Some people think crossposting is "bad." In and of itself, it's good behavior -- it allows you to reach more groups with less impact on the net. Especially if you set the Followup-to: header to one group. It is "bad" when it's done to attack newsgroups or provoke flamewars (like crossposting how to cook a cat between alt.tasteless and rec.pet.cats), but this is beyond the scope of this FAQ. http://www.killfile.org

 Newsgroups: sci.space,comp.simulation [1]

Within the Yahoo parental right/anti-cps groups, germane information either via news articles, relevant case holdings, or strategies are posted to the multiple groups. This is not, according to Internet definitions "bad crossposting."  Merely, it is a way to reach all members on all groups.  While it is true that some members belong to many groups, it is also true that only one member will belong to one group.  It is far more offensive to disenfranchise the one member than to make members who belong to more than one Yahoo Group have to read or deal with the same post.

What is even more surprising is that I've heard the policy of group owners/moderators who threaten moderation or banning of their members if they post the same information to several different groups because it violates Terms Of Service agreements.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  In Yahoo Groups Terms of Service, there is not one mention that the practice of posting to several groups is a violation.

What is a violation of Terms of Service is a post which is sent to two or three groups or more that defames a person based solely on baseless allegations.  This is considered defamation and harassment.  Under Yahoo Terms of Service, and this is a noted violation of TOS.

Yahoo Terms of Service Agreement

You agree to not use the Service to:

1. upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any Content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;
   
2. harm minors in any way;
   
3. impersonate any person or entity, including, but not limited to, a Yahoo official, forum leader, guide or host, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity;
   
4. forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any Content transmitted through the Service;
   
5. upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any Content that you do not have a right to make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as inside information, proprietary and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements);
   
6. upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any Content that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights ("Rights") of any party;
   
7. upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, "junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," or any other form of solicitation, except in those areas (such as shopping rooms) that are designated for such purpose (please read our complete Spam Policy).
   
8. upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any material that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment;
   
9. disrupt the normal flow of dialogue, cause a screen to "scroll" faster than other users of the Service are able to type, or otherwise act in a manner that negatively affects other users' ability to engage in real time exchanges;
   
10. interfere with or disrupt the Service or servers or networks connected to the Service or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of networks connected to the Service;
    
11. intentionally or unintentionally violate any applicable local, state, national or international law, including, but not limited to, regulations promulgated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, any rules of any national or other securities exchange, including, without limitation, the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ, and any regulations having the force of law;
    
12. provide material support or resources (or to conceal or disguise the nature, location, source, or ownership of material support or resources) to any organization(s) designated by the United States government as a foreign terrorist organization pursuant to section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act;
    
13. "stalk" or otherwise harass another; and/or
    
14. collect or store personal data about other users in connection with the prohibited conduct and activities set forth in paragraphs a through n above.

Moreover, it also is against Yahoo Universal Anti-Spam Policy to take posts from other groups, without express permission and place it on other group sites.

Universal Anti-Spam Policy

o    Relaying email from a third party's mail servers without the permission of that third party.

There have been a few times where I have been accused of crossposting.  It was clear when these statements were made that those lodging the complaint were confounded as to what crossposting's true nature is.  If they had said that you multi-post, I would have agreed and stated that this is what is expected.  The last time I tallied the amount of members on the various groups I moderate and forward information to, it came to over 2,000.  Naturally, some members are repeats and I do not have the time or inclination to go through each of these various groups' member lists to see who is dually joined in the other groups.  I have actually been asked to continue to keep current news and relevant articles and decisions to our common cause flowing by some of the group owners.  I also have particular key people who I have  gentlewomens/gentlemens agreements with to forward their posts to other groups along with other group owners who do the courtesy of posting relevant information on my groups.  I try to return the graciousness of these valuable partners.

Since members join yahoo-groups, msn and aol communities on their own accord, it is obvious that the solution rests within their own power.  On yahoo groups, you are given several options, either you may switch to no mail, daily digest or individual e-mails. 

Individual members sometimes complain to the group owner or moderator that they don't want to read particular postings.  The decision of posting does not rest with just one member's dislike.  Instead, First Amendment Rights allow the posting of all members' opinions, input and collective articles.  It would become an autocracy instead of a group with a collective vision if we allowed one member's dislike or likes customize or control the postings upon a group. On the other hand, no matter how empowered or heady a group owner or moderator may get, in fact, democracy will still rule in a group entity who invites and attracts people with a common cause or bond to join.  It is clearly stated under Yahoo Terms of Service that all the laws of the United States are to be honored by the group owner.

The one individual member who may find it offensive to receive more than one of the same post has one other power option.  The delete button.  Proper netiquette would caution the original posting member to add a subject line. This would make it easy for any member to identify which posts are multiple in nature and to delete the unopened and unwanted posts.  Individual empowerment of all members is what adds fairness to the group or communities' benefit and longevity. It is clear from the history of many groups that those group owners or moderators who rule with an iron-fisted control over their group members devalue their members input and generally lose their attraction.  Membership declines and soon, the junk mail begins to show up.

I hope this clarifies the issue of crossposting and the agreements they fall under.

[1] Zen and the Art of the Internet by B. Kehoe

[2] Zen and the Art of the Internet by B. Kehoe

P.S. I already sent this out to the addressed groups.

They did not seem to show up so I hope that I am not

repeating the post multiple times!!! Yikes! If so

I apologize.