Newsgroups Introduction

User Preferences

Post/Read message to/from Newsgroup

Newsgroup Notifications

Newsgroup Administration

Newsgroup Creation (Local Server)

Newsgroup Creation (Remote Server)

Newsgroup Moderation

Newsgroup Modification

Newsgroup Replication

Disable Newsgroup Replication

Newsgroup Deletion

Article Deletion

Newsgroup Access Control

 

Newsgroups Service

Introduction

The Newsgroup Service provides a forum for discussions among IG members. The discussions are organised around specified Topics created by the Authorised users. In the CIRCA terminology, each Topic is referred to as a Newsgroup. The Newsgroup Service Home Index page contains a list of all the available Newsgroups (Topics for discussion).

Depending on your Profile Access Rights you may have:

  • No Access to a Newsgroup Service
  • Access Only (Read Access) to a Newsgroup Service. i.e. you may view articles posted in the newsgroups
  • Access and Post privileges (Read/Write) to a Newsgroup Service i.e. you can post new articles or reply to existing postings
  • Moderate privileges (Read/Write) to a Newsgroup Service plus capability to access moderated articles and aprove or reject them.
  • Administrator's privileges to the Newsgroup Service to Create, Delete and Administrate Newsgroups.

If you are granted at least "Read Access" privileges to the Newsgroup Service, you may Access a Newsgroup of your choice and Read the available postings. In addition you may request to be automatically notified via E-mail on any new contributions sent to the selected newsgroups by other participants.

Prior to accessing the Newsgroup Service do not forget to set-up your User Preferences.

User Preferences

Prior to accessing the Newsgroups Service you should configure your User Preferences, especially the part related to the Newsgroup Service. To do this follow the steps presented below:

  1. From the bottom toolbar access your User Preferences page


  2. Select the Newsgroups Service and define your "View", "Sort by" and "Max shown Preferences"
    • View: Defines the way the available posting will appear on your screen. Available options are Detailed, By Threads, By Threads, Reversed and Compact.


    • Sort by: Defines the sorting of the available postings. Available options are Subject, Date and From


    • Max shown: Time slot for the postings to be displayed. Available options are: Day, Two Days, Week, Two Weeks, Month, Year and All.

  3. Press the Save button to save your Preferences

Post/Read message to/from a newsgroup

  • Select the "NEWSGROUPS" button to access the Newsgroup Index Home Page


  • Select the desired Newsgroup by clicking on its title entry. You will be presented with the Newsgroup page which contains the following information:
    • Newsgroup Title: The Newsgroup Title as determined by the Host Server


    • Message Index: The list of the available Articles


    • You can configure the view mode of the Message Index through the View Mode menu.
      • Compact List: Press the button to display the list of Subjects of articles within the current newsgroup.


      • Detailed List: Press the button (when you are in Compact View Mode) to display article Subject followed by Date of posting and sender's email address for every article in the newsgroup.
      • Thread view (Default): Press the button to switch between Thread and Detailed view. In Thread view articles are dispalyed as it is depicted in the snapshot hereafter.


      • By pressing the icon, the particular article will be forwarded to user's email address.

    • In the "Threads" view mode you can view - in a popup window - all contributions that are under a selected posting (using the check box next to each posting), by clicking on icon.

    In this snapshot is shown that the article with subject "Re: Ideas about new website" was posted as a Reply to the article "Ideas about new website". This article is a thread of "Ideas about new website". This relation is denoted by the broken line linking the two articles.

    • You can post new articles clicking on the button. Simply provide a suitable Article Subject and Content and press the "Post Message" button. You might even attach documents to your contribution and 'cc' your contribution to individual users by adding other recipients to your email form.
      * It is worth mentioned that the HTML formatting tags (like <B>, <I>, <U>) are respected in the content of the article. Though it is advised not to use table and form related HTML tags, since they may leed to corrupted HTML page, by the time the article is presented. For the same reason, other html tags or symbols (like < or >) should be used on user's responsibility (as far as concerns the article presentation).

    In addition to the above read/post functions:

    • You can delete one or more postings if you have the proper access rights. Select the message(s) to be deleted and press the button.
    • You can be notified about new articles. Click on the icon. A new window opens displaying the notification status.

