acceptance of these control messages issued by
> [EMAIL PROTECTED], and it is always safe to do so if you first verify the
> PGP signatures with which they are authenticated (if you are unable to do
> that, it is recommended that at least 'rmgroup's and 'checkgroups' be
> inspected manually before acceptance - there are not so many of those,
> anyway).
>
> If you run CNews, then the following 'controlperm' file will achieve the
> necessary effects. Note that this example also shows the correct way to
> handle control messages for the "Big-8" and also what is believed to be
> correct for several other hierarchies. Note that this example assumes that
> you have installed the latest patch for CNews to implement the
> verification of PGP signatures.
>
>                 --------------------------------
>
> # Four/five fields per line,
> # first a newsgroup pattern,
> # second an author name (or "any"),
> # third a set of operations ("n" newgroup, "r" rmgroup, "c" checkgroups),
> # fourth a set of flags ("p" do it iff poster's identity is pgpverified,
> #    "y" do it, "n" don't, "q" don't report at all, "v" include
> #    entire control message in report) (default "yv"),
> # fifth (optionally) the entity allowed to pgpsign it.
>
> # [EMAIL PROTECTED] run the main Usenet hierarchies
> comp,sci,misc,rec,soc,talk,news,humanities [EMAIL PROTECTED] n p 
> news.announce.newgroups
> # but their name can be forged, so don't let them rmgroup unless you use 'p'...
> comp,sci,misc,rec,soc,talk,news,humanities [EMAIL PROTECTED] r p 
> news.announce.newgroups
> # likewise checkgroups
> comp,sci,misc,rec,soc,talk,news,humanities [EMAIL PROTECTED] c p 
> news.announce.newgroups
> # and nobody else gets any attention in these hierarchies
> comp,sci,misc,rec,soc,talk,news,humanities      any     nrc     nv
>
> uk      [EMAIL PROTECTED]               nrc     p uk.net.news.announce
> wales   [EMAIL PROTECTED]       nrc     p wales-usenet
> england [EMAIL PROTECTED]       nrc     p england-usenet
> europa  [EMAIL PROTECTED]       nrc     p [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> de      [EMAIL PROTECTED]               nrc     p de.admin.news.announce
> nl      [EMAIL PROTECTED]               nrc     p nl.newsgroups
> nz      [EMAIL PROTECTED]               nrc     p nz-hir-control
> bionet  [EMAIL PROTECTED]                       n       y
> bionet  [EMAIL PROTECTED]                       rc      nv
> bionet  [EMAIL PROTECTED]               n       y
> bionet  [EMAIL PROTECTED]               rc      nv
> bionet  [EMAIL PROTECTED]               nrc     nv
> linux   [EMAIL PROTECTED]               nrc     nv
> bit     [EMAIL PROTECTED]               nrc     p bit.admin
> biz     [EMAIL PROTECTED]               n       y
> biz     [EMAIL PROTECTED]               rc      nv
> clari   [EMAIL PROTECTED]               nrc     p ClariNet.Group
>
> # it's really tempting to change this one to nq...
> alt     any                             nr      nv
> alt     any                             c       nq
>
> # to.all groups are manually manipulated only
> to      any                             nrc     nq
>
> # final default:  refuse noisily
> all     any                             nrc     nv
>
>                 --------------------------------
>
> If you run INN, the corresponding file is 'control.ctl' and the facilities
> available are slightly different. Here is the nearest equivalent to the
> 'controlperm' file above.
>
>                 --------------------------------
>
> ##  $Revision: 1.4 $
> ##  control.ctl - access control for control messages
> ##  Format:
> ##      <message>:<from>:<newsgroups>:<action>
> ##  The last match found is used.
> ##      <message>       Control message or "all" if it applies
> ##                      to all control messages.
> ##      <from>          Pattern that must match the From line.
> ##      <newsgroups>    Pattern that must match the newsgroup being
> ##                      newgroup'd or rmgroup'd (ignored for other messages).
