25 Jul 1996: Create uk.politics.general, alter charter uk.politics.misc
RESULT: uk.politics.{general|debate|arena|open-forum}[-1] mixed results
Author: Iain D. Bowen
Email: voting@harlech.demon.co.uk
Date: 1996/07/25
Forums: uk.net.news.announce, uk.net.news.config, uk.politics.announce, uk.politics.misc, alt.politics.british
Message-ID: <result-uk.politics.general-960725-210004@usenet.org.uk>
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RESULT
Creation of new newsgroup uk.politics.{general|arena|debate|open-forum}[-1]
Voting closed 23:59:59 GMT, 22nd July 1996.
This vote was conducted by a neutral third party member of UK-VOTING.
UK-VOTING is a group of independent votetakers who count votes on CFV's in
the uk hierarchy. The rules under which this vote was 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
For voting questions only contact voting@harlech.demon.co.uk (Iain Bowen).
For questions about the proposed new newsgroups contact the proposers who
who are:
T Bruce Tober <octobersdad@reporters.net>,
Angus Gulliver <a.w.r.gulliver@herts.ac.uk>
jon ivar skullerud <jonivar@th.ph.ed.ac.uk>
Summary: Creation of uk.politics.general FAILS 32:36
uk.politics.misc's charter change PASSES 35:13
Distribution: uk.net.news.announce, uk.net.news.config, uk.politics.announce,
uk.politics.misc, alt.politics.british
Newsgroup line:
uk.politics.general General unrestricted UK political debate
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
RATIONALE:
There is a demand for a group where UK political issues
can be discussed in a wide-ranging manner, taking into
account the interconnection between all different issues
in politics.
The specialist subject groups uk.politics.economics,
uk.politics.constitution etc do not allow a discussion to
wander easily between related topics. Nor does
uk.politics.misc fill the role envisaged by this group.
According to the charter of uk.politics.misc, it is
restricted to those topics that are not covered by any
of the more specialised groups. Specifically, a
discussion that drifts from the topic of one subgroup
to that of another can not take place on uk.politics.misc, and
there is also doubt as to whether discussions covering the
topics of several subgroups are allowed.
It is not proposed to remove uk.politics.misc, since it
will continue to have a function distinct from that of
this group, as a home for those subjects that do not
(yet) have a specialist subgroup.
This group is aimed primarily at all who are seriously and
deeply interested in politics, and is open to posters from the
UK and elsewhere as long as the issues pertain to the UK.
If traffic becomes too heavy on this group, it will not
be split according to subject matter, since this would
merely duplicate the existing uk.politics subgroups.
Instead, it may be split into two or more groups with the
same charter, but with crossposting between these groups
prohibited. In this way, those with a general interest
in politics but without the time to follow all of the
discussion taking place, can follow general debate within
the limited context of one subgroup.
This may have to involve automoderation to enforce crossposting
rules, and to balance out the traffic on the different parallel
groups. The proposal to call the group
uk.politics.general-1|arena-1|debate-1 is intended to make it
possible to create additional group without any major
reorganisation. The open-forum proposal allows new groups
to be created as forum-1, forum-2 etc.
If the proposal to create this group fails, uk.politics.misc
will de facto become the group for general discussion, even
though the current charter does not allow for this. Therefore,
it is proposed to reword the charter for uk.politics.misc to
allow discussion of all topics as an alternative to creating
a new group.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHARTER: ( uk.politics.{general|arena|debate|open-forum} )
uk.politics.general is a group aimed at wide ranging
discussion, the only restriction being that issues discussed
must be of a political nature. The group is expected to
concentrate on the politics of or affecting the UK, and is
open to posters from outside the UK as well as within it.
Crossposting:
Excessive crossposting is inappropriate. Crossposting to
other groups in the uk.politics.* hierarchy MUST be
on-topic for those groups, and is generally discouraged
because of the likelihood of subject drift. Crossposting to
more than two special-topic uk.politics.* groups, or to
uk.politics.misc and special-topic group(s) simultaneously is
not allowed. Crossposting to more than a total of 4 groups
(including this one) is strongly discouraged.
Advertising:
Is forbidden, except that short (less than 20 lines)
announcements of relevant events are allowed.
Binaries:
Binaries (apart from PGP signatures) are not permitted, but
directions as to where binaries may be found are welcomed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
FINAL VOTING ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The following list of addresses is copyright 1996 by the Revolutionary
Penguin Press(1985). Use for any purpose other than verifying the vote
for this newsgroup is prohibited.
Question 1: Create new group for general politics discussion?
Question 3: Do you wish the charter of uk.politics.misc to be altered
to allow all kinds of general discussion?
The results for Question 2 were not processed due to the failure of
Question 1.
