Whats the difference between soc.singles and soc.singles.moderated?
As the name suggests, soc.singles.moderated is a moderated group; that means that your articles get sent off to the the “moderator” to be approved before they appear. In this particular case, you just have to invoke the secret password (which is revealed in the soc.singles.moderated FAQ) and all your subsequent articles will be approved automatically. This technique was taken to eliminate hit-and-run advertising and flamebait from people who aren’t interested in taking the time to read the group and get rid of the massive cross-posting that’s usually used to create long-running, pointless flamewars. Many of the same people post to both groups or at least read them both and will occasionally drop in a comment in the group they don’t participate in as much. It’s also permitted to cross-post between soc.singles and soc.singles.moderated, but most of the time it’s not appreciated and will tend to confuse soc.singles readers who haven’t gone through the approval process on soc.singles.moder