> ##      <action>        What to do:
> ##                          doit        Perform action (usually sends mail too)
> ##                          doifarg     Do if command has an arg (see sendsys)
> ##                          doit=xxx    Do action; log to xxx (see below)
> ##                          drop        Ignore message
> ##                          log         One line to error log
> ##                          log=xxx     Log to xxx (see below)
> ##                          mail        Send mail to admin
> ##                          verify-ddd  doit if pgpverified by ddd
> ##                          verify-ddd=xxx
> ##                      xxx=mail to mail; xxx= (empty) to toss; xxx=/full/path
> ##                      to log to /full/path; xxx=foo to log to ${LOG}/foo.log
> ##      last entry matched is used 
> ##      DEFAULT
> all:*:*:mail
>
> ##      CHECKGROUPS MESSAGES
> checkgroups:*:*:mail
> checkgroups:[EMAIL 
> PROTECTED]:comp.*|misc.*|news.*|rec.*|sci.*|soc.*|talk.*|humanities.*:verify-news.announce.newgroups=mail
> checkgroups:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:uk.*:verify-uk.net.news.announce=mail
> checkgroups:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:wales.*:verify-wales-usenet=mail
> checkgroups:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:england.*:verify-england-usenet=mail
> checkgroups:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:europa.*:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> ##      IHAVE/SENDME MESSAGES
> ihave:*:*:drop
> sendme:*:*:drop
>
> ##      NEWGROUP MESSAGES
> ##  Any newsgroups
> newgroup:*:*:mail
> newgroup:[EMAIL 
> PROTECTED]:comp.*|misc.*|news.*|rec.*|sci.*|soc.*|talk.*|humanities.*:verify-news.announce.newgroups=newgroup
> newgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:uk.*:verify-uk.net.news.announce=newgroup
> newgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:wales.*:verify-wales-usenet=newgroup
> newgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:england.*:verify-england-usenet
> newgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:europa.*:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> newgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:de.*:verify-de.admin.news.announce=newgroup
> newgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:nl.*:verify-nl.newsgroups=newgroup
> newgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:nz.*:verify-nz-hir-control=newgroup
> newgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:bionet.*:doit=newgroup
> newgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:bionet.*:doit=newgroup
> newgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:bionet.*:mail
> newgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:linux.*:doit=newgroup
> newgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:bit.*:verify-bit.admin=newgroup
> newgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:biz.*:doit=newgroup
> newgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:clari.*:verify-ClariNet.Group=newgroup
>
> ##      RMGROUP MESSAGES
> ##  Any newsgroups
> rmgroup:*:*:mail
> rmgroup:[EMAIL 
> PROTECTED]:comp.*|misc.*|news.*|rec.*|sci.*|soc.*|talk.*|humanities.*:verify-news.announce.newgroups=mail
> rmgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:uk.*:verify-uk.net.news.announce=mail
> rmgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:wales.*:verify-wales-usenet=mail
> rmgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:england.*:verify-england-usenet=mail
> rmgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:europa.*:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> rmgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:de.*:verify-de.admin.news.announce=mail
> rmgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]@a3.xs4all.nl:nl.*:verify-nl.newsgroups=mail
> rmgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:nz.*:verify-nz-hir-control=mail
> rmgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:bionet.*:doit=mail
> rmgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:bionet.*:doit=mail
> rmgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:bionet.*:doit=mail
> rmgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:linux.*:doit=mail
> rmgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:bit.*:verify-bit.admin=mail
> rmgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:biz.*:doit=mail
> rmgroup:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:clari.*:verify-ClariNet.Group=mail
>
>                 --------------------------------
>
>
> --- End Message ---
> --- Begin Message ---
> Normally, you mail it to a server which keeps an up-to-date list of
> moderators, normally to moderators.isc.org which is an MX record pointing to
> several sites which maintain a complete list of moderators worldwide.
>  However, you will save one hop if you use usenet.org.uk for groups in uk.*,
> and this is recommended.
>
> In CNews, one of the following entries in your 'mailpaths' file should
> suffice.
