22 Mar 1999: uk.politics.censorship Charter Change
From: Alan Ford <alan@whirlnet.demon.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 18:08:24 GMT
Subject: RESULT: uk.politics.censorship Charter Change PASSES 25:10
Newsgroups: None
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RESULT OF CALL FOR VOTES
Charter Change of existing newsgroup uk.politics.censorship PASSES 25:10
[Ballot ID: UPC-CHARTER]
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Voting began Sunday, 28 February 1999
Voting closed at 23:59:59 GMT, Thursday 18 March 1999
Proponant: amabbett@bham-assist.demon.co.uk (Andy Mabbett)
Votetaker: alan@whirlnet.demon.co.uk (Alan Ford)
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Distribution:
These results have been posted to:
uk.net.news.announce
uk.net.news.config
uk.politics.censorship
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Voting Summary:
The Rationale, Summary of Discussion, Proposal, and new Charter follow
the main results for informational purposes.
YES = 25 (68%)
NO = 10 (27%)
ABSTAIN = 2 (5%)
There were a total of 37 valid votes. YES beat NO by a majority of 15.
This is above the majority of 12 that is required for a vote to pass.
There were 2 abstentions. There were no invalid votes.
There will be a five day discussion period after these results have
been posted before the group is created to allow for any allegations
of irregularities to be raised.
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Votetaker's Comments:
There was relatively little interest in this vote, and the result in
the end is fairly close. It did, however, run smoothly throughout.
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The Results in Full:
Those Who Voted YES (Total: 25)
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Alan Rayner $alanr$#lightnet{dot}co{dot}uk
Alex Dawson $alex{dot}dawson$#uea{dot}ac{dot}uk
Alex Holden $votes$#alexh{dot}clara{dot}co{dot}uk
Andy Mabbett $amabbett$#bham-assist{dot}demon{dot}co{dot}uk
Bill Davies $billyboy$#gto{dot}net{dot}om
Brett Paul Dunbar $brett$#dimetrodon{dot}demon{dot}co{dot}uk
Bruce Tober $octobersdad$#reporters{dot}net
David Damerell $damerell$#chiark{dot}greenend{dot}org{dot}uk
Doug Weller $dweller$#ramtops{dot}demon{dot}co{dot}uk
Gareth J Dykes $dykes$#argonet{dot}co{dot}uk
Ian Johnson $irj$#ddraig{dot}demon{dot}co{dot}uk
James Coupe $james$#obeah{dot}demon{dot}co{dot}uk
Jeremy McNeill $jezza$#hotwells{dot}freeserve{dot}co{dot}uk
Kevin Bracey $kbracey$#e-14{dot}com
Matthew Somerville $matthew$#sumsville{dot}freeserve{dot}co{dot}uk
Michael Parry $michael$#cavrdg{dot}demon{dot}co{dot}uk
Mike Henry $mike$#tw2{dot}com
neil p chue hong $npch$#tardis{dot}ed{dot}ac{dot}uk
Paul Burden $paulb$#henryling{dot}co{dot}uk
Pete Mitchell $newsreader$#dmed{dot}demon{dot}co{dot}uk
Phil Hunt $philh$#vision25{dot}demon{dot}co{dot}uk
Rachael Munns $vashti+cfv$#dream{dot}org{dot}uk
tobias erle $vote-uk$#kholdan{dot}snafu{dot}de
Tom Joyce $t{dot}m{dot}joyce$#dur{dot}ac{dot}uk
Tony Towers $tony$#fishblanket{dot}demon{dot}co{dot}uk
Those Who Voted NO (Total: 10)
- ------------------
Adrian Colegate $administrator$#mia{dot}co{dot}uk
Alex K. van Deelen $avdeelen$#xs4all{dot}nl
Andy Jeffries $A{dot}Jeffries$#mia{dot}co{dot}uk
Clive D.W. Feather $clive$#demon{dot}net
Edward King $eaking$#ulape{dot}demon{dot}co{dot}uk
Richard Ashton $richard$#corixia{dot}demon{dot}co{dot}uk
Richard Clayton $richard$#turnpike{dot}com
Robert Alan Watts $upcvote$#robwatts{dot}demon{dot}co{dot}uk
Sam Simpson $ssimpson$#hertreg{dot}ac{dot}uk
Shaun Hollingworth $shaunh$#netcene{dot}com
Those Who ABSTAINed (Total: 2)
- -------------------
Simon Gardner $666$#hack{dot}powernet{dot}co{dot}uk
simon gray $simon$#star-one{dot}org{dot}uk
Invalid Votes
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None
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RATIONALE:
HTML is unwelcome in the uk.* hierarchy. It is anti- social,
bloats posts unnecessarily and is not viewable by all Usenet
users.