    Read/Reply to a Message

    To read or reply to an article, follow the steps presented below:

    1. Select any posting available within the Message Index by clicking on its title.
      The content of the selected Article is displayed.


    2. If wished, you can provide your own response using the Reply button at the bottom of this page. Fill in the form and press the "Post Message" button. Confirmation that the Article has been posted will be provided

    Read/Post Message through NNTP (for Remote Newsgroups)

    To read or post an article - of a remote newsgroup - via NNTP, follow the steps presented below:

    1. Select the "NEWSGROUPS" button to access the Newsgroup Index Home Page


    2. Select a Newsgroup which is server by a remote server by clicking its title entry.


    3. Your default Newsgroups client (i.e. Outook or Netscape Mail & Newsgroups) will open and will present the particular Newsgroup


    4. For further interaction with the Newsgroup, such like reading or posting messages, use the Newsgroups client window that just opend

    Newsgroup Notifications

    You may select to be automatically notified via E-mail about new articles posted to a Newsgroup. Available Notification options are:

  • "Download" to automatically receive by E-mail the articles posted by other users (thus you don't need to access CIRCA to get the contributions).
  • "Subscribe" in order to be notified about new articles that have been posted to that newsgroup. The notification will be send to the users E-mail address specified in the Directory, and will provide information on the newsgroup and the IG Title as well as the Subject, Author and Date of the article extracted from the article's headers. Instructions are also included on how to receive an article via E-Mail.
  • "Not Specified" to terminate a subscription for a selected newsgroup.
  • To initiate the notification process follow the steps presented below:

    1. Select the "NEWSGROUPS" button to access the Newsgroup Index Home Page


    2. Select a Newsgroup by clicking on its title.

    3. Go to the Newsgroup home page and follow the icon to access Notification Information page


    4. Select the desired User's Notification status from the corresponding pop down menu.If you have Administrative rights over the Newsgroups Service, you can set your Profile's Notification status, as well.


    5. * Profile’s notification status is not displayed in the following cases:
      1. if it is not defined and you have no Administrative rights over the Newsgroups Service,
      2. if you are the CIRCA Administrator.

      Profile’s notification status is considered only when the User’s notification status is Not Specified. In all the other cases, User’s notifications override Profile’s notifications.

    6. Press the "Save" button to display the Newsgroups Notification Information page with the new entry in the "Notification status" field


    7. Apply the previous steps, every time you want to display and modify the Newsgroup notification settings

    If you have Administrative rights over the Newsgroups Service you are entitled to modify the Notification status of any IG member that has a valid E-Mail address. For this particular case follow the steps presented below:

    1. Select the Newsgroup you wish to apply Notification rules by its radio button.


    2. Press the "Notification" button to access the "Edit the Notifications list" page, where you can view/configure the Notification Rules applicable for any User or Profile.


    3. Within this page you may view the existing Notification Status applicable to individual Users or User Profiles


    4. Select a User or User Profile and specify the suitable Notification Status to be applied. For selecting which Users' Notification Status you want to change, do the following:
      • Click on the "Add" button next to the "User" text field. A pop-up window will be presented containing the Show Users Form.


      • Enter a full or partial User Name in the corresponding text field and press the "Search" button. A list of Users that match will be presented right beneath the text field (The results will contain only users that are not already in the Notifications List, can access the service and have valid email addresses).


      • Check the box next to the Users you want to select and their names will be listed on the "Selected Users" text field on the top.


      • Press the "Add" button to copy the list back to the Notifications page, or press the "Exit" button to cancel the selection and close the window.

    5. Press the "Save" button and a message of the form "Notifications have been saved successfully" indicates that the Notification rules have been successfully applied.


    6. Press the "OK" button to return to the Edit Access Control List.

    Newsgroup Administration

    Users with administrative rights on the Newsgroup Service may Create, Modify/Delete or Replicate Newsgroups by following the steps described below.

