🚀 go-pugleaf

In <EDIS.94Feb16135320@eta.pha.jhu.edu>, edis@eta.pha.jhu.edu (Taner Edis) writes:
>       For the convenience of some present subscribers, and extending
>the practical accessibility of the list SKEPTIC, a uni-directional
>gateway to Usenet is proposed.  This has already been discussed on the
>list, and with the LISTSERV administrator at the site of SKEPTIC.
>
>       The purpose of the list is similar to the extant newsgroup
>sci.skeptic, except that there is more of an emphasis on keeping the
>noise level of the discussion down.  This is effected by intervention
>of the list owner, without having to resort to full scale moderation.
>The one-way nature of the proposed gateway is for such a purpose; to
>disallow the indiscriminate cross-postings and crank material that
>afflicts sci.skeptic.

I do not understand uni-directional gateways.  I had even considered
removing mention of them from the Gateway Policy post.  None of the 280+
gateways we operate now are uni-directional.  Some people have asked for
them over the years (I presume since the post mentions them) but none
have eventually asked for them.  I'm not sure at this point if I would
set one up.

My primary concern with unidirectional gateways is that no one on the
Usenet side expects them.  Someone may post a question on the mailing
list, and never see the responses on the newsgroup.  People on the
Usenet site have no idea that some number of people cannot see their
posts (since that is so unlike the way the rest of the newsgroups
operate) and may not understand why their contributions to the on-going
discussions are ignored by some portion of the participants.

If the traffic generated by the Usenet participants isn't wanted, then
why have a gateway in the first place?  What purpose is served by having
a newsgroup simply serve as an echo of a mailing list?  If the people on
Usenet are not allowed to joing the discussions, why should they pay the
cost of passing and storing the posts around the world at and between
tens of thousands of Usenet sites?  Also (remembering the short
expiration times at some sites), how are the Usenet participants to know
about the unique configuration of this one newsgroup?

Jim McIntosh (jim@american.edu)
The American University
Washington, DC USA 20016-8019