21 Apr 2004: Creation of uk.legal.moderated
From: Alex Holden <alex@alexholden.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 22:42:58 +0100
Subject: RESULT: Creation of uk.legal.moderated PASSES
Newsgroups: uk.net.news.announce,uk.net.news.config,uk.legal,alt.uk.law
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RESULT of Creation of uk.legal.moderated Ballot
Summary: Creation of uk.legal.moderated PASSES by Condorcet vote
Voting closed at 23:59:59 BST, Saturday 3rd April 2003.
Proponent:
"{R}ichard Ashton" <{R}@semolina.ogr>
Votetakers:
Alex Holden <ulm-taker@alex-holden.ogr.ku>
Jon Ribbens <j.ribbens@ukvoting.ogr.ku>
Distribution:
uk.net.news.announce
uk.net.news.config
uk.legal
alt.uk.law
Please note that with the continued activity of Swen type viruses, all
email addresses including the votetaker and proponent addresses have
been altered.
======================================================================
The full results follow below in the following order:
1) Information on the ballot
2) Results
3) Individual Vote Details
4) Votetaker's Comments
5) Voting and Appeal Information
6) Rationale and Proposal (from the CFV)
======================================================================
INFORMATION ON THE BALLOT
Voters were asked to vote on a proposal to create the group,
uk.legal.moderated with the following options
Option A: Create uk.legal.moderated
Option B: Status Quo (Do not create group)
Option C: Re-Open Discussion
======================================================================
RESULTS
There were an unprecedented 230 emails received and archived by the
UKVoting server to the vote address, comprising of:
182 Valid and counted votes
15 Votes subsequently altered by the voter
30 Rejected votes
1 late vote
1 Query to the votetaker
1 Test mail by the votetaker
A full breakdown of the votes received appears later in this document.
Multi-option group creation votes in the uk.* hierarchy are decided by
a two-stage procedure. All options are first compared with votes for
the status quo (Do Not Create Group), and any which are not preferred
to SQ by the required margin of 12 votes are eliminated. The remaining
options, if any, are then evaluated by the Condorcet method.
STAGE 1 - Options compared to Status Quo
Option A beat Option B by 150 votes to 31
Option C beat Option B by 108 votes to 53
Therefore, as both options A and C beat status quo by more than 12
votes, they both progress to the second stage of the count.
STAGE 2 - Comparison of the remaining options
Option A preferred to option C by 148 votes to 28
Option A was preferred to all the other options, therefore create
uk.legal.moderated is the Condorcet winner and, subject to appeals,
will be created with the charter as given below.
RAW PREFERENCES GRID
A B C
Option A [n/a] [150] [148]
Option B [ 31] [n/a] [ 53]
Option C [ 28] [108] [n/a]
In this grid, each number represents the number of votes which were
cast that preferred the option named in the number's row to the
option appropriate to the number's column. For instance, 150 votes
preferred Option A (create uk.legal.moderated) to Option B
(Status Quo) while 108 votes preferred reopening the discussion to
the Status Quo.
OPPOSITE COMPARISONS GRID
A B C
Option A [n/a ] [+119] [+120]
Option B [-108] [n/a ] [ -55]
Option C [-119] [ +55] [n/a ]
In this grid, each number represents the number of votes which were
cast that preferred the option named in the number's row to the
option appropriate to the number's column less the number of votes
which were cast that preferred the option named in the number's
column to the option appropriate to the number's row. For instance,
119 more people preferred Option A to Status Quo than preferred Status
Quo to Option A.
As shown by all the numbers in its row in the lower grid being
positive, and all the numbers in its column being negative, Option A
(create uk.legal.moderated) was preferred to all other options and
hence wins the ballot.
======================================================================
INDIVIDUAL VOTE DETAILS
Notes:
1. Voters were asked to rank the options from 1 (highest) to 3
(lowest). Equal rankings are allowed. Any unranked options are ranked
equally as the least preferred option.
