Changing the Moderation Status of Existing Groups

Newsgroups may be changed:

From moderated to unmoderated.: This change may be initiated by members of the group or by the B8MB when a moderated group has been abandoned.

From unmoderated to moderated.: Changing a group from unmoderated to moderated is "strongly discouraged" - which, in practice, means "practically impossible."

- There are many News Service Providers who would not make the change. Some people would see a moderated group, others with different NSPs would see the unmoderated version.
- Such changes in the past have cultivated massive resentments. Leaving the original group intact and creating a companion moderated group allows group members to have a choice between the two different kinds of newsgroups on the same topic.
- In all likelihood, the board won't even publish an RFD to change a group from unmoderated to moderated. A proposal for such a change should not be submitted unless the group finds a way to demonstrate virtual unanimity. We strongly recommend that you instead spend your effort on learning how to use filters or how to create a moderated companion to the original group.
- Examples of change from unmoderated to moderated:[1]

I think the RFD's for most are here.  In many cases, there is the
original RFD for the unmoderated group, and the RFD for the switch to
a moderation a year or two later.
	
ftp:''ftp.isc.org/pub/usenet/news.announce.newgroups
	
	comp.ai (cross-posting, spam, noise)
	comp.compression.research ("research" not magic token)
	comp.infosystems.www.authoring.cgi (robomoderated)
	comp.lang.asm.x86 (flame wars - 68000 is too better)
	comp.lang.visual (confusion - MS Visual Basic)
	comp.programming.literate (confusion - programming literacy)
	comp.protocols.dns.ops (renamed comp.protocols.tcp-ip.domains)
	comp.std.c++ (confusion - c++ rather than standardization)
	comp.windows.news (confusion - news about MS-Windows)
	misc.business.facilitators (confusion - Ponzi scheme business)
	news.newusers.questions	(disorganized)
	rec.arts.comics.creative (off-topic swamps low volume)
	rec.crafts.jewelry (off topic/commercial)
	rec.games.mecha (flame-wars)
	rec.music.makers.guitar.tablature (noise, non-tabs)
	sci.aeronautics	(noise)
	soc.culture.indian.telugu (robo-moderate cross-posts)
	soc.genealogy.african (offensive, racist trolling)
	soc.support.pregnancy.loss (inflamatory/trolling)
	talk.origins (excessive cross-posting)

The B8MB may also in rare and unusual circumstances change the moderator(s) of a newsgroup.

The easy case is when the group has been abandoned. See the page on Moderator Vacancy Investigations.
The hard cases are, at present, undefined.

How Moderation Is Supposed to Work

A new post is sent via the News Net Transfer Protocol (NNTP) to a news server.
IF it is correctly configured, the news server sees the group is moderated, and relays the post via e-mail to ISC.org via the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).
ISC.org sends the message via SMTP to the email (SMTP) address used by the moderator(s).
The email server passes the post to the moderator(s) or the moderation software.
If the post is approved, either automatically by software or by a human decision, the "approved" header is added to the post.
The post is then injected via NNTP into a news server, which then shares it with its peers.