15 Jun 1998: Moderate uk.gay-lesbian-bi, alter charter, elect moderators
Result:uk.gay-lesbian-bi change to moderated passes 66:6
Author: - as control
Email: control@illuin.demon.co.uk
Date: 1998/06/15
Forums: uk.net.news.config, uk.net.news.announce, uk.gay-lesbian-bi
Message-ID: <result-uk.gay-lesbian-bi-980615-192759@usenet.org.uk>
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RESULT OF CALL FOR VOTES
========================
Summary: Change of uk.gay-lesbian-bi to moderated
Part 1 - Changing of uk.gay-lesbian-bi to a moderated group
PASSES 66:6
Part 2 - Changing of morality clause
Option B wins AV vote.
Part 3 - Election of moderators
Lyn David Thomas PASSES 65:2
Peter Corlett PASSES 54:1
Chris Heathcote PASSES 53:2
Matthew Malthouse PASSES 58:1
Steve Fitzgerald PASSES 51:1
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Voting closed at 23:59:59 BST, 16th May 1998.
Proponent: lyn@stuffing.demon.co.uk (Lyn David Thomas)
Votetaker: votequestion@swinny.cix.co.uk (Rob Felton)
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Distribution:
=============
uk.net.news.announce, uk.net.news.config, uk.gay-lesbian-bi
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Results:
============
The results follow below, with the Rationale and the changes to the
Charter, and moderators statements beneath them for informational
purposes.
Part 1 - Changing of uk.gay-lesbian-bi to a moderated group
===========================================================
YES = 66
NO = 6
ABSTAIN = 5
YES beat NO by a majority of 60 votes, this is more than the +12
majority required to beat the status quo.
Part 2 - Changing of morality clause
====================================
This result was compiled by the AV Voting system and the details of the
voting system are stated below the results before the Charter information.
Phase 1: Alternative vote, ignoring status quo option
AV count: round 1 [status quo is ignored in phase 1]
OPTION A IGNORED IN THIS PHASE
Ballots: 77, abstentions 8, quota 35
Option B = 32
Option C = 24
Option D = 13
AV count: round 2 [status quo is ignored in phase 1]
Option D dropped and 13 votes reallocated as follows:
Option B = 3
Option C = 4
Votes Ignored = 6
Ballots: 77, abstentions 14, quota 32
Option B = 35
Option C = 28
Option B with 35 reaches quota
Phase 2: Comparison of Phase 1 winner with status quo option
Option B vs Status Quo - Option A
Ballots 77, abstentions 8
Option B = 58
Option A = 11
Option B beat Option A by a majority of 47 votes, this is more than the
+12 majority required to beat the status quo, and therefore wins the AV
vote.
Part 3 - Election of moderators
===============================
Each individual moderator standing for election had to be voted for
individually.
Lyn David Thomas
YES = 65
NO = 2
ABSTAIN = 10
YES beat NO by a majority of 63 votes, this is more than the +12
majority required to beat the status quo.
Peter Corlett
YES = 54
NO = 1
ABSTAIN = 22
YES beat NO by a majority of 53 votes, this is more than the +12
majority required to beat the status quo.
Chris Heathcote
YES = 53
NO = 2
ABSTAIN = 22
YES beat NO by a majority of 51 votes, this is more than the +12
majority required to beat the status quo.
Matthew Malthouse
YES = 58
NO = 1
ABSTAIN = 18
YES beat NO by a majority of 57 votes, this is more than the +12
majority required to beat the status quo.
