• Future of MTM

    From Stuart O. Bronstein@21:1/5 to All on Fri Jan 3 10:38:23 2025
    Hi All -

    The newsgroup misc.taxes.moderated has been around for a long time, and has been helpful to many of us. But the time has come that the old timers who
    have been managing and moderating the group are getting older, and we will
    need help for it to survive.

    If anyone here has technical skill and would like to help maintain MTM for
    the future, please let me know. Otherwise, in about one month's time, the group will, in effect, go away.

    Write to me at stu@lexregia.com

    Thanks.


    --
    Stu
    http://DownToEarthLawyer.com

    --
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>
    << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
    << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
    << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
    << >>
    << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
    << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
    << are at www.asktax.org. >>
    << Copyright (2011) - All rights reserved. >>
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jonathan Kamens@21:1/5 to All on Sat Jan 4 21:51:40 2025
    I want to expand a bit on what Stu wrote to make sure it is
    clear what the group's current needs are.

    Right now the software used to manage the moderation of the
    newsgroup is hosted on a server I own. I find it necessary due
    to life circumstances to divest myself of various external
    commitments and obligations, including hosting this software.
    Therefore, to keep the group going we need a volunteer who is
    willing and able to both set up moderation infrastructure
    somewhere else and maintain it once it is set up.

    Stu may also be looking for a new generation of moderators to
    help with the group (I think that would be a great idea!), but
    if the only new volunteers we get are moderators, that will
    not be sufficient; we also need someone equipped to do the
    technical setup and maintenance.

    Thanks.

    --
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>
    << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
    << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
    << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
    << >>
    << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
    << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
    << are at www.asktax.org. >>
    << Copyright (2011) - All rights reserved. >>
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Rick@21:1/5 to Jonathan Kamens on Sun Jan 5 11:03:53 2025
    On 1/4/2025 9:51 PM, Jonathan Kamens wrote:
    I want to expand a bit on what Stu wrote to make sure it is
    clear what the group's current needs are.

    Right now the software used to manage the moderation of the
    newsgroup is hosted on a server I own. I find it necessary due
    to life circumstances to divest myself of various external
    commitments and obligations, including hosting this software.
    Therefore, to keep the group going we need a volunteer who is
    willing and able to both set up moderation infrastructure
    somewhere else and maintain it once it is set up.

    Stu may also be looking for a new generation of moderators to
    help with the group (I think that would be a great idea!), but
    if the only new volunteers we get are moderators, that will
    not be sufficient; we also need someone equipped to do the
    technical setup and maintenance.

    Thanks.


    I think the easiest approach would be to simply make the group
    unmoderated. I realize there is already an unmoderated taxes group
    which receives a lot of spam, but I think if you left the name as
    "moderated" the spam posts would be minimal and veteran users would just
    ignore them.

    I think making the group unmoderated but leaving "moderated" in the
    title would be a far better solution than simply ending the group. I
    can't think of any real downsize to that approach.

    --
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>
    << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
    << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
    << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
    << >>
    << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
    << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
    << are at www.asktax.org. >>
    << Copyright (2011) - All rights reserved. >>
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Adam H. Kerman@21:1/5 to paultry on Sun Jan 5 12:10:04 2025
    paultry <ptrynoski@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 01/04/2025 20:51, Jonathan Kamens wrote:

    I want to expand a bit on what Stu wrote to make sure it is
    clear what the group's current needs are.

    Right now the software used to manage the moderation of the
    newsgroup is hosted on a server I own. I find it necessary due
    to life circumstances to divest myself of various external
    commitments and obligations, including hosting this software.
    Therefore, to keep the group going we need a volunteer who is
    willing and able to both set up moderation infrastructure
    somewhere else and maintain it once it is set up.

    Stu may also be looking for a new generation of moderators to
    help with the group (I think that would be a great idea!), but
    if the only new volunteers we get are moderators, that will
    not be sufficient; we also need someone equipped to do the
    technical setup and maintenance.

    Thanks.

    Would a Facebook group work?

    Facebook is an entirely separate medium of communication than Usenet and
    is not a substitute.