    Newsgroup Creation

    You are presented with the following options:

    1. Create a Local Newsgroup on the Host Server
    2. Create a link to an existing Remote Newsgroup

    Newsgroup Creation (Local Server)

    To Create a Newsgroup at a local server (i.e. in your IG), follow the steps presented below:

    1. Select the "NEWSGROUPS" button to access the Newsgroup Service Home Page


    2. Select the "New Local" button to access the Newsgroup Creation form


    3. Provide the Newsgroup Name. The name must be a single word, without upper case letters or any special characters, [valid values: all alphabetic characters including ( -, _ )]


    4. Select the language in which you provide the information choosing from the provided drop-down menu [valid values: predefined values]


    5. Provide the Newsgroup Description [valid values: all characters]


    6. Expiration policy. Define the number of days [valid values: a number] the articles (postings) will remain stored and visible. If left blank, the default is no expiration policy.


    7. Check the "Is the newsgroup Moderated" check box [valid values: predefined (tick for yes, blank for no)] to specify that for the current Newsgroup the moderator (anyone having the Moderator access right or being the IG Leader) will be assigned with the task to explicitly "approve" or "reject" any newly posted messages to the current Group before they are made visible to all other newsgroup participants.


    8. Select the newsgroup ranking from the provided drop-down menu [valid values: predefined values] The following rules apply to the ranks of classification that are currently used:
      Public: Information could be freely available to the public. No log in is needed to access the listing or the postings of the particular newsgroup (only if the particular newsgroup is available to class Anonymous, the IG leader has enabled the public access and the users is accessing the IG as Public user).
      Internal: Log in is needed to access the listing or the postings of the particular newsgroup. Moreover, when a user clicks on the link that downloads a posting the system will perform the operation over SSL. SSL will not be used in case that the user is accessing CIRCA from the Intranet or VPN (*) . As long as there is no standard email encryption built into CIRCA, documents may not be downloaded via email, however, email notifications may be sent in clear.
      Limited: Log in is needed to access the listing or the postings of the particular newsgroup. Moreover, when a user clicks on the link that downloads a posting the system will perform the operation over SSL. SSL will not be used in case that the user is accessing CIRCA from the Intranet or VPN. As long as there is no standard email encryption built into CIRCA, documents should not be transferred via email, however, email notifications may be sent in clear.
    9. Press the "Create" button to proceed with the Newsgroup Creation. A Newsgroups Creation message will be displayed and you will be prompted to the Newsgroup Home Index page.

    Newsgroup Creation (Remote Server)

    1. Select the "NEWSGROUPS" button to access the Newsgroup Service Home Page


    2. Select the button to access the New Remote Newsgroup creation form


    3. Provide the NNTP Server hosting the remote newsgroup [valid values: all characters].

      * If the port number is not the standard NNTP port (119) you have also to make sure you specify it after NNTP Server name, separated by a semicolon. For example "news.mydomain.org:9900"

    4. Provide the NNTP newsgroup: name [valid values: all alphabetic characters including ( -, _)].


    5. Select the language in which you provide the information choosing from the provided drop-down menu [valid values: predefined values]


    6. Provide the Newsgroup Description [valid values: all characters]


    7. Press the "Create" button to proceed with the Newsgroup Creation. A Newsgroups Creation message will be displayed and you will be returned to the Newsgroup Home Index.

    For example, suppose there is a News server with internet address: "news.mydomain.org", listening to the port: 9900. We want to create a link to the newsgroup: "education.architecture" located in this server. The "New Remote" form has to be filled as in the next snapshot:

    Newsgroup Moderation

    To moderate an existing Newsgroup the user will have to enter the desired Newsgroup and provided that it is indeed configured to be moderated, and that the user either has moderator access rights or alternatively is the leader of the selected Group, the will be among the icons of the toolbar; if the icon is pressed, a new articles-list will be presented before the user with all pending for approval messages that have been posted for the current newsgroup. Within the new page the user can perform the steps presented below:

    1. Select the order by which the pending articles will be presented by pressing on the equivalent button: "Subject", "Date"(the default value in the reverse order; from the oldest to the most recent that is) or From.


    2. Read the desired article by pressing on the equivalent Subject. This will trigger a new window to be opened presenting the selected article. The user can use the Exit button to close the article-window.