>
>                 --------------------------------
> bionet          [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> gnu             [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> linux           [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> it              [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> nl              [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> nz              [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> uk              [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> england.*       [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> all             [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>                 --------------------------------
>
> The entries for gnu.* and nz.* were taken from the "nz.* Usenet Hierarchy
> FAQ". Entries for other top-level hierarchies would be welcomed.
>
> The arrangements in INN are, as usual, similar but different. I believe the
> following should work.
>
>                 --------------------------------
> bionet.*:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> gnu.*:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> linux.*:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> it.*:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> nl.*:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> nz.*:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> uk.*:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> england.*:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> *:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> --- End Message ---
> --- Begin Message ---
> You do not really need this information, unless you want to construct your
> 'mailpaths' file d-i-y style. But here is the information available at the
> present time, if you really like to see it. Note how they all go through
> "@usenet.org.uk". This has been done so that any change requested by the
> moderator can be implemented speedily, without the necessity of negotiating
> the details with isc.org.
>
> uk.adverts.stolen.announce      uk-adverts-stolen-announce (at) usenet.org.uk
>                                 uk-adverts-stolen-announce-request (at) usenet.org.uk
> uk.announce                     mod-uk-announce (at) usenet.org.uk
>                                 uk-announce-request (at) usenet.org.uk
> uk.answers                      uk-answers (at) usenet.org.uk
>                                 uk-answers-request (at) usenet.org.uk
> uk.business.telework            uk-business-telework (at) usenet.org.uk
>                                 uk-business-telework-request (at) usenet.org.uk
> uk.gay-lesbian-bi               uk-gay-lesbian-bi (at) usenet.org.uk
>                                 uk-gay-lesbian-bi-request (at) usenet.org.uk
> uk.net.beginners                uk-net-beginners (at) usenet.org.uk
>                                 uk-net-beginners-request (at) usenet.org.uk
> uk.net.news.announce            control (at) usenet.org.uk
>                                 uk-net-news-announce-request (at) usenet.org.uk
> uk.org.bcs.announce             uk-org-bcs-announce (at) usenet.org.uk
>                                 uk-org-bcs-announce-request (at) usenet.org.uk
> uk.org.starlink.announce        announce (at) starlink.rutherford.ac.uk
>                                 also uk-org-starlink-announce (at) usenet.org.uk
> uk.people.bdsm.personals        uk-people-bdsm-personals (at) usenet.org.uk
>                                 uk-people-bdsm-personals-request (at) usenet.org.uk
> uk.politics.announce            uk-politics-announce (at) usenet.org.uk
>                                 uk-politics-announce-request (at) usenet.org.uk
> uk.religion.christian           uk-religion-christian (at) usenet.org.uk
>                                 uk-religion-christian-request (at) usenet.org.uk
> uk.religion.jewish              uk-religion-jewish (at) usenet.org.uk
>                                 uk-religion-jewish-request (at) usenet.org.uk
>
> Where a separate "-request" address is provided, this is guaranteed to point
> to a human moderator rather than a robot. Such addresses should be used to
> contact the moderator directly, as opposed to submitting an article.
>
> Currently,
>   uk.announce
>   uk.answers
>   uk.business.telework
>   uk.gay-lesbian-bi
>   uk.people.bdsm.personals
>   uk.politics.announce
>   uk.religion.jewish
> are the only groups where this makes a difference. In the other cases, the
> two aliases actually point to the same address, although this may change
> in the future.
>
> --- End Message ---
> --- Begin Message ---
> You might like to join the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
> (send subscription requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
>         subscribe uk-netnews-managers
>         end
> in the body of the message).
>
> The following Web site is maintained on behalf of the Committee. It contains
> the official management documents for uk.* as referred to above, the complete
> set of charters for uk.* groups, and pointers to much other useful
> information.