    --
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>
    << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
    << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
    << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
    << >>
    << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
    << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
    << are at www.asktax.org. >>
    << Copyright (2011) - All rights reserved. >>
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Stan Brown@21:1/5 to Jonathan Kamens on Sun Jan 5 13:56:32 2025
    On Sat, 4 Jan 2025 21:51:40 EST, Jonathan Kamens wrote:

    I want to expand a bit on what Stu wrote to make sure it is
    clear what the group's current needs are.

    Right now the software used to manage the moderation of the
    newsgroup is hosted on a server I own. I find it necessary due
    to life circumstances to divest myself of various external
    commitments and obligations, including hosting this software.
    Therefore, to keep the group going we need a volunteer who is
    willing and able to both set up moderation infrastructure
    somewhere else and maintain it once it is set up.

    Stu may also be looking for a new generation of moderators to
    help with the group (I think that would be a great idea!), but
    if the only new volunteers we get are moderators, that will
    not be sufficient; we also need someone equipped to do the
    technical setup and maintenance.

    Three questions:

    1. It would be extremely helpful to know what is involved in that
    technical setup and maintenance. (I did some googling before asking
    this, but couldn't find any clear and current answers.)

    2. And does the server need to be owned by a moderator, as opposed to
    the moderator owning a domain and website hosted at a provider?

    3. I can't remember which group, but a few years ago, if memory
    serves, I was subscribed to some group where a robot automatically
    approved any post from someone who who had already had N number of
    posts approved. Is that an option? It wouldn't eliminate the need for moderators, but it would reduce the workload.

    --
    Stan Brown, Tehachapi, California, USA https://BrownMath.com/
    Shikata ga nai...

    --
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>
    << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
    << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
    << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
    << >>
    << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
    << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
    << are at www.asktax.org. >>
    << Copyright (2011) - All rights reserved. >>
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jonathan Kamens@21:1/5 to Stan Brown on Sun Jan 5 16:09:19 2025
    Stan Brown <the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm> writes:
    1. It would be extremely helpful to know what is involved in that
    technical setup and maintenance. (I did some googling before asking
    this, but couldn't find any clear and current answers.)

    At the most basic level, the infrastructure needs to include just a
    few things:

    1) Establishing an email address / mailbox for receiving submissions.

    2) Establishing a separate email address / mailbox for contacting the moderators.

    3) The ability to post approved postings to the newsgroup, preserving
    the submission headers, which effectively means (a) you need to know
    how and have software that allows you to do that, and (b) you need an
    account on an NNTP server that will allow you to add "Approved:"
    headers to messages you post into misc.taxes.moderated.

    All this can be done manually for a newsgroup with as little traffic
    as this one, but even for a low-traffic group there is the option of
    setting up software to facilitate it, either tools you write yourself
    or tools written by someone else. The most commonly used tool nowadays
    is STUMP <https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/stump/>. STUMP was
    stagnant for a while but I believe it's currently being actively
    maintained by (among others) several members of the Big-8 Management
    Board.

    2. And does the server need to be owned by a moderator, as opposed to
    the moderator owning a domain and website hosted at a provider?

    The server certainly doesn't need to be "owned" by the people running
    the group. They just need to have somewhere they can host the mailbox
    and tools.

    Also, just to be clear, the "moderator" is note necessarily the person
    running the software. I have never been an active moderator of the
    newsgroup, my contribution has been hosting the tools, which include
    an old version of STUMP and an NNTP server to which approved articles
    are submitted, with peer feeds to several other NNTP servers to ensure
    that approved articles make it out to the entire net.

    3. I can't remember which group, but a few years ago, if memory
    serves, I was subscribed to some group where a robot automatically
    approved any post from someone who who had already had N number of
    posts approved. Is that an option? It wouldn't eliminate the need for >moderators, but it would reduce the workload.

    I don't really think the moderation workload is an issue here; this
    group gets very few postings. Having said that, STUMP allows
    moderators to add regular posters to a "good guys list" which causes
    their submissions to be auto-approved. This relies on them posting
    consistently with the same email address in the From line. It doesn't
    matter whether it's a real, working address or not, it just has to be
    the same every time.

