From: Robert Felton Subject: RESULT - Create uk.rec.waterways.fens PASSES 28:13 Date: 31 Dec 1998 11:15:24 -0000 Message-ID: -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- RESULT OF CALL FOR VOTES Summary: Creating new newsgroup uk.rec.waterways.fens Create newsgroup uk.rec.waterways.fens PASSES 28:13 - -------------------------------------------------------------------- Voting closed at 23:59:59 GMT, 22nd December 1998. Proponent: greg@home.cam.net.uk (Greg Chapman) Votetaker: votequestion@swinny.cix.co.uk (Rob Felton) - -------------------------------------------------------------------- Distribution: uk.net.news.announce, uk.net.news.config, uk.rec.waterways - -------------------------------------------------------------------- The Results: The results follow below in the following order: 1) Result 2) Particulars of the Vote 3) Votetakers comments 4) Voting and Appeal guidelines 5) Rationale & Newsgroup charter PROPOSAL - Create newsgroup uk.rec.waterways.fens YES = 28 NO = 13 ABSTAIN = 4 YES beat NO by a majority of 15 votes, this is more than the +12 majority required to beat the status quo. - --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Particulars of the Vote A = Abstain PROPOSAL Philip Hunt philh@vision25.demonuk,co Y Mr Anthony B McLinden dodgy_pony@hempseed,c&om N Michael Parry michael@unicorn-connectionuk,co Y Mark Zytynski zyt@cixuk,co Y Darren Rees merlin@cvnetuk,co N Ian Cox einstein@enterprise,n&et Y Robbie Irvine robbie@arrakis??nu A Allan Beetlestone A@beetlestone.demonuk,co Y Mike Paley pmailkee@waverideruk,co Y Lawrence Tarlow tarlowl@ltpc.demonuk,co N Tim Dignon tim@cursciuk,co Y Ian Kitching systimk@bridge.anglia.ac.uk Y Alastair Law alastair@law-home.demonuk,co Y Dr Graham Arthur Roberts archie.r@zetnetuk,co Y Adrian Stott adrian@enable.telinco,c&om N Denis McMahon denis@pickaxe.demonuk,co N George E. Pearson george@adiva,c&om Y M J Ray M.J.Ray@UEA,uk.ac Y Richard Fairhurst richard@systemeD.u-net,c&om Y Neil Mackin Neil@Mackin.Cixuk,co Y John Burnage jburnage@enterprise=2Enet Y Mike Thomas mike@mbreliance.demonuk,co Y R G Ansell ricka@globalnetuk,co N Martin Phillips martin@g4cio.demonuk,co Y Andy Clarke bmservices@btinternet,c&om Y Brett Laniosh brett@g4nzk.demonuk,co Y Molly Mockford molly_mockford@my-dejanews,c&om N Dave Mayall david.mayall@ukonlineuk,co A Roger Haynes roger.haynes@virgin.net Y christopher deuchar chris.deuchar@nottingham,uk.ac N Alex Dawson alex.dawson@uea,uk.ac Y Greg Chapman greg@home.cam.net.uk Y Charles Lindsey chl@clw.cs.man,uk.ac N John Bennett john@johnpb.demonuk,co N Andy Mabbett amabbett@bham-assist.demonuk,co Y Paul Bolchover pb10003@cus.cam,uk.ac A SJFBeckwith sjfb@cirra,c&om A tobias erle vote@kholdan.snafu,ed N Andy Roberts andyrobts@zetnetuk,co Y Jonathan Calder mail@joncal.demonuk,co Y Jackie Lewis jalewis@dirconuk,co Y Derek Stanley derek@boat-safety.demonuk,co Y Bill Davies billyboy@gto.net.om N David Kitching davidk@brocross.u-net,c&om N Alex Ray ajtr2@cam.ac.uk Y Invalid Votes No Email Address Mark Goodge Spoilt Ballot Paper with No Real Name or Email Address Mark Keddie mgkeddie@yahoo,c&om - --------------------------------------------------------------------- Votetakers Notes: Nothing to really say, apart from one idiot who sent the whole CFV with a silly comment and no vote - how silly. - --------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 The UKVoting web pages can be found at http://www.ukvoting.org.uk/ 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. - -------------------------------------------------------------- RATIONALE: (including Summary of Discussion) The newsgroup uk.rec.waterways now has traffic typically exceeding 100 articles per day. Much of that traffic is recognised by participants as being more akin to "pub chat" than directly on-topic. The majority view appears to be that this format is not just tolerated but welcomed. Because of the culture of the group, the existance of a gated maillist with digest facilities, and the presence of many new to "computerised comferencing", subject lines often do not reflect the content of articles. It, therefore, becomes very difficult to pick and download messages which are likely to be of value, if your interests within the overall waterways scene are limited. The proponent therefore seeks to establish a new newsgroup which would