The automatic cancellation/censorship was the straw that broke this camel's back. I have had it with what I perceive as limitations in Usenet based upon artifacts of a design that did not understand just how fast and large it would become. The time has come to rebuild that system. No one else is going to do it if we don't, and no one will take into consideration the distinct nature of privacy and expression in this medium as much as the sort of people who are on this list. The time has come for a revolution. I will take up the sword of my C compiler and the shield of perl scripts alone if necessary, but I hope to find the cadre of network visionaries and inspired hackers that are willing to help shape the next generation of the Usenet. Usenet is suffering from growing pains. If you want to help shape it then send me mail (I will set up an actual mailing list in the next day or two, once I do so I will let people know.) Even if you are not particularly interested in working on this project, I am looking for a nice snappy name (marketing, marketing, marketing.... :) and would love to hear suggestions. Enough of the grand speeches though, here are a few things that I think that need to be a part of the next usenet: Multi-level news hierarchies: -Some are read-write, like the current usenet. In these groups, identity has no real meaning (it is so trivial to fake postings now that I could not believe the indignation peopel seemed to feel about anonymous postings) and it functions much like the current usenet with only a few modifications (no cancel messages and a few other hacks to get people up to speed with the realities of modern communication) -Read-only groups, similar to existing moderated groups, but moderation is authenticated using cryptographic techniques. -Read-mostly groups, in these groups thre exist moderators and a small group of people who are given the ability to post messages. Those who are given posting ability is determined by others in the group or some other agreed upon method. This is mostly for technical and scientific groups where the purpose is to maintain a very high signal-noise ratio. The function of the moderators is to provide minimal guidance regarding topics and to provide an editorial gateway through which people who are not members of the group could post questions or comments. MIME and crypto authetication built into messages. -only the poster or moderator (if there is one) could cancel a message -people are identified only by thier key and not by any particular email address. the news server itself can serve as a gateway to get messages to people who post an article (and can include the basics of the anonymous remailers to preserve poster anonymity if desired Any other idea out there? Let me know. The only limitation I can see at the moment on the scope of ideas is that it needs to be backward compatible with the existing system; this makes it much easier to implement and have a wide ranging audience from day one. Comments? jim