If you have a lot of areas, there might be a few that you don't want all the users to read, for example the SysOp areas. Because users can connect and disconnect areas themselves, using AreaFix or newsfix, there has to be a way to differentiate these areas from each other.
If you are in more than one network, it is also important to keep the areas of the different networks separated. Every network has its own AKAs that have to be used in messages written in those networks. If you connect some of these areas to UUCP, the correct AKA has to be used when a message is gated from UUCP.
WaterGate uses "groups" to keep the areas separated. The groups are named A through Z, where Z is a special group for automatically created new areas. You can enter a description for each of the groups, so it is easy to tell them apart, and you can select a "Default origin AKA" for every group.
You can then select which areas belong in which groups. It is also possible for an area to be in more than one group at a time.
You can give your users access to some of the groups. They can then use AreaFix or newsfix to connect areas that are in those groups and nothing else.
It is also possible to make a group read-only. This means that users can connect to an area in that group and receive messages from it, but cannot write a message back. If you only want this for some of your users, you can put these areas in two groups: one read-only and one read/write. If you put an area in a read-only group, you have to put it in a read/write area as well or your uplink will not be able to deliver any messages to this area.
You can edit the group descriptions, default origin AKA, and read-only flag via the "Group descriptions" option in WtrConf's main menu.
Comments or questions? Send an e-mail to editor@wsd.wline.se.
Last updated 13 October 1996