🚀 go-pugleaf

The Cambridge University NNTP server was turned off a few weeks ago.  While
there are now a couple of alternatives for University folk, when we
discussed this here earlier in the year there was a suggestion that we might
take the opportunity to enable creation of new groups in cam.*, such as
cam.adverts.*

cam.* is currently an 'unmanaged' hierarchy.  That means creating or
deleting groups is impossible without persuading each and every newsadmin to
do it manually.  This is not an easy task, and has been the reason why no
new groups in cam.* have been created for at least a decade.

Other newsgroup hierarchies use PGP to sign control messages.  This means
that someone(s) are designated holders of some PGP keys, and they are given
authority to issue 'official' control messages to create/remove groups.
Most newsservers are set up to automatically obey signed control messages,
so the actions will happen (semi-)automatically.


So I'd like to suggest that cam.* gains some PGP keys and becomes a managed
hierarchy, which means we have the powers to create new groups as the need
arises.  It turns out that getting keys in place for a hierarchy isn't that
difficult - you just ask them to be added to:
ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/usenet/CONFIG/control.ctl
and news servers should pick them up from there (with a little prodding from
users, if necessary).  As Usenet seems to be consolidating on fewer servers,
such prodding becomes an easier task than it once was.

That bit is technically easy, but it opens some other questions.  So I'd
like to ask for opinions:

a) whether people would support this (the ability to create new groups such
as an adverts group)?

and if so:

b) how we should choose who holds the keys (in effect becomes 'control' for
cam.*, in a very limited sense)

c) how we should decide on changes (whether to create/rename/delete a
newsgroup, how it is named, etc)?


Over to you...

Theo