    3. Define the desired state for every posted article explicitly, by selecting one of the available values from the equivalent pull-down list box [valid values: POSTPONE (which leaves the article in its current pending state for future approval or disapproval), ACCEPT (which will allow the article to be approved and potentially made visible for all users) and REJECT (which will disapprove and potentially remove the article from the pending list and thus from the current Newsgroup in a permanent way].


    4. When you Reject a posting you can enclose a comment in the rejection email notification by entering a text in the textarea labelled "Moderator comments" bellow the corresponding posting.
    5. Press the to initiate the procedure of changing the state of each of the pending articles.


    6. Alternatively the user can press the to return to the initial newsgroup page.

    Newsgroup Modification

    To modify the information on an existing newsgroup apply the following steps:

    1. Click on the "NEWSGROUPS" button to access the Newsgroup Home Page


    2. Click the "Index" button to view the list of all the available Newsgroups.


    3. Place a check mark next to the newsgroup you wish to edit/modify and press the "Edit" button


    4. At the Newsgroup Edit page you may modify the language, the newsgroup description [valid values: all characters] and the expiration policy [valid values: all characters but in case it is not a number it will keep the previous correct entry] (applicable only to Local Newsgroups)


    5. Specify whether you wish to have a newsgroup moderator or not by chosing the desired option from the "Do you want this newsgroup moderated" pull-down list box. [valid values: predefined values (Yes|No)].


    6. Press the "Save" button to activate the modifications and return to the Newsgroup Home Index page

    Newsgroup Replication

    You may replicate (mirror) any Locally created Newsgroup by following the steps presented below.

    Consider the Local newsgroup "irc.one.ig1.replicate" hosted by the server irc.domain.org and the Remote newsgroup "circa.one.ig2.replica" hosted by the server "circa.domain.org."
    First replicate the Local newsgroup to the Remote newsgroup.

    1. Click on the "NEWSGROUPS" button to access the Newsgroup Home Page


    2. Click the "Index" button to view the list of all the available Newsgroups.


    3. Select the Locally hosted Newsgroup you wish to replicate and press the "Replicate" button . You will then be presented with the "Enable Newsgroup Replication" control page


    4. Remote newsgroup name: Provide the name of the Newsgroup of the remote server that will be replicating this newsgroup [valid values: all characters] .


    5. Remote news server: Define the remote News Server name to which the selected Newsgroup will be replicated [valid values: all characters but it must exist.


    6. Remote news server port: Define the Remote News Server port [valid values: all characters but it must be a number].



    7. Press the "Enable" button to initiate the replication process. A message "Replication has been enabled successfully" indicates successful replication initiation. Articles will be forwarded to the Remote Newsgroup when they are delivered to the Local Newsgroup and vice versa.


    8. Press the "OK" button to return to the Newsgroup Home Index page.


    9. Repeat the same proccedure on the remote server: Replicate the "Remote" newsgroup to the "Local".

    Disable Newsgroup Replication

    To disable Newsgroup Replication follow the steps presented below:

    1. Click on the "NEWSGROUPS" button to access the Newsgroup Home Page


    2. Select the "Index" icon to view the list of all the available Newsgroups.


    3. Place a check mark next to the Locally hosted Newsgroup (already replicated at a Remote Server), and press the "Replicate" button


    4. Select the "Disable Newsgroup Replication" control tab to access the table that is listing all the Server Hosts at which the selected Newsgroups has been replicated to


    5. Place a check mark next to the Newsgroup you wish to terminate replication


    6. Press the "Disable" button to terminate the replication process. A message of the type "Replication has been disabled successfully" indicated successful termination


    7. Press the "OK" button to return to the Newsgroup Home Index page.


    8. Repeat the proccedure on the remote server, in order to disable the replication of the remote newsgroup to the local.

    Newsgroup Deletion

    1. Click on the "NEWSGROUPS" button to access the Newsgroup Index Home Page


    2. Select the Newsgroup to be deleted by placing a check-mark next to its entry


    3. Press the "Delete" button to be prompted to the Newsgroup Deletion page. A message "You are about to delete newsgroup 'Host Server: Newsgroup Name'. Warning: o Deletion is irrecoverable" will be displayed