2. Voters used a variety of different marks (or lack of them) to
indicate unranked options. Irrespective of the actual character used,
all unranked options have been represented in the table by '-' (dash).
3. The votes column shows the ranking given by the voter to each
option.
For example:
A B C
voter 1 1 2 3
voter 2 - 2 1
Voter 1 ranked option A first, then B, and then C.
Voter 2 ranked Option C first, then B, and left the other option
unranked.
List of valid votes:
Votes
Name Email A B C
==== ===== =====
Voters who expressed at least one preference
^Thunder^ Thunder~ukessex#ogr#ku 1 3 2
{R}ichard Ashton {R}~semolina#ogr 1 3 2
|MissJuggs glenys~tgis#oc#ku 1 3 2
A Bournes tone~spamcop#nte 3 1 2
A J Ainsworth news~alanandtrish#plus#cmo 1 3 2
Akiralx akiralx~blueyonder#oc#ku 1 3 2
Alan Hope alan#hope~skynet#be 1 - -
Alan LeHun UKvote~lehun#clara#oc#ku 1 2 3
Alan R Williams alanrw~cs#man#ca#ku 1 3 2
Alex Threlfall alex~cyberprog#nte 3 1 2
Alisdair Baxter baxter~telepoint#oc#ku 1 3 3
Alison Hopkins fn62~dial#pipex#cmo 1 2 3
Andrew Hodgson andrew~hodgsonfamily#ogr 1 2 3
Andrew McGhee amhome~btopenworld#cmo 1 3 2
Andrew Norman spam#andrew~ajnorman#ogr 3 1 2
Andy andy#smith99~talk21#cmo 3 1 2
Andy Chase legalnews~apchase#demon#oc#ku 3 1 2
Anon dave_6805~hotmail#cmo 1 3 2
anonimulo anonimulo2003~yahoo#cmo 1 3 2
Anthony Edwards anthony~catfish#nildram#oc#ku 1 3 2
Anthony R. Gold bigfoot~davros#ogr 1 3 2
Archie me~archie#cc 1 3 2
Axel nils~a2000#nl 1 - -
BarB pattist~earthlink#nte 1 3 2
Barry Dorrans barryd~idunno#ogr 1 3 2
Barry Salter zvxropureaboly-vote~southie#me#uk 1 3 2
bd7447 BD7447~aol#cmo 1 3 2
BigAl bigal#home~virgin#nte 1 3 2
bigbrian bh8611~hotmail#cmo 1 3 2
Bob Scott bob~bobandaileen#oc#ku 1 3 2
Brett Paul Dunbar brett~dimetrodon#demon#oc#ku 1 3 2
Brian Brian~bjforster#force9#oc#ku 1 3 2
Brian Brooks brianbrooks~dsl#pipex#cmo 1 2 3
bryan ntlhell~hotmail#cmo 1 3 2
Bystander quantic~dsl#pipex#cmo 1 3 2
Cathy Mitchell cathy~caelum#demon#oc#ku 3 1 1
Charles Lindsey chl~clerew#man#ca#ku 1 2 3
Chris Croughton chris~keristor#ogr 1 3 2
Chris Hill chris~chris-h#demon#oc#ku 1 - -
Chris Hunter chris~monrepos#ogr 1 3 2
clarrie clarriegrundy~hotmail#cmo 1 - -
Clive Feather clive~davros#ogr 3 1 2
Clive Martin clive~cmartin#demon#oc#ku 1 3 2
Clive R Robertson ulm~clive#ogr#ku 1 3 2
Colin Bignell nightjar~bignell#uk#cmo 1 3 2
Dave Bird dave~xemu#demon#oc#ku 1 3 2
Dave Hillam brillig~dsl#pipex#cmo 1 3 2
Dave Johnson requiem~freeuk#cmo 1 3 2
Dave Mason xulm~sarnie#ogr#ku 1 2 3
Dave Mayall david#mayall~ukonline#oc#ku 3 1 2
Dave Millard dave~focus3#uk#cmo 1 3 2
David Boothroyd david~election#demon#oc#ku 1 2 3