    --
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>
    << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
    << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
    << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
    << >>
    << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
    << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
    << are at www.asktax.org. >>
    << Copyright (2011) - All rights reserved. >>
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jonathan Kamens@21:1/5 to Rick on Sun Jan 5 15:54:33 2025
    Rick <rick@nospam.com> writes:
    I think the easiest approach would be to simply make the group
    unmoderated. I realize there is already an unmoderated taxes group
    which receives a lot of spam, but I think if you left the name as
    "moderated" the spam posts would be minimal and veteran users would just >ignore them.

    1) I don't know what reason you could possibly have to believe
    that spammers won't post to the group just because it has
    "moderated" in the name. They will absolutely post to the
    group. There is no point in having an two unmoderated tax
    newsgroups; they would be functionally identical.

    2) I think I can say with some confidence that there is no way
    the Big-8 Management Board, of which I was one of the founding
    members, will allow an unmoderated group whose name ends in
    ".moderated" to exist within the Big-8 hierarchy.

    --
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>
    << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
    << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
    << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
    << >>
    << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
    << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
    << are at www.asktax.org. >>
    << Copyright (2011) - All rights reserved. >>
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From John Levine@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jan 5 17:35:24 2025
    According to Stan Brown <the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm>:
    On Sat, 4 Jan 2025 21:51:40 EST, Jonathan Kamens wrote:

    I want to expand a bit on what Stu wrote to make sure it is
    clear what the group's current needs are.

    Right now the software used to manage the moderation of the
    newsgroup is hosted on a server I own. I find it necessary due
    to life circumstances to divest myself of various external
    commitments and obligations, including hosting this software.
    Therefore, to keep the group going we need a volunteer who is
    willing and able to both set up moderation infrastructure
    somewhere else and maintain it once it is set up.

    Stu may also be looking for a new generation of moderators to
    help with the group (I think that would be a great idea!), but
    if the only new volunteers we get are moderators, that will
    not be sufficient; we also need someone equipped to do the
    technical setup and maintenance.

    Three questions:

    1. It would be extremely helpful to know what is involved in that
    technical setup and maintenance. (I did some googling before asking
    this, but couldn't find any clear and current answers.)

    Not sure but it seems to be the same as what misc.legal.moderated uses.

    2. And does the server need to be owned by a moderator, as opposed to
    the moderator owning a domain and website hosted at a provider?

    It probably needs its own server but these days you can rent a
    linux VPS for $5/mo so that's not a big issue.

    3. I can't remember which group, but a few years ago, if memory
    serves, I was subscribed to some group where a robot automatically
    approved any post from someone who who had already had N number of
    posts approved. Is that an option? It wouldn't eliminate the need for >moderators, but it would reduce the workload.

    I think that's misc.legal.moderated.

    --
    Regards,
    John Levine, johnl@taugh.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
    Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. https://jl.ly

    --
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>
    << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
    << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
    << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
    << >>
    << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
    << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
    << are at www.asktax.org. >>
    << Copyright (2011) - All rights reserved. >>
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Adam H. Kerman@21:1/5 to Jonathan Kamens on Sun Jan 5 17:37:08 2025
    Jonathan Kamens <jik@kamens.us> wrote:

    . . .

    I don't really think the moderation workload is an issue here; this
    group gets very few postings. Having said that, STUMP allows
    moderators to add regular posters to a "good guys list" which causes
    their submissions to be auto-approved. This relies on them posting >consistently with the same email address in the From line. It doesn't
    matter whether it's a real, working address or not, it just has to be
    the same every time.

    On mailing lists, we've had plenty of problems with whitelisting,
    which is not a security feature. A spammer uses a list of known valid
    email addresses likely grabbed from an addressbook maintained in a
    Microsoft application. With the list-posting address also in the
    addressbook, it was simple to post spam to the mailing list using the
    address of a known subscriber or who might be whitelisted on a moderated mailing list,

    Obviously, I've been forged by various Hipclones, which any of you who
    were around in 2001 and 2002 will well recall.

    I suppose a combination of whitelisting and PGP signatures will works.

    Whitelisting someone who won't use his own working email address
    on From is ineffective. Multiple people using the same invalid email
    addresses are not forging each other.