    4. Press the "Delete" button to proceed with the newsgroup deletion and you will be returning to the Newsgroup Home Index page

    Article Deletion

    You may, if you have the right privilege, delete a particular article posted at a Newsgroup by following the steps presented below:

    1. Click on the "NEWSGROUPS" button to access the Newsgroup Index Home Page


    2. Select the Newsgroup in which you intend to delete an article by placing a check-mark next to its entry


    3. Press the "Delete Article" button to enter the "Delete Article" page. All the available postings will be listed including their corresponding Time Stamp information


    4. Select the Article(s) you intend to delete by highlighting it. For Multiple selection and deletion use the "Ctrl" or "Shift" buttons of your keyboard


    5. Press the "Delete" button to proceed with the Article deletion and you will be returning to the Newsgroup Home Index page

    Newsgroup Access Control

    Access Control rules can be applied on particular newsgroup as follows:

    1. Click on the "NEWSGROUPS" button to access the Newsgroup Index Home Page


    2. Select the Newsgroup you wish to apply Access Control rules.


    3. Press the "Access Control List" button to access the "Edit the Access Control list" page, where you can view/configure the Access Control Rules applicable for any User or User Profile.


    4. From this page you may also view the "existing Access Control List" displaying the Access Control rules applicable to individual Users or User Profiles


    5. Go to the "Add to the Access Control List". Select the User or User Profile and the suitable "Access control" to be applied.
      For selecting which Users' access rights you want to change, do the following:
      • Press on the "Add" button next to the "User" text field. A pop-up window will be presented containing the "Show Users" Form.


      • Enter a full or partial User Name in the corresponding text field and press the "Search" button. A list of Users that match will be presented right beneath the text field (the results will contain only users that are not already in the Access Control List and cannot administrate this Service).


      • Check the box next to the Users you want to select and their names will be listed on the "Selected Users" text field on the top.


      • Press the "Add" button to copy the list back to the Access Control List page, or press the "Exit" button to cancel the selection and close the window.

      The Available Access Control options are:
      • Revoke Permissions
      • Access Only (Restricted to Read Only Access)
      • Access and Post Data (Read/Write Access)
      • Moderate (Read Moderated articles. Approve or Reject them)
      • Administrate (Read/Write/Moderate and Administrate Access)


    6. Press the "OK" button to return to the Edit Access Control List
    * You can modify the permission overwrites of a User or a User Profile by selecting the new access mode that you wish to assign for this particular User or User Profile. The permission overwrites are valid for the current newsgroup. The Access Control mechanism can not be used for diminishing permissions of a "User" or a "Profile"

    The following table give all the possible combinations of access control list settings and current user profile permissions. The cell with the dash symbol denotes an impossible combination. You cannot assign an access right to a user or a profile which already have it. Only additional access can be granted through the access control mechanism.
    The columns represent the current permissions of a user or profile and the rows the assigned by the Access Control mechanism permissions. The cells in the inner of the table represent the effective permissions of the user or profile which are produced by these two sources of permissions.

    Access
    Controls
    permissions
    User Profile permissions
    No Access Access Only Access and Post Moderate Administrate
    Revoke Permissions No Access Access Only Access and Post Moderate Administrate
    Access Only Access Only - - - -
    Access and Post Access and Post Access and Post - - -
    Moderate Moderate Moderate Moderate - -
    Administrate Administrate Administrate Administrate Administrate -

    You can Enable "Anonymous" or "Registered Users Access" for a specific Newsgroup by selecting "Anonymous" (respectively Access) from the User Profile menu and the suitable Access control from the Permissions drop-down menu.

    When you apply Access Controls at an individual user level, only the selected user(s) will be automatically granted the assigned access mode for the selected newsgroup.

    When you apply Access Controls at a Profile level, all the users of the selected Profile will be automatically granted the assigned access mode for the selected newsgroup.

    In the case where Access Controls are applied to a user and a user Profile to which this user belongs, the rules that grant highest access privileges to the user will take precedence. Overlap means that the selected user is a member of a given Profile and that you apply permission overwrites to both the individual user and the Profile he/she belongs to.