Steve Fitzgerald
YES = 51
NO = 1
ABSTAIN = 25
YES beat NO by a majority of 50 votes, this is more than the +12
majority required to beat the status quo.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Particulars of the Vote
===========================
Abs = Abstain
Part 1:
Paul Anderson Watman01ataolmoc Yes
Michael Tsang micktatnetvigatormoc No
David Engert davidatgidvuic.demon.ukco Yes
Bod A.D.Marsdenatamme.salford.ukac Yes
Kenny Price kennypatcyberdudemoc Yes
Ronan Flood R.Floodatnoc.ulcc.ukac Yes
Emily Lawson elawsonatcrismoc Yes
Simon Gray simonatstar-one.org.uk Abs
Dinesh Vaswani dv103atyork.ukac Yes
David Robinson daveratcaketown.demon.ukco Yes
Neil Broadbent neil-batdircon.ukco Yes
John Malathronas johnatscroll.demon.ukco No
Mark Manning mrm1atmsm.cam.ukac Yes
Adrian Hadayah adrianatah.win-uk.net Yes
Richard Price rpathome60.powernet.ukco Yes
Phil Allen phil.allen1atvirgin.net Yes
Kirsty Chestnutt Kirsty_Chestnuttatwilliamsleamoc Yes
Alan Cochrane alanatscotvet.demon.ukco Yes
Damian Walker damian.g.walkeratdcs.hull.ukac Yes
Dafydd Tomos datfydd.org Yes
Tom Jordaan tjatphlebas.demon.ukco Yes
Andrew Kanaber adk24atcam.ukac Yes
John Upstone johnatshikasta.demon.ukco Yes
David Ridgway tripattimeforce.demon.ukco Yes
Andrew Stoker ajs6atle.ukac Yes
James Lawson chasmatccl4.org Abs
Steve Fitzgerald steveatg7kkh.demon.ukco Abs
Chris Beer chrisbeeratcix.ukco No
Pete Humble peetatdircon.ukco Yes
Matthew Watts matthew.wattsatukonline.ukco Yes
Dale Gilbert daleatwebeye.demon.ukco Yes
Brian Gray brianatbgrayb.cix.ukco Yes
Alex Foster alex.fosteratzetnet.ukco Yes
Jason Nevitt jnattribune.demon.ukco Yes
Richard Herring richardatclupeid.demon.ukco Yes
Phil Reynolds philathedgford.demon.ukco Yes
Grant Denkinson Grant.Denkinsonatnottingham.ukac Yes
Pete Denton peteratnotned.u-netmoc Yes
Gary gary.s4atukonline.ukco No
Colin Rothwell colinratipl.ukco Yes
Rupert Thompson rjet1atcam.ukac No
Neil Matthews neilatchaos.org.uk Yes
David Allardice davidat26napier.cix.ukco Yes
Mike Barry mikeatblackpool.demon.ukco Yes
John Kingdon johnatkingdj.demon.ukco Yes
Claudio Calvelli clcatassurdomoc Yes
Diane Bailey Dianeatdbailey.cix.ukco Yes
Iain Bowen alaricatharlech.demon.ukco Yes
Tobias Erle voteaterle.org Yes
Frederick Foo fredatialsosay.demon.ukco Yes
Philip Hunt philhatvision25.demon.ukco Yes
Anthony Hilbert anthonyathilbert.demon.ukco Yes
Peter Corlett abuseatverrine.demon.ukco Yes
Philip Valentine psvatmuntjac.nildram.ukco Yes
David Hughes dhughes250ataolmoc Yes
Mark Ynys-Mon mcyatdemon.net Yes
Jonathan Bratt jjatmoseley1.demon.ukco Yes
John Mason John.Masonated.ukac Yes
Jon Harley jonatserf.org Yes
Philip Pearson pearsonpatwestminster.ukac No
Richard Mein ricmatusa.net Yes
Mark Bover markbatttsl.ukco Yes
Dave Mayall mayalldatpostoffice.ukco Abs
Dave Williams daveatcluesmoc Yes
Mike Henry mikeattw2moc Yes
Harlequin quinnyatbigfootmoc Yes
Chris Jones c.djatbtinternetmoc Yes
David Damerell damerellatchiark.greenend.org.uk Yes
Peter Davies petedatpdavis.demon.ukco Yes
Andy Mabbett amabbettatbham-assist.demon.ukco Abs
David Fell borrisatchaos.org.uk Yes
Joy Hilbert joyathilbert.demon.ukco Yes
Colin Birnie colinathouse-atreides.demon.ukco Yes
Chris Heathcote glbatdeaddodomoc Yes
Matthew Malthouse matthewatcalmeilles.demon.ukco Yes
Lyn David Thomas lynatstuffing.demon.ukco Yes
Martin Smith martinatspeedsix.demon.ukco Yes
Part 2
Option Option Preference Order
A B C D 1st 2nd 3rd 4th
Paul Anderson 1 2 3 4 A B C D
Michael Tsang 4 2 3 1 D B C A
David Engert 4 1 3 2 B D C A
Bod - 1 - - B
Kenny Price - - - -
Ronan Flood - - - -
Emily Lawson 3 2 1 4 C B A D
Simon Gray - - - -
Dinesh Vaswani 1 2 4 3 A B D C
David Robinson 3 2 1 4 C B A D
Neil Broadbent 4 1 3 2 B D C A
John Malathronas - 3 2 1 D C B
Mark Manning 3 1 2 4 B C A D
Adrian Hadayah - - 1 - C
Richard Price 3 1 4 2 B D A C
Phil Allen 3 2 4 1 D B A C
Kirsty Chestnutt 4 3 2 1 D C B A
Alan Cochrane 2 - - 1 D A
Damian Walker - - - 1 D
Dafydd Tomos 2 1 4 3 B A D C