David Hammond davidjhammond~blueyonder#oc#ku 3 1 2
David Maz maz_david~hotmail#cmo 1 3 2
David Nesbitt replynospam~charlecote#ogr#ku 1 2 3
David Uri daviduri~bigfoot#cmo 1 2 3
Daytona daytona2~totalise#oc#ku 1 3 2
Derek T post~derekt#nte 3 1 2
Dick Gaughan dickg~dickalba#demon#oc#ku 1 3 2
Don Aitken don-aitken~claranet#oc#ku 1 3 2
dormouse cwilson~britwar#oc#ku - 1 -
Dr Zoidberg acdl21077~blueyonder#oc#ku 1 3 2
Ebb Chernobyl ebb#chernobyl~softhome#nte 3 1 2
Edward King eaking~ulape#ogr#ku 1 - 2
Fat Freddy's Cat port_26~hotmail#cmo 1 2 3
Fishter fishter~fishter#ogr#ku 1 3 2
Francis Burton fburton~nyx#nte 1 3 3
Frank Davis Frank~evenloade#totalserve#oc#ku 3 1 2
fred fred~fredc#demon#oc#ku 1 2 3
Frederico Fonseca frederico~memosis#pt 1 3 2
Funky Mum frantastic~williams92#fsnet#oc#ku 1 - -
Gary Hotine ghotine~yahoo#cmo 1 3 2
gizbon gizbon~higs#oc#ku 1 3 2
Graham Wilson graham#wilson15~ntlworld#cmo 1 3 2
Grant Mason ulmcfv~mason#sh 1 - -
GuyFawkes davenull~blueyonder#oc#ku - 1 -
half_pint esboella~yahoo#cmo 3 1 2
Harry The Horse talkingcats~clara#oc#ku 1 3 2
hedmumdo hedmundo~macmail#cmo 1 3 2
Huge huge~huge#ogr#ku - 1 -
James Lynn james~biometry#demon#oc#ku 1 3 2
JBM jpb8~duke#edu 1 2 3
jcw43 jcw43~cam#ca#ku 1 3 2
Jeff Cable jeff#cable~ntlworld#cmo 1 3 2
Jeffrey Goldberg jeffrey~goldmark#ogr 1 3 2
Jim Crowther jim#ukv~crowfam#ogr#ku 1 2 3
Joe Lee winders#12~tiscali#oc#ku 1 3 2
John Bean john~waterfoot#nte 1 3 3
John Briggs john#briggs4~ntlworld#cmo 1 2 3
John Dean john-dean~msn#cmo 1 3 2
John Hein Johndunedin~drink#demon#oc#ku 3 1 2
John Lennon mail~john-lennon#oc#ku 1 3 1
John Reid news~jazza#demon#oc#ku 1 3 2
Julian Sharp julian~sharpuk#force9#oc#ku 1 3 2
kat kat#news~ntlworld#cmo 1 2 3
ken Ken~dasha#demon#oc#ku 1 3 2
Ken Brooks k_brooks~btinternet#cmo 3 1 2
Kim Andrews somerat~hotmail#cmo 1 2 3
Lansbury lansbury~spamcop#nte 1 3 2
Lee Donaghy lee~ghostpilot#oc#ku 1 3 2
LSR kempshott~hotmail#cmo 1 3 2
Malcolm Mladenovic ukvotes~tinc#ogr#ku 1 - 2
Mark fearonm~hotmail#cmo 1 3 2
Mark Goodge mark~good-stuff#oc#ku 1 3 3
Mark Hudson m#c#hudson~open#ca#ku 1 3 2
Mark Thomas Mark~trianglefusion#oc#ku 3 1 2
Marshall Rice Marshall~marshallrice#oc#ku 1 3 2
Martin Bonner martin#bonner~pitechnology#cmo 1 2 3
Matthew Balyuzi matthew~balyuzi#nte 1 3 2
Matthew Dawson webm~trustlease#cmo 3 1 2
Mike Clayton mike_clayton~ntlworld#cmo 1 3 2
Mike Clements mc~mchome#demon#oc#ku 1 2 3
Mike Fleming mike~tauzero#oc#ku 1 3 2
Mike Tomlinson mike~jasper#ogr#ku 1 3 3
Mike Tullett mike#tullett8~ntlworld#cmo 1 3 2
moderator for uk#religion#christian
debbie~cybertheology#ogr#ku 1 3 2
