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Moderated groups come in many forms. A brief description of the major types follows.
Announce groups are generally specified as low-volume newsgroups that all readers interested in a specific topic may subscribe to. Some announce groups serve as a collecting point for FAQs and announcements for a set of related newsgroups, such as <html><a href=“news:rec.music.info”>rec.music.info</a></html>. Most announce groups are chartered for fast turnaround time, which in turn implies only light editing of content; <html><a href=“news:comp.newprod”>comp.newprod</a></html> is a rare exception. Moderators of announce groups should make the charter as specific as possible, and should keep the focus on the value to the readers rather than the posters.
Binary groups exist to distribute software. [See also Source groups, Section 6.5] Binary groups distribute executable binaries or other non-human-readable material, usually for one particular system type. Normally binaries are distributed only for systems where many users do not have development or compilation facilities, such as personal computers of various types.
Moderators of binary groups should take particular care to prevent the distribution of software containing viruses. Because UNIX executables tend to rely on the site-specific configuration, they should never be posted to the net.
In preparing a digest, the moderator packs all accepted articles into one file, and posts it to the newsgroup. Articles are edited to remove unuseful mail headers, excessive signatures, and other noise. A summary, table of contents, or other index information is added to the top of the digest to assist readers in finding pertinent information. Depending on the nature or volume of the group, digests may be sent out once a day, or whenever a certain volume of messages has accumulated. Special-topic digests may also be put out when one topic generates a large number of messages.
The return address on a digest is the posting address for the group; unless specified otherwise, all replies to the digest are considered submissions. Digest format makes it difficult for readers to mail replies to the authors of individual submissions, and defeats threaded news readers; it is discouraged for these reasons. It is easy to send news as separate items to the newsgroup while sending digests to mail subscribers, as the Telecom digest does.
RFC 1153 specifies the digest format used by some moderated groups. [See the group <html><a href=“news:comp.risks”>comp.risks</a></html> for an example.] The “MH” mail package also supports building message digests.
Discussion groups are usually moderated to quell overheated arguments or to eliminate certain types of repetitive discussions. Moderation also removes thoroughly inappropriate posts, such as chain letters, blanket cross-posts, and topics specifically excluded from the group's charter.
Discussion groups are frequently used for questions, and moderators may want to prepare a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) posting for the group, or to delegate another knowledgeable poster to do so. Moderators of discussion groups should also be prepared to answer common questions offline, perhaps by forwarding the relevant section(s) of the FAQ.“
Source newsgroups are moderated newsgroups whose sole purpose is for the distribution and archiving of source code. These groups are different from the binary groups in that the distributed code is not compiled and is in text format. The people receiving code from these groups are expected to have the facilities to compile the programs into executable form.
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