Tom Jordaan 4 2 1 3 C B D A
Andrew Kanaber 3 2 1 4 C B A D
John Upstone 3 1 4 2 B D A C
David Ridgway 2 3 1 4 C A B D
Andrew Stoker - - - -
James Lawson - - - -
Steve Fitzgerald 3 2 1 4 C B A D
Chris Beer - - - -
Pete Humble 3 1 2 4 B C A D
Matthew Watts 3 1 4 2 B D A C
Dale Gilbert 3 1 2 4 B C A D
Brian Gray 2 3 1 4 C A B D
Alex Foster 2 1 - - B A
Jason Nevitt 2 1 4 3 B A D C
Richard Herring 3 1 2 4 B C A D
Phil Reynolds 1 3 2 4 A C B D
Grant Denkinson 3 1 - 2 B D A
Pete Denton 4 2 1 3 C B D A
Gary - - - -
Colin Rothwell 3 2 1 4 C B A D
Rupert Thompson - 3 2 1 D C B
Neil Matthews 3 2 1 4 C B A D
David Allardice 4 1 3 2 B D C A
Mike Barry 4 2 1 3 C B D A
John Kingdon 2 1 4 3 B A D C
Claudio Calvelli 1 3 2 4 A C B D
Diane Bailey 1 - - 2 A D
Iain Bowen 2 1 - 3 B A D
Tobias Erle 1 4 3 2 A D C B
Frederick Foo 4 1 3 2 B D C A
Philip Hunt 2 1 - - B A
Anthony Hilbert 3 2 1 4 C B A D
Peter Corlett 2 1 - - B A
Philip Valentine 4 1 3 2 B D C A
David Hughes 2 1 3 4 B A C D
Mark Ynys-Mon - 2 1 - C B
Jonathan Bratt 1 - - 2 A D
John Mason 3 1 4 2 B D A C
Jon Harley 3 1 2 4 B C A D
Philip Pearson - - - 1 D
Richard Mein 4 2 1 3 C B D A
Mark Bover - 1 - - B
Dave Mayall 3 2 4 1 D B A C
Dave Williams 2 1 3 4 B A C D
Mike Henry 3 2 1 4 C B A D
Harlequin 4 1 2 3 B C D A
Chris Jones 1 - - 2 A D
David Damerell 2 1 3 4 B A C D
Peter Davies 3 2 1 4 C B A D
Andy Mabbett - - - -
David Fell 3 2 1 4 C B A D
Joy Hilbert - 2 1 - C B
Colin Birnie 4 3 1 2 C D B A
Chris Heathcote - 2 1 3 C B D
Matthew Malthouse 4 2 1 3 C B D A
Lyn David Thomas 2 1 3 - B A C
Martin Smith 4 1 2 3 B C D A
Part 3
Mod 1 = Lyn David Thomas
Mod 2 = Peter Corlett
Mod 3 = Chris Heathcote
Mod 4 = Matthew Malthouse
Mod 5 = Steve Fitzgerald
Mod 1 Mod 2 Mod 3 Mod 4 Mod 5
Paul Anderson Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Michael Tsang Abs Abs Abs Abs Abs
David Engert Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Bod Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Kenny Price Yes Abs Abs Yes Abs
Ronan Flood Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Emily Lawson Yes Abs Abs Yes Yes
Simon Gray Abs Abs Abs Abs Abs
Dinesh Vaswani Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
David Robinson Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Neil Broadbent Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
John Malathronas Abs Abs Abs Abs Abs
Mark Manning Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Adrian Hadayah Yes Abs Yes Yes Yes
Richard Price Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Phil Allen Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Kirsty Chestnutt Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Alan Cochrane Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Damian Walker Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Dafydd Tomos Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Tom Jordaan Yes Yes No Yes No
Andrew Kanaber Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
John Upstone Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
David Ridgway Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Andrew Stoker Yes Abs Abs Abs Abs
James Lawson Yes Yes Yes Abs Abs
Steve Fitzgerald Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Chris Beer Abs Abs Abs Abs Abs
Pete Humble Abs Abs Abs Abs Abs
Matthew Watts Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Dale Gilbert Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Brian Gray Yes Abs Abs Yes Yes
Alex Foster Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Jason Nevitt Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Richard Herring Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Phil Reynolds Yes Yes Abs Abs Abs
Grant Denkinson Yes Abs Abs Yes Abs
Pete Denton Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Gary Abs Abs Abs Abs Abs
Colin Rothwell Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Rupert Thompson Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Neil Matthews Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