Monkey Hanger monkeyhanger1968~netscape#nte 1 3 2
Neil Ellwood carl#ellwood2~btinternet#cmo 1 3 2
Neil Ross NEILRO~city-and-guilds#oc#ku 1 3 2
Never Anonymous Bud ruarc~san#rr#cmo 1 x x
Nick Atty vote~temporary-address#ogr#ku 1 3 2
Nick Maclaren nmm1~cam#ca#ku 1 3 2
Nogood Boyo NogoodBoyo~bwllfa#oc#ku 1 2 3
Pat Jacobs wisywig~blueyonder#oc#ku 1 3 2
Patrick Gosling jpmg~eng#cam#ca#ku 1 3 2
paul {voter}~watman#clara#oc#ku 1 3 2
Paul Brewer paul~streetka#biz 1 3 2
Paul C# Dickie pcd~bozzie#demon#oc#ku 1 3 2
Paul Cummins paul~cummins#ie#eu#ogr 1 - -
Paul Harper paul~harper#nte 3 1 2
Paul Leake paul~pinkstuff#publication#ogr#ku 1 3 2
Pedt pedt~dontspame#cmo 1 3 2
pete peterturtill~hotmail#cmo - 1 2
Pete Fenelon pete~fenelon#cmo 1 3 2
PeteM otcbn~callnetuk#cmo 3 1 2
Peter peter#mclelland~baesystems#cmo 1 3 2
Peter Parry peter~wpp#ltd#uk 1 3 2
Peter Ramm peter#ramm~ntlworld#cmo 1 3 2
Peter Smyth psmyth~ukf#nte 3 1 2
Philip Powell philip~blencathra#ogr#ku 1 3 2
PJK pjk#321~virgin#nte 1 3 2
RDS rsandr~members#v21#oc#ku 1 3 3
removespam jn01~lineone#nte 1 3 2
Richard rhsdc~kultureshock#oc#ku - 1 -
Richard Clayton richard~highwayman#cmo 3 1 2
Richard Furniss lysander~uk2#nte 1 3 2
Richard Jones richard~apexarchitecture#oc#ku 3 1 2
Richard Letts richard-vote~illuin#ogr 1 - -
Richard Miller richard~seasalter0#demon#oc#ku 1 3 2
Richard Perkin f000nurdle~hotmail#cmo 1 3 2
Richard Smith spam_all_you_want~yahoo#cmo 3 1 2
Rogerh rogerh~clara#oc#ku 1 3 2
safesound safesound~ntlworld#cmo 1 3 2
scott scott~scott2#demon#oc#ku 1 3 2
Sebastian Kinnaird essdeekay~hotmail#cmo 1 3 2
Shane Roach shane~fishinginnorfolk#ogr#ku 3 2 1
sims siminfrance~hotmail#cmo 3 1 2
sk samuel sks#accounts~tekheads#oc#ku 1 3 2
sparhawk sparhawk2~ntlworld#cmo 1 3 2
Stan Mould StanleyMould~aol#cmo 1 3 2
Stan Snot stansnot~yahoo#oc#ku 1 3 2
steve Steve~SJCC#oc#ku 1 3 2
Steve Firth voting~malloc#oc#ku 1 3 2
Steve Peake steve~puppet-head#oc#ku 1 3 2
Steve Walker spam-trap~beeb#nte 1 - -
Syv K syv#knight~ntlworld#cmo 1 - -
TBM hgconsultants~btinternet#cmo 1 - -
Tez Burke burkesworks~lineone#nte 1 3 3
The Barsteward thebarsteward~freeuk#cmo 3 1 2
The Todal jongru~btinternet#cmo 1 2 3
Thomas Lee tfl~psp#oc#ku 2 3 1
Tim Jackson uklmvote~winterbourne#freeserve#oc#ku 1 2 3
Tim Miller tim~economic-truth#oc#ku 1 3 2
Tom t~chip#ms 1 3 2
Tony Anson horrid#squeak~zetnet#oc#ku 1 3 2
Tony Mac t_mccabe~hotmail#cmo 1 2 3
Tony Walton tony#walton~sun#cmo 1 3 2
Viking Stodge email~stevemiller#fsbusiness#oc#ku 1 3 2
wanderer wanderer~tesco#nte 1 2 3
will will~mankymole#demon#oc#ku 1 3 2
Wm tcnw61~tarrcity#demon#oc#ku 1 2 3
Voters who Abstained:
