Re: Data Administration - Anyone Interested?

Winston Groenewald (WGROEN@FORNEL.CSIR.CO.ZA) wrote: > [...] > You can add my name to the list too. Well, you can add names to a list all day, but if you want to have a newsgroup you are going to have to do a bit more than that. Here is one of the several discussions on the subject: --------------------------------- begin include ------------------------- Date: 23 Mar 1995 22:23:54 GMT From: rdippold@happy.qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold) Newsgroups: news.groups,news.announce.newusers,news.answers Subject: Usenet Newsgroup Creation Companion Archive-name: usenet/creating-newsgroups/helper Last-modified: 1995/03/21 Version: 1.09 The Usenet Newsgroup Creation Companion ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted once a month - Comments to rdippold@qualcomm.com welcome! So you want to create a newsgroup... Wallace Sayre said, "Academic politics is the most vicious and bitter form of politics, because the stakes are so low." He didn't know Usenet: welcome to the next level. [ If you're more interested in the voting side than the creation side, a good guide for the interested party or voter is the User's Guide to the Changing USENET, maintained by stanley@skyking.oce.orst.edu (John Stanley). ] 1. What This is All About ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Usenet is a loosely knit anarchy - there is no controlling body which forces any site on the net to choose which newsgroups they can carry. Sites can create or remove groups at will - however, they can't expect that everyone else will honor their decisions. Obviously, this can be rather chaotic, so in time a set of customs has evolved to ease the confusion and keep the creation of new groups to a point just below critical mass. Here's how it works: there is a general agreement among Usenet news administrators that groups in the "big seven" (comp., misc., news., rec., sci., soc., talk.) hierarchies will only be honored at their sites if the group passes the "official" voting procedures defined in the Guidelines. Anyone can create a group if they figure out the correct message format to do so, but it will only be carried on a minuscule number of sites, and anyone posting to the group may be greeted with messages claiming that the group is bogus. The Guidelines, which you should read if you want to create a group, can be found in the periodic posting "How to Create a New Usenet Group" in news.announce.newusers, or ftp to ftp.uu.net, go to the directory usenet/news.announce.newgroups and get the file "New_Usenet_Groups". If you don't read this file and the group vote is canceled due to irregularities, you have only yourself to blame. But the Guidelines aren't the whole story. Another set of customs has sprung up around newsgroup votings - mostly because there has been an unfortunate number of sleazy tactics used in past group creation attempts. As with Caesar's wife, a vote must be beyond reproach. If you even accidentally violate one of these customs, you may find yourself with a botched vote, a lot of wasted time, and a massive flamewar. The purpose of this document is to help you through this potential minefield. This is _not_ in any way an official document, it has no force of law - rather it helps you with the informal conventions which have evolved over the years. Quick Glossary --------------------------------------------------------------------- CFV Call for votes. See the Guidelines. FAQ Frequently Asked Questions list - many groups have a FAQ periodically posted to answer common questions. Flame A heated attack in a message. Like fires, they spread. Flamefest A general message war containing lots of flames. News admin News administrator. Someone in charge of keeping Usenet news running at a site. These are the people you have to convince to carry your group. Proponent The person who is the driving force behind the vote. Generally the person who does the RFD and the work involved in setting up the CFV. RFD Request for discussion. See the Guidelines. Votetaker The person who actually posts the CFVs and counts votes. Usually not the proponent. Quick Overview --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: What's the general voting process? A: There are five main stages. You _really_ should read the Guidelines if you actually decide to go through with it, but this is a quick summary. 1) Discussion of the idea. If your proposal directly affects an existing group you might want to "test the waters" first to see if there is interest. 2) RFD (Request for Discussion). The proponent (you) posts an RFD to all interested groups plus news.announce.newgroups and news.groups. If you don't include n.a.n, it's not an official RFD. 3) Discussion in news.groups. People react to the RFD, express support, express loathing, or perhaps offer suggestions. If you significantly change your RFD based on discussion in this group, you should issue a second (or more) RFD as in step 2. 4) Voting. Contact uvv-contact@amdahl.com regarding having do the actual drudgery of voting for you. The vote should usually start around 30 days after the first RFD, and no earlier than 21 days after. The votetaker will handle the official CFVs (Call for Votes). The voting will run 22 to 30 days, usually 22. 5) Results. After the voting has ended, the votetaker compiles the results and posts them to the net. If the group passes it will be newgrouped after five days, though it may take a while to get to some sites. If the group fails, it can't be voted on for six months. General Suggestions --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Why so sanctimonious? A: Because the politics can be so vicious. You can ignore all of this, but in a controversial group proposal, say involving politics, culture, or Star Trek, there are people just waiting for you to breathe wrong so they can call for a vote invalidation. You don't have to satisfy me, you have to satisfy them. These "rules" already exist. Read this now and you could save yourself a lot of hassle in the long run. Q: What's the best way to find out how to propose a group and run a vote? A: Read the guidelines as above, read this document, read news.groups for a few months - you're guaranteed at least one enlightening flamefest. You'll also see plenty of RFDs and CFVs, and see the reaction to them. Q: If I don't violate any of the "official" rules, how can my vote be invalidated? A: Remember, this is all by agreement between system administrators. Any news admin can declare that they will not be carrying a group for any reason. If it's a respected admin, others may join. This can snowball to where you have an "official" group that nobody carries. And if the news.announce.newgroups moderator(s) decide you violated th