>
> <http://www.usenet.org.uk>
>
> Many of these same documents, together with FAQs for some uk.* newsgroups
> can also be obtained from an Email Listserver. Send email to
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the following in the body of the message
>         help
>         index
>         end
>
>
> --- End Message ---
> --- Begin Message ---
> A checkgroups message giving the exact current state of the uk.* hierarchy
> will be issued by [EMAIL PROTECTED] periodically. In between,
> for an up-to-date list see
>
> <http://www.usenet.org.uk/checkgroups> (in 'checkgroups' format);
> <http://www.usenet.org.uk/newsgroups.html> (for human readers).
>
> --- End Message ---
> --- Begin Message ---
> The headers of control messages issued by [EMAIL PROTECTED] are
> authenticated with a PGP signature. See
>
> <ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README[.html]>
>
> for technical details, patches for CNews and INN, and a list of public keys
> used by various control message issuers worldwide. For control messages
> issued by [EMAIL PROTECTED] the public key is:
>
> -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
> Version: PGPfreeware 5.0i for non-commercial use
>
> mQCNAjGL0cgAAAEEAJ6p7fQHn139U9zQawLixrExOUrkFhi1yLb8m8fLxmKTprKn
> ZNM1nnxMSbRyO8vXohXKKs4G1U2jTpaCkSRrbCiJ5VxWB/B31E/p/vrBXqqQ2amq
> 3gb4Df9DZub0ZtOhHTF/pPjQmXvAv08umjZWpYlXRmUHBlBhMmOfGXkh8vHZAAUR
> tBR1ay5uZXQubmV3cy5hbm5vdW5jZYkAlQMFEDhCcUxjnxl5IfLx2QEB6e8EAJDt
> gIkNXdLiyL07lgDBr+Wq/Zckgm70JhNaHWxLPqckMLOJZGPFKlOlKA6W62UrwDWI
> yktEosLHd8whbPCaMOSbIOX7mmTrIySOKf+rBxhFLlRY+fAQ4h2oEyEWYhJ80wiN
> GgKgMJC+UqQD/ylMB1VcCsTYuZWEQ18ldKgtTsOZtBc8Y29udHJvbEB1c2VuZXQu
> b3JnLnVrPokAlQIFEDGL1R1jnxl5IfLx2QEBF/gD/ikHjpmJuG10X3PXA/yciZ0r
> qqVo01/4q5yy8vHBGGfopfxpqrjGnNtUV4kWluNo0/1uYZm1o7TeqHI6Siv/yWQp
> +QldN4nED3RPauqCtj5cubmMgryXg2pcCBiY+brHWEr0tBV7cSSOHFipwM55FA22
> ctQzQ5nIPZQ+KPC3WjdZiQB8AwUQMvCcUq1e6k0sFfGpAQE6nwMzBdaFclXiv48C
> aMXBUG8S3bLUtx3u2OBajzpe8G2nJlCKYkCY482p2MjtfCDi7+eYDfqgKMDoGrUM
> zSfMraDRyoXjNC/nIKf1+R2EFMyaLoC9FWggCKTov/I/2BE2+grvQ7ewQSWEUokA
> lQIFEDGL1FGemw5PLx059QEBje0EAKx99yOZ0zQ9FjibuEBStP8t0BCsRNqkrVjx
> O513RBXecgcdXdv9hWn+8LNRZx6JLHv/ZpWsdGXqP3oiqj+LRt7WpHnZ55He/njx
> 5DAoPAM/TjgTk7arazSjsJuFhcTP7gHitLDoHxVkUfdLX8h4HH9LWhEnrWEx82EY
> /29z/xQ6iQCVAgUQMYvTeKSiIc7jUXyJAQHLNwP/Qz+g2RRsuSZrJ9L0HAVPLcml
> oAEGOMFfYJDM/mvxegAYzL8i0HGFbwTH/+E94WSmsWAx1KZ/Z2DYKdI7BUaS8c09
> a2OtqOEbCd7QBI37seyxG0rTWNpuE0ZXBo0eiQBg37oIW+Faf/tqJQZnALVsV5LD
> Kcf+6+MhgS47HWJ6ZjQ=
> =iInx
> -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
>
> --- End Message ---
> --- Begin Message ---
> Well, you should tell me that.
>
> --- End Message ---