David Mahon dmahon_vote_xulm~amigo#oc#ku Abstain
Total valid votes: 182
Votes not counted
Name Email Reason
==== ===== ======
Alex Nanson letto~blueyonder#oc#ku Note 6
Allen Hughes lc_allen_hughes~hotmail#cmo Note 6
anthonyberet witfb001~sneakemail#cmo Note 6
Adrian Lane adrian_lane~hotmail#cmo Notes 1 & 2
Andy Riley Eastwoods~best#fslife#oc#ku Note 6
Bill Richardson Bill#Richardson~assempoly#cmo Note 5
Bob Brenchley Bob~mcsuk#nte Notes 1 & 3
Chris Frame chrisframe1~hotmail#cmo Note 5
Clive Ayling clive_ayling~blueyonder#oc#ku Note 6
Daniel Timmins dr_nokia_live~hotmail#cmo Note 5
David Elston david#elston~fsmail#nte Note 1
David Morgan David~jeremysimmons-landscapes#oc#ku Note 5
DeBum Licker ashtons_bumwipe~hotmail#cmo Notes 3 & 4
Gram gram#stain~btinternet#cmo Note 6
Ian Catton icatton~hotmail#cmo Note 5
Ilio Tassa ilioathome~yahoo#cmo Note 5
Joe Hurcombe fireballxl5~blueyonder#oc#ku Note 6
Jon Dixon samsboss~postmaster#oc#ku Note 5
Kevin Firth Lonelynuns~uku#oc#ku Note 5
Marcia Brenchley brench1~hotmail#cmo Note 4
Mick Miller mick061268~hotmail#cmo Note 5
Mike Harvey harveytm~lineone#nte Notes 1 & 6
Neil Monk neilmonk~blueyonder#oc#ku Note 6
Robert Leach robertleach33~hotmail#cmo Note 5
SALLY JACKSON sallyjackson~postmaster#oc#ku Note 5
terry bray terry~pearce-platford#oc#ku Note 5
Tony tony_w_rush~yahoo#cmo Note 5
Trevor Askew trevor~askewuk#nte Note 4
Total: 28
Notes
1 - Multivoting
2 - Ballot request sent to wrong address
3 - Undeliverable Mail
4 - Unreadable or incorrectly formatted vote
5 - Failed to respond to Votetaker's enquiry
6 - True source of vote anonymised
Two votes were apparently submitted from two distinct individuals,
however on investigation it was abundantly clear that those
individuals did not cast votes. To assist with any appeals, the
Committee know what the affected identities are.
One vote was received after the close of voting and has therefore not
been counted.
======================================================================
VOTETAKER'S COMMENTS
This was an incredibly busy vote, with 230 mails received to the
voting server. With a large number of votes to count, there were a
fair number of queries, and I apologise for the delay in getting the
results out while votes were validated.
I wish that was all that I would have to write, but sadly there have
been several events during the course of the vote that require
reporting.
One: Posting of ballot paper to unaffected groups
Bob Brenchley (who is listed as having multivoted and more on that
later) posted a pre-filled ballot paper encouraging individuals from
unrelated newsgroups to vote against the proposal.
