From: Alan Ford Subject: RESULT: uk.politics.censorship Charter Change PASSES 25:10 Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 18:08:24 GMT Message-ID: -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- RESULT OF CALL FOR VOTES Charter Change of existing newsgroup uk.politics.censorship PASSES 25:10 [Ballot ID: UPC-CHARTER] - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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) - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Distribution: These results have been posted to: uk.net.news.announce uk.net.news.config uk.politics.censorship - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Results in Full: Those Who Voted YES (Total: 25) - ------------------- 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 - ------------- None - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 END CHARTER - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGPfreeware 5.0i for non-commercial use Charset: noconv iQCVAwUBNvZ49GOfGXkh8vHZAQHwKgQAipsMkhIxd48lxkfhVD/DXZc1Y+X3wRMe 6Pn5An9verSeWAUQUurjKnSWdwrWSAXBwgw2ADdVpGAY52YsvhpSj3hkaH+gp6EG IZ2XKyvLQ+SM4VEPy1DsP2FPa/E+WzW+r2gJI/Qt9Wpw1dBnd87LWuK6tXLdkwoD HSwsoY2XNds= =MzXk -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- Alan Ford Votetaker for UKVoting