David Allardice Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Mike Barry Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
John Kingdon Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Claudio Calvelli Yes Abs Yes Yes Abs
Diane Bailey No Yes No Yes Abs
Iain Bowen Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Tobias Erle Abs Abs Abs Abs Abs
Frederick Foo Yes Abs Abs Yes Abs
Philip Hunt Yes Abs Abs Abs Abs
Anthony Hilbert Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Peter Corlett Yes Abs Yes Yes Yes
Philip Valentine Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
David Hughes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Mark Ynys-Mon Yes Yes Abs Yes Abs
Jonathan Bratt Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
John Mason Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Jon Harley Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Philip Pearson Abs Abs Abs Abs Abs
Richard Mein Yes Yes Abs Abs Abs
Mark Bover Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Dave Mayall Abs Abs Abs Abs Abs
Dave Williams Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Mike Henry Yes Yes Yes Abs Abs
Harlequin Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Chris Jones No Yes Yes No Yes
David Damerell Yes Abs Abs Abs Abs
Peter Davies Yes Abs Yes Yes Abs
Andy Mabbett Abs Abs Abs Abs Abs
David Fell Yes Yes Abs Abs Abs
Joy Hilbert Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Colin Birnie Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Chris Heathcote Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Matthew Malthouse Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Lyn David Thomas Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Martin Smith Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Invalid Votes
Alan Fleming af@contract.co.uk
George Hills strowger@ccl4.org
James james.k5@ukonline.co.uk
badriya@void.demon.co.uk
No Name or Address on ballot paper (or both)
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
VOTING METHOD FOR PART 2
The method used to determine success or failure in AV ballots has recently
been the subject of some dispute. In advance of changes to the guidelines
to clarify this issue, the UK Usenet Committee have published a 'stop-gap'
method to be used and this vote will be counted by it, as follows:
1. The ballot will be counted by the AV method, to produce an AV winner,
the "do not change the charter" option will not be taken into account in
this phase of the count.
2. The ballot will then be recounted, as a straight Yes/No between the AV
winner and "Do not change the charter". The relative position of the two
options will determine whether each ballot is counted for or against. If
either the AV winner or "No Change" is not included in the preferences,
the ballot will be counted for the option for which a preference was
expressed. If neither option is shown, but a vote for any other name is
present the ballot will be regarded as a vote for charter change in this
phase of the count. A twelve vote majority is required at this stage to
change the charter.
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------
RATIONALE:
==========
Following discussion on uk.gay-lesbian-bi the charter was modified to
explicitly exclude commercial spam, binaries and personals. This was done
to justify complaints to service providers whose customers were violating
the charter. This action has not prevented the group from being misused to
post items specifically forbidden by the charter.
Most troublesome of these are the binary posts, principally from
commercial websites.
Other classes of posts are also problematic, non-binary spam and personals
can overwhelm the group, making it difficult to Find the genuine
discussion threads. The volume of such postings together with the binary
articles are adversely affecting the propagation of the group and are
making the group unwieldy, costly to collect and discourages new users.