Requests that it not be posted to uk.politics.censorship have
resulted in both cries of "censorship" and a request for a
formal RFD, so that the issue can be decided democratically.
No censorship is meant or implied, since users will still be
able to post any statement; this RFD seeks to restrict only the
format used to one which is more suitable - and "user- friendly"
- for the medium.
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PROPONENT'S SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION
The first RFD was issued on 9 October 1998 (!) and a second RFD on 12
November 1998.
A fast-track application was published on 30 November 1998, but failed
due to four objections. It them went to a vote on 17 December 1998, but
this was cancelled when it became apparent further work was needed.
A third RFD was posted on 13 January. Although there have been some
suggestions that HTML should be allowed "where necessary", there has
been no consensus on this issue and the proponent is not aware of any
wording which would mandate this, without being subjective.
The wording:
equivalent to no more than 10 lines of plain text.
has been removed from the section of cryptographic signatures, by
popular request.
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PROPOSAL:
To replace the current paragraph on binaries:
Binaries are not permitted on this group, however
references to related FTP-able material and Web URL's (sic) are
welcomed. Short digital authentications such as PGP signatures,
contained in postings are allowed.
with:
BINARIES & FORMATTING
Encoded binaries (e.g. pictures, compressed files, etc.), are
*forbidden*, except for cryptographic signatures (e.g. PGP).
Binaries belong on a web or ftp site, for which a URL may be
posted.
Posts must be in plain text, with no more than minor
HTML format marks. To see how to make your newsreader comply
with this, read <http://www.usenet.org.uk/ukpost.html>
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New Charter of uk.politics.censorship
BEGIN CHARTER
(Not Moderated)
Newsgroup Line:
uk.politics.censorship Discussion of censorship
Discussion of UK censorship issues, (for and against) of all UK media
including the spoken word, radio and television, books magazines and
newspapers, films and video recordings, records and tapes, the Internet,
BBS systems and computer software, telephone chat and information lines,
and any other media yet to be devised, or unmentioned in this charter.
The group will also discuss the direct, and indirect effects of UK
censorship upon UK society, upon UK culture, and upon UK business.
Discussion of the censorship policies of companies, groups and
individuals are also 'on topic' in addition to discussion of censorship
issues which directly involve the UK government.
The group won't discuss censorship elsewhere in the world, unless this
is to make a comparison with censorship in the UK, and of course,
discussion of any such comparison. General discussion of censorship
elsewhere in the world, and in particular in the U.S.A. is catered for
by the group 'alt.censorship'
Postings are welcome from people in other countries, who would wish to
make comparisons of censorship issues in their countries, with
censorship issues and rules prevalent in the UK.
ADVERTISING
Short (less than 20 line) announcements of events relevant to readers are
permitted; blatant off-topic or commercial advertising is not allowed.
BINARIES & FORMATTING
Encoded binaries (e.g. pictures, compressed files, etc.), are
*forbidden*, except for cryptographic signatures (e.g. PGP).
Binaries belong on a web or ftp site, for which a URL may be
posted.
Posts must be in plain text, with no more than minor
HTML format marks. To see how to make your newsreader comply
with this, read <http://www.usenet.org.uk/ukpost.html>
END CHARTER
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This vote was conducted by a neutral third party member of UKVoting.
UKVoting is a group of independent votetakers who count votes on CFVs
in the uk hierarchy. The rules under which this vote is taken are
posted regularly to uk.net.news.announce or can be found at the
following URL:
ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/usenet/news-info/news.answers/uk/voting
There is a five day discussion period after these results are posted to
uk.net.news.announce. Allegations of irregularity should be sent to
control@usenet.org.uk.
The UKVoting web pages can be found at
http://www.ukvoting.org.uk/
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--
Alan Ford <alan@whirlnet.demon.co.uk> <a.ford@ukvoting.org.uk>
Votetaker for UKVoting
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Back ot the UKVoting homepage