relate closely to the waterways of his local area and which he believes will generate sufficient traffic to justify an additional group. SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION An RFD for uk.rec.waterways.fens was published on 20/10/98. Since then some 30 people have contributed to the debate. Most of these have indicated support for the proposed group or have suggested refinements to the original wording of the proposed charter. However, a consensus has not been achieved and there remains a hardcore who oppose the creation of a "regional" subgroup of uk.rec.waterways preferring either no new group at all or additional groups based on non-geographic topics. Accordingly, the UK Usenet Committee have requested a CFV to determine whether the group should be created. In the charter below the changes from that originally published are: # Change of the newsgroup line and defined purpose of the group to remove the emphasis on boating. # Change of wording to indicate specific rivers and waterways rather than the Counties in which these are located. # Additional lines which indicate wildlife, buildings and structures, flood protection and conservation matters are to be on-topic in the group. # Addition of a section to specify arrangements for any mail list gateway. # Changes to bring the paragraphs on advertising and binaries in line with the then current draft of "boilerplate" text together with its standard warning note. - --------------------------------------------------------------------- PROPOSED CHARTER Newsgroups line: uk.rec.waterways.fens Discussion of the Fen waterways CHARTER: uk.rec.waterways.fens The newsgroup is for discussion of all matters of interest to users of the following English waterways: The Middle Level Navigations. The River Witham and its associated navigable drains. The Rivers Welland, Nene and Gt Ouse and their tributories to their navigable limits. On-Topic matters include but are not necessarily limited to: # The history of the rivers, canals and other navigable drains. # The current and future state of the waterways. # The wildlife associated with the waterways. # The history of the boats, buildings and structures associated with these waters. # Boats currently using the waterways. # The local navigation authorities, their bye-laws and licences. # Flood Protection and other conservation matters. # Boatyards, marinas and other facilities and services for the waterway user. MAIL LIST GATEWAYS Any mailing list which is gatewayed to this list should be RFC compliant and transparent to the newsgroup's users. If a gateway is established then the gateway owner shall ensure that the list's charter shall match that of this newgroup with regard to topic and the owner contribute to a regularly posted FAQ to explain the implications of the facility for users either side of the gateway. ADVERTISING Advertising is forbidden, with the following exceptions: Suppliers of fen waterway - relevant goods and services may post a pointer to their website or invitation to request details. This may not exceed four lines and may be posted no more often than once every three months. The subject line should begin ADVERT:", except for vacancies, which should begin "JOB:" BINARIES & FORMATTING Encoded binaries (e.g. pictures, word processor files, Zip files, "business cards", etc.), are *forbidden*, with the exception of cryptographic signatures equivalent to no more than 10 lines of plain text (e.g. PGP) Posts must be readable as plaintext; HTML is forbidden. Such material belongs on a web or ftp site, to which a pointer may be posted. Posters are invited to read a guide on the World Wide Web at http://www.usenet.org.uk/ukpost.html for further information on how to configure newsreaders to post to uk.* newsgroups. WARNING Anyone posting contrary to this charter may be reported to their postmaster and or ISP. - --------------------------------------------------------------------- Swinny - Rob Felton Co-Ordinator, UKVoting (mailto:ukvoting@usenet.org.uk) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6 iQCVAgUBNotcy2OfGXkh8vHZAQEr6wP8D8f7usYsLf9AZxxQEFpr98bR4LMiQU+V 8/w9MxFIrz/O/Rlcv24lALmCXtmFg+vpXhLd+YqA9MyumKFhGjvl1mRjIAfD2Etc mcyrvLDLUQdemDV5rO3STDXoTP1RRjm10STaXNX1EY44yrlj9LdJ09hCr4qUKUqX 9ibYbU9eKl8= =mJgJ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----