As time has gone on charters have become longer and more explicit as the
assumptions that underpin usenet are less understood and even less
observed, thus we are seeing articles posted in html and other non-plain
text formats.
This not only wastes bandwidth and increases the costs to subscribers but
can in the case of html contain mischievous sections of code that can be
damaging. Thus the moderation proposals excludes these items.
The moderation proposals also excludes test posts, this is for two
reasons, firstly there are groups specifically for tests, they bounce back
the message and allow the sender to know that their software is properly
configured. Sending to a non-test group is just a minor annoyance for the
readers of that group. It has been know for spammers to use test posts as
a way of "probing a group", for these reasons they should not be
permitted.
Complaints to ISPs may result in the loss of account for the principal
offenders but they only come back with a new disposable account. The
period between is getting shorter. Cancel bots seem not up to the job and
by their very nature do not stop all binary posts getting through.
The only long term solution to this problem is to make the group
moderated.
I there for propose that uk.gay-lesbian-bi becomes a moderated group,
operating under the amended charter and moderation policy outlined below.
Since the publication of the first RFD it has become clear that for
moderation to be acceptable to the group that checks and balances on the
activities of the moderators have to be put in place. The CFV now
contains an extensive section on election and recall of moderators.
The second RFD lead to a straw poll. The results of the straw vote has
been reflected in a range of options to replace what has become known as
the morality clause. Various options have been included on ballot form.
I have made a number of minor drafting changes from the second RFD and
included a paragraph authorising the moderators to arrange for a back up
server to host the moderation software.
==========================================================================
PROPOSED CHARTER
================
DESCRIPTION
uk.gay-lesbian-bi For bisexuals, lesbians and gays in the UK
(Moderated)
CHARTER
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Option A
uk.gay-lesbian-bi provides a forum for the discussion of lesbian, gay and
bisexual related issues from a UK viewpoint, but not the morality of such
issues.
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Option B
uk.gay-lesbian-bi provides a forum for the discussion of lesbian, gay and
bisexual related issues from a UK viewpoint.
uk.gay-lesbian-bi is intended as a safe space for lesbians, gay men,
bisexuals, their friends and those interested in matters of sexuality.
All posters are requested to respect this.
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Option C
uk.gay-lesbian-bi provides a forum for the discussion of lesbian, gay and
bisexual related issues from a UK viewpoint.
uk.gay-lesbian-bi is intended as a safe space for lesbians, gay men,
bisexuals, their friends and those interested in matters of sexuality and
all posters are requested to respect this. Those who do not are liable to
be flamed on the group and may be reported to their ISP.
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Option D
uk.gay-lesbian-bi provides a forum for the discussion of lesbian, gay and
bisexual related issues from a UK viewpoint.
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
The newsgroup is moderated and operates under the moderation guidelines as
outlined in the moderation policy statement contained within this charter.
Moderators: TO BE DETERMINED BY THIS CFV
Commercial advertising is forbidden.
Announcements of relevant events are allowed. Long announcements belong in
uk.announce.events.
Test postings should be sent to appropriate test groups and not to
uk.gay-lesbian-bi
Binaries are not permitted other than pgp encryption blocks under 10
lines, directions as to where binaries may be found are permitted.
All articles must be submitted in plain ASCII text, no html, mime or word
processor files please.
Pointers to commercial sites fall under the rule about commercial
advertising (other than statements in .sig files 4 lines or under in
length).
Excessive cross-posting is inappropriate. Posters are requested to
restrict their cross-posting to no more than two other newsgroups.
Personal advertisements should not be posted to uk.gay-lesbian-bi, use
uk.adverts.personals.gay-lesbian-bi or one of the many other personal
groups instead.
MODERATION POLICY STATEMENT
Method
Moderation will be by a pre-approved or white list system. A semiautomatic
moderation bot running STUMP system (or similar) will receive all postings
to the group.
Individuals who have made one approved posting will automatically be added
to the pre-approved posters list. These posters will have their articles
automatically accepted and forwarded on to the group. Their white list
status can only be revoked by the moderators if they violate the
moderation policy, this action must be supported by a two thirds majority
of the moderation panel and reported immediately to the group.
