Just in case you didn't know, newsgroups are started by writing a charter, publishing it and then getting people to vote on it. Here is the which started off uk.rec.climbing. It was prepared by John Marsland in November 1994. The results of the voting were 54 YES votes and 23 NO votes, for a total of 77 valid votes. There was 1 abstain.
Once the a group is up and running the same old questions, grievances and cockups keep on annoying people. So then we get the FAQ(Frequently Asked Questions) which is intended to keep hackles firmly in their place. Charles Arthur prepared the official(ish) one for uk.rec.climbing after a vaguely democratic discussion.
The Charter
Newsgroups line:
uk.rec.climbing Discussion of rock climbing, ice climbing
and mountaineering.
This vote is being conducted by a neutral third party. For voting questions only contact rdippold@qualcomm.com. For questions about the proposed group contact John Marsland
CHARTER
A new newsgroup is proposed for the discussion of
where climbing can be defined loosely as any activity from the following list.
The function of the uk.rec.climbing is regarded as complimentary to that of rec.climbing which has a worldwide role.
NOTES ON THE PROCEDURE ADOPTED FOR THE CREATION OF THIS GROUP
The uk heirarchy is not part of the 'big 7' Usenet heirarchy and as such is
not bound by the rules regarding the vote on the creation of a new group. The
creation of uk.rec.climbing is the first creation in the uk heirarchy to be
strongly contested during the discussion stage and as such a vote was considered
to be appropriate. However there are no existing rules about voting for a uk
group so an informal group of five people (two proponents, two opponents and one
neutral) corresponded by email to establish the format to be adopted. The
consensus (not unanimous) view of the group was that the vote should be decided
by a simple majority, that the voting period should be fourteen days and that a
call for votes should be posted to both rec.climbing and uk.net.news.
This
call for votes will be carried worldwide by the newsgroup rec.climbing. However
people reading this call outside the United Kingdom are requested to assess
their own eligibility to vote as guided by the following statement.
ELIGIBILITY
This vote is for the creation of a new group in the uk heirarchy and it is
expected that only those people with a strong interest in climbing in the United
Kingdom will vote. This will include British people living overseas. People with
a marginal interest in climbing in the United Kingdom are requested not to vote.
GROUP PASSAGE
The newsgroup uk.rec.climbing will be created if there are more YES votes
than NO votes. The result of the vote will be posted to both rec.climbing and
uk.net.news. A period of five days between the posting of the result and the
creation of the newsgroup will be allowed for any procedural objections to be
made. Objections must be posted to uk.net.news.
jdal@jdal.demon.co.uk",date( "F d Y.", getlastmod()));
?>