This is not the first time that somebody has attempted to derail a
vote by behaving in this manner, and I followed the same routine that
I used at that time to monitor if this had any effect on voting
patterns.
There was at least one vote that made mention of the fact that they
were voting in line with Bob Brenchley's wishes on the ballot paper,
so I have had to take seriously the possibility that the result could
have been affected by this incident, however as can be determined from
the results, Bob Brenchley's efforts did little, if any damage to the
overall outcome, but I noticed that towards the end of the ballot,
there were a significant number of votes coming in that were 3,1,2
votes - votes against the proposal. I had to seriously consider
that there was multivoting going on.
Two: Multivoting
I've never disallowed a vote for multivoting during my time as a
votetaker until this vote, however there was more than one clear
multivoting attempt by what appears to be just the one person.
Due to the sensitive nature of the investigation, I'm not going to
detail in these results posts just how I came to my conclusions,
however UKVoting members are in full agreement on the matter. The
Committee have been provided with the details of why those identities
were all discarded under the multivoting rule.
Three: Final comments
The names listed in the rejected votes category include a fraudster
believed dead, and we now have someone all too happy to continue
where TLLCA left off. He seems to have learned the lessons that others
have not, and this individual has taken vote fraud to new and
frightening extremes.
Usenet is a system built on mutual trust and respect, where new
discussion groups are created through a democratic process where the
need and rules are established and clarified through discussion, and
in some cases stand or fall after a free and fair vote.
Usenet is the only place on the internet where discussion groups are
created in this manner, where it is the end users who have the final
say in what happens - it is a legacy of that trust and respect that
users are responsible enough to decide sensibly.
The antics of individuals who blatantly cheat then cry about it in
the config group do not have these democratic ideals at heart, all
they care about is causing maximum damage - damage to that mutual
trust and respect that usenet stands on.
Please consider this when this individual starts complaining about
these results.
=====================================================================
VOTING AND APPEAL GUIDELINES
This vote was conducted by a neutral third party member of UKVoting.
UKVoting is a group of independent votetakers who count votes on behalf
of the uk.* hierarchy and other 3rd parties.
The rules under which votes for the uk.* hierarchy are taken are posted
regularly to uk.net.news.announce or can be found at the following URL:
<ftp://sunsite.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 at usenet dot org dot uk.
======================================================================
RATIONALE AND PROPOSAL FROM THE CFV
RATIONALE: uk.legal.moderated
RATIONALE from the last RFD
In the existing unmoderated group uk.legal, it is known that people
feel somewhat intimidated when they see that various contributors
are already suing each other, insulting each other and posting
private and personal information about each other, breaching
confidentiality. A moderated group is necessary to provide an
atmosphere that is polite and friendly and therefore more
supportive.
Additionally such an atmosphere would encourage more lawyers and
other professionals to join, and for some posters rejoin, the
group without feeling intimidated by some of the aggressive
posters who frequent the unmoderated group.
The charter has been written to extend beyond the giving of legal
advice in the hope that contributors remain in the group after
their questions have been answered, to discuss other issues of
law and to be there when other newcomers post questions.
CHARTER: uk.legal.moderated
The purpose of the group is to enable contributors who have genuine
legal problems to ask for practical advice from other people
(lawyers or laymen) who have had to deal with similar problems in
the past.
A secondary purpose will be to discuss
a) topical issues that are relevant to UK[1] law or to lawyers,
law enforcement or legislators;
b) the UK legal systems and suggested changes in the legal system
or the laws of the land;
c) international law, if it is relevant to the United Kingdom;
d) ethics and morality, in the context of discussions about UK law;
e) academic legal issues, to enable law students or laymen to seek
help with hypothetical legal questions.
[1] UK above specifically includes English and Scottish law and for
the purpose of the news group the Law governing other jurisdictions
very closely related to the UK.
Moderators may use whatever tools they feel appropriate to ensure
the smooth running of the group.
The moderators shall keep and publish regularly a detailed policy
document detailing how moderation is currently performed.