Suspension from the whitelist will be for a period of one calendar month
after which the pre-approved status will be restored on the same terms as
first time posters.
White list posters who have inadvertently breached the moderation rules
can apply to the moderators to be restored to the pre-approved list sooner
than 1 month, the moderators can add them to the list if they are
satisfied that the offending post was genuinely made in error.
All binaries identified by the moderation software posted by
non-whitelisted posters will be rejected by the moderation bot. The
remaining posts from people not on the whitelist will be sent to the
moderators.
The moderators will approve all postings regardless of content unless they
are:
1. a personal ad
2. a commercial article
3. a binary article that has escaped the automatic software.
4. an item cross posted to more than eight groups in total including
uk.gay-lesbian-bi
5. a test post.
6. an identical article, or an article with identical content - ie
articles which have the same content but different headers, sent more
than four times in the same 24 hour period to the group and is in the
opinion of at least two thirds of the moderators part of a "mail bomb"
attack on the group.
7. An article that is not sent as plain text.
The moderators will return personal ads to senders with a standard mail
informing them of the action and suggesting that future ads should be sent
to uk.adverts.personals.gay-lesbian-bi, soc.personals, or any of the
other personals newsgroups, mailing lists or websites. A personal ad is an
article with no other content such as could be sent to an personals
newsgroup or appear in a lonely hearts column.
Commercial postings will be returned to the sender (if one can be
identified) together with a standard mail explaining the action.
Any binary postings will be rejected, where the sender is identifiable a
standard mail will be sent explaining the action.
A posting that exceeds the cross posted limit of 8 groups will be returned
to the sender (if one can be identified) with a standard mail explaining
the rejection.
Test posts will be returned to the poster (if one can be identified) with
a standard mail explaining the action.
Originators of multiple identical postings will be informed of the action
of the moderators (if one can be identified).
Submission in other than plain ASCII text will be returned to the sender
(if one can be identified) with a standard mail explaining the action of
the moderator.
If any moderator doubts that a post falls within one of these categories
then they should seek guidance from the moderation panel before
rejecting/accepting the post. If a reasonable doubt still exists then the
moderators will approve the article.
Openess
The moderation panel will make a weekly post detailing the number and type
of articles rejected. Logs of the moderators' actions will be available
on a web page maintained on the moderation software. Rejected articles
will be held on the server for public inspection for one month after they
have been rejected (other than binaries - only the headers of which only
will be kept).
Action suspending the whitelist status of an individual will immediately
communicated to the group.
The moderators will be subject to annual election and recall as set out
below.
Moderation Panel
Composition
1 There shall be a panel of not less than 4 and not more than 12
moderators.
Election
2 Initially moderators shall be the panel elected as part of the charter
change process.
3. Then each year there after elections will be held for the posts of
moderator.
i. 11 months after moderation comes into effect (and every twelve months
subsequently) the moderation panel will appoint a neutral party to conduct
the election as vote taker. The vote taker will issue a call for
nominations for a new moderation panel.
ii. Nominations will be open for 10 days and to be valid each nominee
will have to be proposed and seconded by white list posters
self-nomination is permitted). All white list posters shall have the
right to vote, regardless as to whether they were white listed before or
after the opening of nominations.
iii. At the end of 10 days a list of candidates (including their
proposers/seconders) will be published.
iv. A five day period of hustings will be held during which the
candidates will answer questions from posters to the group.
v. The vote taker will issue the first call for votes, to be followed by
a second call for votes five days later, the voting period lasting in all
for 10 days, votes shall only be valid if submitted on official ballot
forms.
vi. Voting will be by the Single Transferable Vote method, with a reopen
nominations candidate (RON) added to the ballot. If RON passes the quota
then all the then unfilled places are void requiring a new election for
those vacancies.
vii. Each voter shall receive an acknowledgement from the vote taker.