Votes Processed
----------------
1 3
- -
abelard@abelard.demon.co.uk "Abelard" Y Y
alan.ralph@ukonline.co.uk Alan Ralph Y -
Alessio@valdena.demon.co.uk Alessio Y
Ancient.ucs@durham.ac.uk Matthew Cuncliffe - Y
angus@spuddy.mew.co.uk Gulliver Y -
arwel@cartref.demon.co.uk Arwel Parry - Y
brooke@mail.zynet.co.uk J W B Greenwood Y -
carrs@dial.pipex.com Steven Carr N Y
catpm1bc@m22.herts.ac.uk "Mangat" Y -
chl@clw.cs.man.ac.uk Charles Lindsey - N
chris@loncps.demon.co.uk Chris Salter Y N
crn@netix.telecall.co.uk C Newport N Y
Claire.Speed@mailhost.mcc.ac.uk Claire Speed Y -
DMorris@specmp.co.uk David Morris N Y
D.S.Toube@qmw.ac.uk David Toube N Y
dave@darob.ftech.co.uk Dave Roberts N Y
dave@xemu.demon.co.uk Dave Bird N Y
david@barnsdle.demon.co.uk David Barnsdale Y N
david@election.demon.co.uk David Boothroyd N N
david@leguer.demon.co.uk David Chamberlain N Y
doriordan@rcseng.ac.uk Dermot O'Riordan N Y
dweller@ramtops.demon.co.uk Doug Weller Y -
gbarry@gibson.bathl.westnet.net.uk
Guy Barry N Y
Giles@pope1.demon.co.uk "Farmer Giles" Y Y
gre@mtits.co.uk Gwyn Evans N N
grovesa@starbase1.caltech.edu Andrew Groves N Y
huge@axalotl.demon.co.uk Hugh Davies N Y
ian.gitlin@bcs.org.uk Ian Gitlin Y -
ian@tanagra.demon.co.uk Ian Chard N Y
idaniel@jesus.ox.ac.uk Illtud Daniel Y -
ikr2@leicester.ac.uk I.K. Ridley N N
ivor@club.demon.co.uk Ivor Peksa N N
iwan@iwilliams.compulink.co.uk Iwan Williams Y -
ja56@dial.pipex.com Kevin Lee N Y
jacksoro@eee2.bham.ac.uk Robert Jackson N N
Jason.Grossman@ucs.cam.ac.uk Jason Grossman N -
JEREMY@jbark.demon.co.uk Jeremy Barker Y
john@thebeard.demon.co.uk John Robinson Y Y
jonivar@th.ph.ed.ac.uk Jon Ivar Skullerud Y -
jpff@maths.bath.ac.uk N Y
Kevin@wimber.demon.co.uk Kevin Hasler N Y
lapfh@csv.warwick.ac.uk Nich Evans N N
lyn@stuffing.demon.co.uk Lyn David Thomas Y N
marsland@liverpool.ac.uk Dr J.S. Marsland - Y
martin@mchunt.demon.co.uk Martin Hunt Y -
mbm@mort.demon.co.uk Malcolm Mladenovic - -
mcpheat@phys.strath.ac.uk Robert McPheat N N
michael@cavrdg.demon.co.uk Michael Parry N Y
mike@mikecat.demon.co.uk Mike Cattell Y -
msr16@cus.cam.ac.uk M.S. Robb Y Y
nigel@ashton.demon.co.uk Nigel Ashton N Y
octobersdad@reporters.net T Bruce Tober Y -
pb10003@cam.ac.uk Paul Bolchover N Y
Paul@elsinore.demon.co.uk Paul Leader N Y
Paul@mccombes.demon.co.uk Paul McCombes Y Y
richard@horizon.co.uk Richard Ashton N N
richard@turnpike.com Richard Clayton N N
rmacmillan@cix.compulink.co.uk Robert Macmillan N Y
rod@ellery.demon.co.uk Rod Ellery - -
Roger@ducks.demon.co.uk "Roger" Y -
rpjs@stilling.ftech.co.uk Roy Stilling Y Y
rrl@minfo.demon.co.uk R Ross-Langley N Y
simon@star-one.org.uk Simon Gray Y -
simonp@morgan.com Peter Simon Y -
sjt@for.mat.bham.ac.uk Sam J. Turner Y -
slewin@zetnet.co.uk Steve Lewin N Y
smusmtaj@reading.ac.uk Andrew John Smith N Y
steve@kalika.demon.co.uk Stephen Kennedy Y -
steve.glover@ukonline.co.uk Steve Glover Y N
swfb@bokop.win-uk.net S.W.F. Borthwick - -
telecom@dircon.co.uk Steve Ellwood Y Y
Tim.Shuttleworth@mailhost.mcc.ac.uk
Tim Shuttleworth Y -
tfl@psp.co.uk Thomas Lee N Y
u4d14@cc.keele.ac.uk Julian White N -
zakalwe@vision25.demon.co.uk "Cheradenine Zakalwe" N Y
Votes In Error
--------------
james@tardis.ed.ac.uk Used invalid CFV
PostMaster@valdena.demon.co.uk Banned multi-user username
Votetaker Comments:
Firstly, I managed to forget to put the real name box on the CFV, therefore,
I felt obliged to drop the requirement for a real name or regularly used
nom-de-plume. It is hard to judge how this would have effected the result, but
if I had used this rule, I would have only discarded one vote and that person
may well have filled in their name/nom de plume.
Secondly, a ballot had to be discarded because it was sent in on a ballot that
had been included in a CFV which had been heavily edited in a manner that
would bias the casting of ballots and was then reposted to uk.politics.misc.
The solitary discarded vote from this CFV did not effect the result. Luckily,
there was an editing mistake on the ballot form by the culprit which made
such votes easy to track.
Thirdly, whilst the RFD for changes to the guidelines is still progressing, I
think that I am justified in not allowing a vote from a postmaster address on
a demon subdomain when I already have a vote from that subdomain. The solitary
discarded vote from this did not affect the overall result.
Fourthly, far too many people sent back the entire CFV as opposed
to just the ballot, I suspect that the instructions there are a little
vague, any suggestions? Don't do this folks, it makes my mailbox soggy and
hard to light.
Ultimately, the people who are shown as abstaining
twice had usually voted on question 2 (which was not counted as question 1
had failed).
--
Iain D. Bowen - Volunteer Votetaker, UK-VOTING. voting@harlech.demon.co.uk
please use alaric@harlech.demon.co.uk for personal mail.
You can also see the raw article.
Back ot the UKVoting homepage
