> Ok, so now I have my FAQ authorized. I've been given the appropriate
> header to include for automatic authorization of postings to *.answers.
> The question is, does it matter that this header will be appearing
> in the articles on the "home" newsgroup?
>
> I can see that posts to *.answers (going through the 'bot) could have
> the approval header stripped, but I don't imagine this happens with
> the "home" newsgroup. Am I correct, then, in my assumption that it
> doesn't matter if the world can see the the approval header and that
> the *.answers 'bot will only accept submissions from my registered
> address, regardless of whether or not the approval headers is present
> and correct?
The approval header is needed so that you can post to *.answers and not
get your article mailed to News answers request. It will appear on all
copies of the faq. Just look at any of the archived articles on RTFM.
All of them contain the Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU line
The level of security provided by the apprpvals process is minor. The
system was designed at a time when It was assumed that all posible
posters were using facilities at Government labs or Univsersities and so
could face serious santions for fakeing an approval header.
Software can check an approval header against the list of Periodical Info
Postings, and notify the approvals team of any discrepencies. Some folks
will also Cancel any postings that are not on the list.
> The only other possibility I see here is to post a copy of my FAQ *with*
> the approval header to *.answers, and a different copy *without* the
> approval header to the "home" newsgroup. This, however, defeats the
> purpose of crossposting.
>
> So how are you supposed to handle the authorization header?
Cross Post! The approval header will not be noted by the software on the
unmoderated groups.
The trick is if one of your newsgroups is itself moderated. Then You
have to work out permisson with the moderator to either pre-approve for
the group, or let them help with the posting.
Charles MacDonald Stittsville Ontario cmacd@achilles.net
--- Just beyond the fringe ---
<a href="http://www.achilles.net/~cmacd/">homepage</a>
CANDU Nuclear Power - The answer to greenhouse gas