They will be given a unique identification as part of their
acknowledgement, this will enable them to verify their vote when the
result is published while protecting their identity from other voters.
viii. The vote taker will publish the result and a voting list
comprising voter identifiers and their vote.
xi. In the event of less than 4 moderators being elected or RON passing
quota the vote taker will issue a second request for nominations no later
than 1 month after the close of ballot and hold elections for the
remaining vacancies. Those elected at this election shall serve until the
annual round of elections are held.
x. In the event of the resignation, removal or death of a moderator the
next highest candidate (if they are still willing) from the previous
election will be appointed for the remainder of the term.
xi. If the number of moderators falls below 4 or if the moderators
consider it necessary due to excessive workload, they will appoint such
temporary moderators as are necessary (the total number of moderators not
to exceed 12) to efficiently moderate uk.gay-lesbian-bi. Their
appointment to be confirmed by a vote of the white list posters within 21
days. They will serve until the annual round of elections are held.
Leave of Absence and Removal
4. Moderators should inform the moderating team of periods when they will
be inactive. The moderation panel may appoint a temporary moderator to
stand in during this period, the position being offered first to the
highest loser from the last election, or failing that a person of their
choice.
Other than such periods any moderator that does not take part in
moderation activity for 21 consecutive days shall automatically be removed
from the moderation team.
5. Moderators who either approve excluded posts or decline to approve
non-excluded posts may be removed by a two thirds decision of the other
moderators.
6 Any moderator may be removed by a vote of no confidence.
i. Such a vote may be proposed by any white list poster and will need to
be supported by 9 other whitelist posters.
ii. People on the white lists at the time when the vote of no confidence
is tabled shall be eligible to vote on such a proposal ie people added to
the whitelist after the formal request for a no confidence vote will not
be permitted to vote on this occasion.
iii. A ballot should be held within 10 days of a formal request for a vote
of no confidence. A neutral person will be asked by the moderation panel
to conduct the ballot.
The question shall be:-
"Do you have confidence in X as a moderator of uk.gay-lesbian-bi
yes/no/abstain"
iv. For the purposes of calculating a majority only votes yes or no will
count. A simple majority of votes cast for no shall indicate that the
group has no confidence in the moderator and s/he shall immediately be
removed from the moderation panel.
v. A vote of no confidence in the whole moderation panel will not be
permitted, only a vote for each individual moderator.
vi. The vote taker shall use the same anonymising method as outlined for
the annual election of moderators and shall publish the result with the
anonymous identifiers and how they voted.
vii. After the conclusion of a vote of no confidence which falls no such
similar motion shall be brought against the same person for a period of
three calendar months.
Moderation Software and Location
The moderation software shall be the STUMP system (or similar), and will
be located on a server provided by Jon Ribbens < jon@oaktree.co.uk>. The
STUMP moderation software (Secure Team-based Usenet Moderation Program) is
fully described at:
http://www.algebra.com/~ichudov/usenet/scrm/robomod/robomod.html It
enables a team of moderators to moderate the group, they require no
special software and all the decisions of the moderators are logged on an
automatically maintained website. Several features can be automated and it
permits great flexibility that enables it to be customised for the group's
needs.
The moderators will arrange a back up server and in the event of the loss
of the moderation server will ensure that the back up server takes over
the process of administering the moderation software.
Changes to Moderation Policy
All changes to moderation policy will treated as a formal charter change
requiring a full RFD/CFV in uk.net.news.announce cross posted to
uk.net.news.config and uk.gay-lesbian-bi.
==========================================================================
PROPOSALS & PROPOSED MODERATORS:
The proposals come in three parts with Part 1 needing to be approved
before Parts 2 & 3 will be relevant.
Part 1 - Changing of uk.gay-lesbian-bi to a moderated group
Part 2 - Changing of morality clause
Part 3 - Election of moderators
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 1
This will be an YES/NO/ABSTAIN vote to select whether uk.gay-lesbian-bi
should change to a moderated group or maintain the status quo.
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 2
This will be a vote by the AV method in rewording the morality clause of
the groups charter. There are 4 options which should be numbered in order
of preference :
Option A
NB THIS IS AN OPTION TO MAINTAIN THE CURRENT WORDING (IE STATUS QUO)
uk.gay-lesbian-bi provides a forum for the discussion of lesbian, gay and
bisexual related issues from a UK viewpoint, but not the morality of such
issues.
