27 Oct 2000: Create newsgroup uk.local.somerset

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From: Jim Hill <vote-uls@jhc.org.uk>
Newsgroups: uk.net.news.announce,uk.net.news.config,uk.local.southwest,u
k.local.devon,uk.local.bristol
Subject: RESULT: New Newsgroup uk.local.somerset PASSES
Followup-To: uk.net.news.config
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 09:13:44 +0100
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-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
RESULT OF CALL FOR VOTES

New Newsgroup uk.local.somerset PASSES

- ----------------------------------------------------------------- 

Voting opened Tuesday 26 September 2000
Voting closed Saturday 14 October 2000 23:59:59 BST 

Proponent: Andrew Hartley <andy@eltc.org.uk>
Votetaker: Jim Hill <vote-admin@jhc.org.uk>

- -----------------------------------------------------------------
DISTRIBUTION 

These results have been posted to:
 uk.net.news.announce
 uk.net.news.config
 uk.local.southwest
 uk.local.devon
 uk.local.bristol

- -----------------------------------------------------------------
RESULTS COUNTING 

Total votes received  : 39
Total votes in favour : 27
Total votes against   :  9
Total abstentions     :  2

The group creation proposal for uk.local.somerset succeeds because the
votes in favour (27) exceeded the votes against (9) by more than the
required minimum of twelve votes (27 - 9 = 18).

- ----------------------------------------------------------------- THE
RESULTS IN FULL 

N   Alex Dawson alex goselldirect moc.
Y   Alonzo alonzo eltc gro ku.
Y   Andrew Hartley andrew eastupham freeserve oc ku. 
N   Andrew Taylor AndrewCrumplehorn msn moc.
Y   Andy Mabbett andy pigsonthewing gro ku.
Y   Barry Salter ukvotes salterg demon oc ku.
Y   Bill Jillians Neil Horlock mcmail moc.
Y   Charles F Hankel charles hankel freedombird ten. 
Y   Chris Watts chris watts flyer oc ku.
Y   Clive Martin clive cmartin demon oc ku.
Y   coleby icoleby bigfoot moc.
Y   Dave Hillam dave hbarnet freeserve oc ku.
Y   Dave Stiles dstiles cix oc ku.
A   David Damerell damerell chiark greenend gro ku. 
Y   David Jordan david tjordan demon oc ku.
N   Denis F bedfordtlfan yahoo moc.
Y   Eddie Bernard usenet ebernard greatxscape ten. Y   Frankie Roberto
frankie roberto lineone ten. 
Y   Graham Nye graham tyndale demon oc ku.
Y   Guy Morgan guy first light services oc ku.
Y   j6 james seads oc ku.
A   James Coupe james zephyr gro ku.
N   Jezza jezza hotwells freeserve oc ku.
Y   Jim Benton-Evans jim benton evans demon oc ku. 
Y   John Bennett john johnpb demon oc ku.
N   John Hill john yclept freeserve oc ku.
Y   Jon Thomson jon thomson2273 freeserve oc ku. 
N   Matt Wicken matt mwicken freeserve oc ku.
Y   Michael Parry michael cavrdg demon oc ku.
Y   Philip Powell philip blencathra gro ku.
Y   Richard Kettlewell richard voteuls sfere greenend gro ku. 
Y   richard letts richard somerset illuin gro.
N   Steve Yerbury voting stevey demon oc ku.
N   The Ancient Geek geek uklsw gro.
Y   The New Romantic newroman freeuk moc.
Y   Thomas Lee tfl psp oc ku.
Y   Tim Forcer tmf ecs soton ca ku.
N   Tim Miller tim economic truth oc ku.


- -----------------------------------------------------------------
VOTETAKER'S COMMENTS:

A straightforward vote in principle but the results were delayed by the
investigation of possible voting irregularities. No votes have been
disallowed. One duplicate ballot was received.

- ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
RATIONALE: uk.local.somerset

Following the successful creation of uk.local.devon, it's time Somerset
was covered by a more specific newsgroup than uk.local.southwest. The
latter covers a very big area and gathers a lot of posts. The creation
of uk.local.somerset will reduce the amount of posts to be searched
through to find something of relevance to Somerset.

- -----------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION:

This RFD had 3 main points to make;

1. The area covered by the new newsgroup. 

The wording in the charter relating to the area covered by the newsgroup
was confusing to some posters. Does the new group cover North Somerset
and BANES or just 'Somerset' itself? The original RFD's charter says
"For the purposes of this newsgroup Somerset is defined as anywhere now
or previously in the County of Somerset" and therefore doesn't include
all of North Somerset and BANES as the whole of these areas were not
previously in the county of Somerset. The charter has been changed to
include specific mention of all relevant areas.

2. Advertising restrictions.

Should there be any advertising? Just a small point. Since there already
is an advertising group in the southwest (uk.local.southwest.adverts)
was there any need for allowing adverts in the new group? It was agreed
that it made no difference and you could always cross-post over the two
groups anyway.

3. Need for uk.local.somerset. 

A very lengthy issue. Did people want the new group? Points were made
that the Internet and Usenet are growing at such a rate that new groups
like this would be needed soon anyway, and should be set up now. Also
that this group just isn't needed yet and should wait, otherwise it
would just be cross-posts from uk.local.southwest, but then again it
might not.

There was no agreement on this subject, possibly a 50:50 split of
opinions, certainly not easy to call. At the end of the discussion I
asked Alan Ford to conduct a straw poll, and the results were: 

Create uk.local.somerset?
    Yes        63%
    No         26%
    Abstain    11%

On these results and on the comments made in the straw poll, I have
decided to request a vote.

- -----------------------------------------------------------------
NEWSGROUPS LINE:

uk.local.somerset       Events and discussion in Somerset

- ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
CHARTER: uk.local.somerset

uk.local.somerset is for the discussion of issues relevant to Somerset
in the Southwest of England.

For the purposes of this newsgroup Somerset is defined as anywhere
currently in the County of Somerset, North Somerset, or Bath and North
East Somerset.

Messages posted to this newsgroup must not be cross-posted to more than
a TOTAL of four uk.local.* newsgroups; these may be geographically
adjacent or overlapping, or connected by the subject of the post (e.g.
"moving house from Taunton to Birmingham").

Note that the advertising of widely-available goods or services is *not*
relevant in this context, and that most uk.local.* groups have
restrictions on advertising, or prohibit it. Cross-posted adverts, where
allowed, must meet the requirements of the charters of *all* groups
involved.

Advertising

Advertising is forbidden, with these exceptions:

Suppliers of goods and services relevant to events in Somerset in the
UK, may post an invitation to visit their web site or request details.
It should be of four lines or fewer and not posted more than once every
month.  The subject line should begin "ADVERT: ".

Event organisers may also post an invitation to visit their web site or
request details. It should be of six lines or fewer and not posted more
than twice every month. The subject line should begin "EVENT: ".

All other advertising should be posted in
uk.local.southwest.adverts.

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 plaintext. HTML, RTF and similarly formatted
messages are prohibited. To see how to make your newsreader comply with
this, read <http://www.usenet.org.uk/ukpost.html>.

Warning

Anyone posting contrary to this charter may be reported to their
"postmaster" and/or Service Provider.

END CHARTER.

- ----------------------------------------------------------------- 

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@usenet.org.uk.

- --
Jim Hill <vote-admin@jhc.org.uk>
UKVoting Votetaker

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