Moderators should attempt to ensure that discussions can continue
without undue delay, and should therefore attempt to make a
decision on all posts within a few hours of submission.
Advertising
Advertising is forbidden.
Binaries & Formatting
Encoded binaries (e.g. pictures, compressed files, etc.) are
forbidden. Such material belongs on a web or FTP site to which
a pointer may be posted. Cryptographic signatures (e.g. PGP)
may be used where authentication is important and should be as
short as possible.
Posts must be readable as plain text. HTML, RTF and similarly
formatted messages are prohibited. To see how to make some
common news readers comply with this, read
<http://www.usenet.org.uk/ukpost.html>.
END CHARTER
The initial moderators will be:
Marshall Rice < Marshall at marshallrice dot co dot uk >
The Todal < the_todal at msn dot com >
Proposed Initial Moderation Policy Document
===========================================
a) contributors are permitted to express strong disagreement using
whatever language they wish, but if they post offensive personal
remarks about another contributor the post will normally be
rejected.
b) humorous, frivolous or off-topic posts are permissible if they
are followups to an on-topic discussion.
c) Postings will be rejected if they supply gratuitous or clearly
objectionable infringement of privacy of any individual.
Postings will be rejected if it appears to a moderator that there
would be an appreciable risk that a court would find the article
to be defamatory.
d) The moderators may at their discretion blacklist contributors who
try to disrupt the group by wasting the moderators time. The moderators
should confirm the decision of any one moderator by a majority of all
moderators within 72 hours and should attempt inform such contributors
of their action.
e) The moderators are responsible for ensuring that a FAQ is published
regularly into uk.legal.moderated, stating that nothing in
uk.legal.moderated is a substitute for qualified legal opinion.
Other issues such as those pertaining to the problem with crossposts
will also be covered in the FAQ.
Initial Moderation Policy Rules.
===============================
In the interests of making the moderators task simpler articles that
fail some simple technical requirements may be rejected automatically
without direct human intervention.
The moderators *MAY* return the following kinds of articles to
their senders, without posting them:
articles with an empty or missing a Subject: field, or a From: field;
articles cross-posted to other groups.
articles with a content type other than text/plain;
articles which are excessively long.
articles in threads that the moderators have said are closed.
The moderators will apply their own judgement on all other matters,
though the automatic system may assist them by drawing their attention
to particular issues that may affect their decision."
The moderators may if they choose operate a white list.
The moderators will try to return any rejected message to the sender via
email, except in the case of spam and articles without a valid return
address. The email includes the reason for the rejection and the email
address to which any subsequent discussion can be directed. The moderators
will generally try to assist posters in rephrasing articles so that they
can be approved. However, they do not make any commitment to entering into
extended correspondence with anybody.
The current moderation address is
uk-legal-moderated-request (at) usenet dot org dot uk.
The first 100 lines of all articles rejected in the last week are
archived for public inspection at http://www.moderation.org.uk.
The moderators will not be held responsible for the accuracy, truth or
legality of any of the articles. Posters must assume full
responsibility for the content of their own articles.
The approval of a post by a moderator is NOT an endorsement of its
content by the moderator or moderation team.
Moderator Contacts
- ------------------
Send mail related to the moderation of the group to
uk-legal-moderated-request (at) usenet.org.uk.
The group of moderators which controls the moderation of this group
is made up of:
Moderators: Marshall Rice < Marshall at marshallrice dot co dot uk >
The Todal < the_todal at msn dot com >
All or some moderators may elect to remain anonymous. Moderators
are welcome to volunteer at any time. Moderators may appoint their
successors or eject any moderator by means of a vote of all the
moderators.
This document may be copied and redistributed freely. It is to be
considered material of the Public Domain and the authors accept no
liabilities for the use of its contents. If you feel that any of the
contents of this page are in violation of your own copyright, please
email the maintainer.
Last updated: ....
End Initial Moderation Policy
NEWSGROUPS LINE:
uk.legal.moderated Legal topics relevant to UK law
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