Option B
uk.gay-lesbian-bi provides a forum for the discussion of lesbian, gay and
bisexual related issues from a UK viewpoint.
uk.gay-lesbian-bi is intended as a safe space for lesbians, gay men,
bisexuals, their friends and those interested in matters of sexuality.
All posters are requested to respect this.
Option C
uk.gay-lesbian-bi provides a forum for the discussion of lesbian, gay and
bisexual related issues from a UK viewpoint.
uk.gay-lesbian-bi is intended as a safe space for lesbians, gay men,
bisexuals, their friends and those interested in matters of sexuality and
all posters are requested to respect this. Those who do not are liable to
be flamed on the group and may be reported to their ISP.
Option D
uk.gay-lesbian-bi provides a forum for the discussion of lesbian, gay and
bisexual related issues from a UK viewpoint.
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 3
This will be a individual YES/NO/ABSTAIN election vote for each person who
has requested to become moderators of group. Each individual moderator has
been allowed a mini-statement to describe themselves and state any
information they feel relevant to the election as a moderator:
Lyn David Thomas
lyn@stuffing.demon.co.uk
I am putting myself forward as moderator because I believe that if you are
to propose moderation it is only proper to take some responsibility for he
work that will have been created. I have been a regular on the group since
its creation. I am also a moderator of uk.politics.announce, where I have
held my nose and past postings whose content I violently objected to. If
I am accepted as a moderator I will rigorously stick the the guidelines
and only reject posts that clearly, without any reasonable doubt violate
those guidelines.
Peter Corlett
abuse@verrine.demon.co.uk
I have been on and off uk.gay-lesbian-bi for over two years, and I have
seen the general decline in the quality of the group, mostly due to the
recent influx of spam and other junk. As moderation will return the group
to those mostly spam-free days of 1996, I'm all for it. I rather like the
fluff and flames that make newsgroups what they are, and so have no
intention of rejecting any such articles. I'm only interested in removing
the junk articles which stifle the proper flow of the group.
Chris Heathcote
glb@deaddodo.com
Young and hung, M, 20, seeks..... an end to all the spam on
uk.gay-lesbian-bi. Regular poster with far too much time on his hands.
Blue-ribbon waver who sees moderation as the only viable solution to the
current problem. As Beavis once said, "He kinda looks like a drunk
businessman in one of those kroaky-oaky bars." See http://www.deaddodo.com
to see where I'm coming from.
Matthew Malthouse
matthew@calmeilles.demon.co.uk
I'm 34, gay and have been a regular on uk.g-l-b for about two years. As
such I will be recognisable to many usenet users and am personally known
to a number of other users of the group. I have access to both usenet and
the web via two separate services and for one of those services I am the
usenet admin. I am something of a reluctant convert to moderation,
supporting the proposal as made for the sole purpose of preserving
uk.g-l-b as a useful resource on the net. I maintain three active e-mail
addresses, usually read daily,
matthew@calmeilles.demon.co.uk
matthew.malthouse@guardian.co.uk
malth@guardian.co.uk
Correspondence should by preference be directed to the first address
though the second is used in usenet postings.
Steve Fitzgerald
steve@g7kkh.demon.co.uk
I am Steve Fitzgerald (steve@g7kkh.demon.co.uk), a gay man originally from
Blackpool, moved to London two years ago. I am now happily married (!)
living in East London. I have been on the internet for about three years,
although have never really been involved in anything apart from as a user.
I have no ulterior motive in this offer apart from wishing the group to
be spam free and readable to all comers. I am happy to volunteer my time
for this as I feel it will improve the group for all. I also feel that
the level of moderation is as much as I would like to see, and if it were,
at a later date, to be altered to make it more draconian then I would
resign as a moderator.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Votetakers Notes:
=================
Well it seems that some people will never get used to the idea of placing
their names and email addresses within the ballot paper, but that is their
hard luck and they lose the opportunity of their vote being counted.
And it should be noted that this is the final vote to ever be counted by
the AV method and the temporay ruling by the committee, and votes will be
counted by the Condorcet System.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.cirra.com/ukvoting/
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.
Thanks
Swinny - Rob Felton
Acting Co-Ordinator, UKVoting
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