    --
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>
    << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
    << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
    << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
    << >>
    << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
    << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
    << are at www.asktax.org. >>
    << Copyright (2011) - All rights reserved. >>
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Rick@21:1/5 to Jonathan Kamens on Wed Jan 8 22:33:28 2025
    On 1/5/2025 3:54 PM, Jonathan Kamens wrote:
    Rick <rick@nospam.com> writes:
    I think the easiest approach would be to simply make the group
    unmoderated. I realize there is already an unmoderated taxes group
    which receives a lot of spam, but I think if you left the name as
    "moderated" the spam posts would be minimal and veteran users would just
    ignore them.

    1) I don't know what reason you could possibly have to believe
    that spammers won't post to the group just because it has
    "moderated" in the name. They will absolutely post to the
    group. There is no point in having an two unmoderated tax
    newsgroups; they would be functionally identical.

    2) I think I can say with some confidence that there is no way
    the Big-8 Management Board, of which I was one of the founding
    members, will allow an unmoderated group whose name ends in
    ".moderated" to exist within the Big-8 hierarchy.


    Given the sharp drop in the number of people on Usenet over the past
    several years, I don't think we can really predict how many spammers may
    send messages to this group if it became un-moderated. And the two
    groups would not be identical because this group has a small group of
    regular users who would likely continue to use the group even if a few
    spammers got through.

    As for the Big-8 Management Board - assuming it still functions - any
    actions it might take would likely not be instantaneous. There would be
    some period of time where the group would still be allowed to function,
    even if technically mis-labeled as "moderated" when it's not.

    The important point is that there is really no harm in letting the group
    go un-moderated but keeping the current name for some period of time.
    If the choice is disbanding the group - meaning no group at all - or
    having a less than perfect group where spammers could start hitting the
    group but regular users could also keep posting for some period of time,
    I still think having some version of the group is better than no group
    at all.

    --
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>
    << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
    << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
    << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
    << >>
    << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
    << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
    << are at www.asktax.org. >>
    << Copyright (2011) - All rights reserved. >>
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Marco Moock@21:1/5 to All on Fri Feb 7 11:04:14 2025
    Am Wed, 8 Jan 2025 22:33:28 EST
    schrieb Rick <rick@nospam.com>:

    As for the Big-8 Management Board - assuming it still functions - any
    actions it might take would likely not be instantaneous.

    Big-8 still exists - I am a member there.

    There would be some period of time where the group would still be
    allowed to function, even if technically mis-labeled as "moderated"
    when it's not.

    The important point is that there is really no harm in letting the
    group go un-moderated but keeping the current name for some period of
    time. If the choice is disbanding the group - meaning no group at all
    - or having a less than perfect group where spammers could start
    hitting the group but regular users could also keep posting for some
    period of time, I still think having some version of the group is
    better than no group at all.

    This just creates more confusion.
    misc.taxes exists - already unmoderated.

    ========================================= MODERATOR'S COMMENT:
    Thank you for contributing.

    --
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>
    << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
    << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
    << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
    << >>
    << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
    << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
    << are at www.asktax.org. >>
    << Copyright (2011) - All rights reserved. >>
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Rick@21:1/5 to Marco Moock on Sun Feb 9 18:36:02 2025
    On 2/7/2025 11:04 AM, Marco Moock wrote:
    Am Wed, 8 Jan 2025 22:33:28 EST
    schrieb Rick <rick@nospam.com>:

    As for the Big-8 Management Board - assuming it still functions - any
    actions it might take would likely not be instantaneous.

    Big-8 still exists - I am a member there.

    There would be some period of time where the group would still be
    allowed to function, even if technically mis-labeled as "moderated"
    when it's not.

    The important point is that there is really no harm in letting the
    group go un-moderated but keeping the current name for some period of
    time. If the choice is disbanding the group - meaning no group at all
    - or having a less than perfect group where spammers could start
    hitting the group but regular users could also keep posting for some
    period of time, I still think having some version of the group is
    better than no group at all.

    This just creates more confusion.
    misc.taxes exists - already unmoderated.

    ========================================= MODERATOR'S COMMENT:
    Thank you for contributing.


    I haven't checked in a while, but the last time I went to misc.taxes, it
    had gotten overrun with spam and was completely unusable. Clearly, misc.taxes.moderated does not get spam, mainly because it is moderated,
    but also perhaps partially because spammers tend to ignore groups that
    have the "moderated" label.

