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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