30 Mar 2003: Create umoderated newsgroup uk.local.berkshire
From: Richard Ashton <r.ashton@ukvoting.org.uk>
Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2003 19:43:49 +0100
Subject: RESULT: Creation of uk.local.berkshire FAILS (17:41)
Newsgroups: uk.net.news.announce,uk.net.news.config,uk.local.thames-valley
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RESULT: - Creation of uk.local.berkshire
SUMMARY: No beat Yes 41 votes to 17 votes Proposal FAILS
======================================================================
Voting closed at 23:59:59 GMT, 19th March 2003
Proponent: Paul Cummins <tramlink@lineone.net>
Votetaker: Richard Ashton <r.ashton@ukvoting.org.uk>
Distribution:
uk.net.news.announce, uk.net.news.config, uk.local.thames-valley
======================================================================
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 Guidelines
6) Rationale and Charter
======================================================================
INFORMATION ON THE BALLOT
The CFV closed at 23:59:59 GMT on the 10th February 2002. The vote
was conducted under the Guidelines For Group Creation.
70 votes were received during the period of the vote, consisting of:
67 valid and counted votes
1 vote subsequently superseded by the voter
2 invalid votes subsequently corrected by the voters
======================================================================
RESULTS
Question: Create uk.local.berkshire? (Yes/No/Abstain)
Number of people voting YES: 17
NO: 41
ABSTAIN: 9
Total of counted valid votes: 67 (see vote details)
Not countable: 3 (see vote details)
Total number of mails: 70
NO beat YES by 24 votes. Accordingly this proposal FAILS.
======================================================================
INDIVIDUAL VOTE DETAILS
Mails containing valid votes and included in final result.
Name of Voter Voter's e-mail address Vote
Brian {Hamilton Kelly} bhk#dsl#ku#oc YES
Christian Smith christian#jasdigital#moc YES
Dave Dave#mocmunity-spirit#demon#ku#oc YES
Dave Millard dave#focus3#uk#moc YES
Guy Morgan first#light#btinterten#moc YES
JBM jpb8#duke#ude YES
Jezza jezza#hotwells#freeserve#ku#oc YES
Jim Riley jimrtex#pipeline#moc YES
Paul-B paul#streetka#zib YES
Paul Cummins paul#cummins#ie#eu#gro YES
Paul Harper paul#harper#ten YES
Pete Baggett pete#wulfrunian#ten YES
Peter macblads#ntlworld#moc YES
Peter Smyth p#smyth#ucl#ku#ca YES
Platypuss platypuss#ntlworld#moc YES
Scott Taylor taylorscott67#yahoo#ku#oc YES
Simon Earle simon_earle#btopenworld#moc YES
ace. ace#agincourt#btinterten#moc NO
Adam D. Barratt vote+ulb+2003-03#adam-barratt#gro#uk NO
Adam Price adam+useten#pappnase#ku#oc NO
andy.champ andy#champ#tesco#ten NO
Barry Dorrans barryd#idunno#gro NO
Brian Brian#bjforster#force9#ku#oc NO
Clive Feather thamesvalley#davros#gro NO
Dave Johnson requiem#freeuk#moc NO
Dave Mason xuklb#sarnie#gro#uk NO
David Betts dabetts#ntlworld#moc NO
David Uri daviduri#bigfoot#moc NO
Graham Murray newspost#gmurray#gro#uk NO
Grant Mason useten#mason#sh NO
James Bentall jimney#bigfoot#moc NO
James Winters james#wintersfamily#freeserve#ku#oc NO
John Dexter UKVoting#Westfarthing#demon#ku#oc NO
Jonathan Wheeler J#F#Wheeler#rl#ku#ca NO
Kevin Andreoli kevin#andreoli#ku#oc NO
Michael Parry michaelj#parry#ntlworld#moc NO
Mike Bristow mike#urgle#moc NO
Mike Henry {$useten$}#mrtickle#demon#ku#oc NO
MissJuggs glenys#tgis#ku#oc NO
Nick nick#leverton#gro NO
P Smith[1] smithp#handbag#moc NO
paul {voter}#watman#clara#ku#oc NO
Paul Carpenter paul#pcserv#demon#ku#oc NO
Pedt tennews#pkuatb#ten NO
Richard richard#mekka#freeserve#ku#oc NO
Richard Ashton[1] bigfoot#davros#gro NO
Robert Davies r#j#l#davies#ntlworld#moc NO
Shane Matthews shane#gaelyn#ten NO
Steph Peters urcs#sandbenders#demon#ku#oc NO
Steve Firth vote#malloc#ku#oc NO
Steve Lewin slewin#clara#ku#oc NO
talonhawk colin_phoenix#btinterten#moc NO
Thomas Lee tfl#psp#ku#oc NO
Tony Davison davison#tony#ntlworld#moc NO
Tracy tracylj#talk21#moc NO
wanderer wanderer#tesco#ten NO
Wm tcnw51#tarrcity#demon#ku#oc NO
xSaBx sarah#gubbins#ten NO
Alex Holden votes#alexholden#ku#oc ABSTAIN
Dave Mayall dave#research-group#ku#oc ABSTAIN
Edward King eaking#ulape#gro#uk ABSTAIN
James Farrar londonstatto#yahoo#ku#oc ABSTAIN
John Bean waterfoot#spamcop#ten ABSTAIN
Lt. Cmdr. Jim jim#us-lot#gro ABSTAIN
Mike Tullett mtullett#ntlworld#moc ABSTAIN
Paul Leake paul#durge#gro ABSTAIN
Philip Powell philip#blencathra#gro#uk ABSTAIN
[1] See votetaker's comments
Total number of valid votes received and counted: 67
1 vote was superseded.