    My only point was that if the choice is having misc.taxes.moderated go
    out of business because no one is available to moderate it, or to just
    let it run for the forseeable future with the "moderated" nomenclature
    in the name only, what's the harm?

    --
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>
    << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
    << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
    << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
    << >>
    << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
    << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
    << are at www.asktax.org. >>
    << Copyright (2011) - All rights reserved. >>
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From John Levine@21:1/5 to rick@nospam.com on Mon Feb 10 00:43:45 2025
    It appears that Rick <rick@nospam.com> said:
    I haven't checked in a while, but the last time I went to misc.taxes, it
    had gotten overrun with spam and was completely unusable.

    I just looked, and it's full of cross-posted political arguments that
    have close to nothing to do with taxss. I agree it's unusable.

    --
    Regards,
    John Levine, johnl@taugh.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
    Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. https://jl.ly

    --
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>
    << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
    << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
    << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
    << >>
    << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
    << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
    << are at www.asktax.org. >>
    << Copyright (2011) - All rights reserved. >>
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Adam H. Kerman@21:1/5 to John Levine on Mon Feb 10 11:18:28 2025
    John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> wrote:
    It appears that Rick <rick@nospam.com> said:

    I haven't checked in a while, but the last time I went to misc.taxes, it >>had gotten overrun with spam and was completely unusable.

    I just looked, and it's full of cross-posted political arguments that
    have close to nothing to do with taxss. I agree it's unusable.

    FWIW, the way I deal with crossposted articles from political newsgroups
    that I don't want to read in groups I do read is to subscribe to the
    political group, open the political group to junk everything in it, then
    open the group I do read that's now free of political newsgroup crossposting.

    --
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>
    << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
    << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
    << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
    << >>
    << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
    << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
    << are at www.asktax.org. >>
    << Copyright (2011) - All rights reserved. >>
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Taxed and Spent@21:1/5 to Stuart O. Bronstein on Wed Feb 26 10:46:22 2025
    On 1/3/2025 7:38 AM, Stuart O. Bronstein wrote:
    Hi All -

    The newsgroup misc.taxes.moderated has been around for a long time, and has been helpful to many of us. But the time has come that the old timers who have been managing and moderating the group are getting older, and we will need help for it to survive.

    If anyone here has technical skill and would like to help maintain MTM for the future, please let me know. Otherwise, in about one month's time, the group will, in effect, go away.

    Write to me at stu@lexregia.com

    Thanks.




    If MTM goes away (a horrible thought), what are some other tax forums
    that might be useful and not overtaken by angry mobs? Not just Usenet
    forums.

    Thanks.

    --
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>
    << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
    << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
    << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
    << >>
    << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
    << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
    << are at www.asktax.org. >>
    << Copyright (2011) - All rights reserved. >>
    << ------------------------------------------------------- >>

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Rick@21:1/5 to Taxed and Spent on Wed Feb 26 12:07:48 2025
    On 2/26/2025 10:46 AM, Taxed and Spent wrote:
    On 1/3/2025 7:38 AM, Stuart O. Bronstein wrote:
    Hi All -

    The newsgroup misc.taxes.moderated has been around for a long time,
    and has
    been helpful to many of us.  But the time has come that the old timers
    who
    have been managing and moderating the group are getting older, and we
    will
    need help for it to survive.

    If anyone here has technical skill and would like to help maintain MTM
    for
    the future, please let me know.  Otherwise, in about one month's time,
    the
    group will, in effect, go away.

    Write to me at stu@lexregia.com

    Thanks.




    If MTM goes away (a horrible thought), what are some other tax forums
    that might be useful and not overtaken by angry mobs?  Not just Usenet forums.

    Thanks.


    I have used TaxMama.com a few times and gotten good results. Although
    the original owner, Eva Rosenberg, sadly passed away in 2023, the site continues to provide good advice. The Clark Howard site has an advice
    forum similar to this that occasionally provides good tax info. I have
    used Bogelheads for financial advice and their forum will address tax questions, though it's not their primary focus. Another one I have used
    is AARP's Tax Aide, though they don't always address complex tax
    questions.

    Ironically, while I don't use Turbo Tax, the Intuit Tax forum is
    actually pretty good and open to non_turbo Tax users. They will often
    answer questions geared to how their software works, but the information
    is usually pretty solid.

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