readnews (was Re: Speaking of bozos... (was Re: Phase II))

[bloch%mandrill@ucsd.edu (Steve Bloch)]

In article <8905221806.AA09916@xuucp.ch.apollo.com> Love-Hounds@GAFFA.MIT.EDU writes:
>Really-From: Mike Machnik <mike_m@apollo.com>
>      To everyone else, I apologize for sending my reply to the whole
>      list.  I did intend to reply to the author of the original
>      message, but since I had never replied to an article in
>      Love-Hounds before, I did not know that "r" does not kick you into
>      mail (like the other newsgroups).  
Actually, "r" DOES kick you into mail, just like in any other
newsgroup.  The thing is, "r" replies to what it thinks is the
article's poster.  The ostensible poster of articles in a moderated
newsgroup is the moderator (as witness the first line of this msg).
As a result, when you want to reply to an individual you have to go
out of your way to find the "Really-From:" line in the article to
which you're responding, and copy it to the To: line in your response.
On a high-volume newsgroup like this, the "moderator" function may be
carried out by an auto-pilot, so inevitably a lot of things get posted
that weren't intended to be posted, which is exactly what the
"moderator" feature was supposed to avoid.  
"The above opinions are my own.  But that's just my opinion."
Stephen Bloch