2 votes were rejected as invalid, and both voters superseded their votes
with a correctly submitted votes.
Under voting guidelines, individual voters may vote more than once
using the same voting name and address. Only the most recent vote is
counted.
Total number of mails: 70
======================================================================
VOTETAKER'S COMMENTS
To compensate for my error in omitting uk.net.news.config from the
distribution of the first CFV, I extended the voting period by one day.
However, no votes were received during the last four days of the voting
period.
This was the first live newsgroup vote within the uk.* hierarchy to use
a new, standardised rubric. Since the publication of this vote, the
rubric has been improved.
Sadly, two individuals attempted to disrupt proceedings.
One person decided to use "Richard Ashton" as their name, and used an
address provided by Committee member Clive D.W. Feather on his domain
name davros.org. This voter was taking advantage of the fact that there
was no request for a "normal usenet name" which formed part of the older
news-to-email ballot system. However this individual did provide a full
"From" line as requested on the ballot paper. The electorate are assured
that the "Richard Ashton" shown in the results is not me.
A second person who calls himself "Peter Smith", shown as "P Smith"
in the results, used his email address as his "name" on his first
attempt at voting. The auto-acknowledgement system that I employ
correctly rejected the vote. This is because email addresses in voters'
names would appear unmunged in the results.
This person complained to the Committee before I had an opportunity to
discuss the situation with him. I tried to help "Peter" by explaining
the above, and simply asking him to state:
a) whether he wanted to use his email address as his name, or to provide
an alternative name
b) whether or not he had posted to usenet before.
With that information, I would have been able to record his vote
correctly. I was trying to do my best to enable the voter to get their
preferences recorded with as little fuss as possible.
"Peter" however chose to reply with an email, copied to the Committee
with just one word forming his reply: "required?"
I replied stating the vote he had submitted would not be counted as I
was not satisfied as to his identity. I also warned him that his
unhelpfulness would be recorded in the Votetaker's Comments.
I invited "Peter" to submit another ballot paper, in accordance with
the instructions provided.b
"Peter Smith" did revote and in doing so declared himself by way of that
vote as a person who has never posted to usenet. I do not believe this;
however, that did not invalidate his vote, whichI accepted and acknowledged.
The individual who called himself "Peter Smith" used a free webmail
provider, handbag.com, which records the IP address of the computer used
to send mail via that provider.
The IP address used by "Peter Smith" is the same IP address that has
been used on many occasions in usenet postings by an individual who
until only recently demonstrated an active and vociferous interest in
changing voting practices. "Peter Smith" also demonstrated a knowledge
of uk.* procedures that generally only experienced posters to
uk.net.news.config / uk.net.news.management have.
It is highly unlikely that the person in question has closed or changed
his account with NTL and that subsequently "Peter Smith" got exactly the
same IP address which that individual relinquished. I have informed the
UKVoting members of the identity of the person in question.
Fourteen voters chose to put their email address in the subject line when
requesting their ballot papers.
======================================================================
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@usenet.org.uk
======================================================================
RATIONALE AND PROPOSAL FROM THE RFD
There are many newsgroups in the uk.local hierarchy showing that there
is an obvious need for local uk specific content.
At present there is no newsgroup dedicated to or directly related
to the historical county of Berkshire, despite it being one of the most
affluent, and technology-centric regions of the UK.
Berkshire residents currently use the uk.local.thames-valley group.
'Thames Valley' is a purely political construct which exists for
policing purposes only. It does not exist for any other purpose, and
indeed its very existence is contentious, since the area claimed to be
'Thames Valley' is neither the valley of the Thames, nor the Catchment
area of the river.
Within uk.local.thames-valley, Berkshire (and particularly Reading)
traffic is at such a high level that traffic from other places in the
so-called 'Thames Valley' - Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Milton
Keynes - are virtually excluded.
On previous occasions, the suggestion has been mooted that Berkshire no
longer exists. Whether the place exists or not is not relevant to the
discussion - Berkshire is clearly defined and the area to which the name
is applied is recognised by that name by the majority people who use uk
newsgroups.
On the last occasion that this was raised and taken to a vote, a little
over 12 months ago, 33 people expressed a wish to have a Berkshire group
within the uk hierarchy. There is proven demand for the group. This is
no 'create it and they will come' claim - those 33 people have
demonstrated they are ready for it to be created, and desire for it to
be created.
=====================================================================
Charter: uk.local.berkshire
This newsgroup is about the historical county of Berkshire in England,
its residents and those who are interested in current affairs of, and/or
the history of, Berkshire.
A forum for requesting and disseminating information and views about
living in, visiting or being a descendant from Berkshire. Contributions
are welcome from people who live, work or study in the county, or have
an interest in the county.
Since Berkshire as an administrative county no longer exists, the area
considered to be Berkshire is the area covered by the six Unitary
Authorities which form the local government of the 'Royal County of
Berkshire' namely West Berkshire, Reading, Wokingham, Bracknell Forest,
Windsor & Maidenhead and Slough. Discussions relating to former parts of
Berkshire, such as the 'Vale of White Horse' are also on-topic and
welcome.
Discussions as to the existence or otherwise of Berkshire are forbidden,
since the geographical scope of the group has been precisely defined.
Advertising
Advertising is forbidden.
Cross-Posting
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 Southampton to Newbury").
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.
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
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