Path: sn-us!sn-xit-06!sn-xit-08!supernews.com!diablo.theplanet.net!mephistopheles.news.clara.net!news.clara.net!feed.news.nacamar.de!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!212.15.83.141!not-for-mail From: Richard Ashton Newsgroups: uk.net.news.announce,uk.net.news.config,uk.local.thames-valley Subject: RESULT: Creation of uk.local.berkshire FAILS (17:41) Followup-To: uk.net.news.config Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2003 19:43:49 +0100 Lines: 346 Sender: Charles Lindsey as Deputy Control Approved: Charles Lindsey as Deputy Control Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 212.15.83.141 X-Trace: fu-berlin.de 1049080343 2611184 212.15.83.141 (16 [99345]) X-Orig-Path: clerew!clw.cs.man.ac.uk!not-for-mail Xref: sn-us uk.net.news.announce:3178 uk.net.news.config:157495 uk.local.thames-valley:30106 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- 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 Votetaker: Richard Ashton 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70 votes were received during the period of the vote, consisting of: 67 valid and counted votes 1 vote subsequently superseded by the voter 2 invalid votes subsequently corrected by the voters ====================================================================== RESULTS Question: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: The UKVoting web pages can be found at 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 . Warning Anyone posting contrary to this charter may be reported to their "postmaster" and/or Service Provider. End Charter -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 5.0i Charset: noconv iQCVAwUBPoc672OfGXkh8vHZAQG4VwP9Gek2oiIKCwBwOSPPlyQTqEAvVTIug3CS 8NVHTrR2ENyam+2nD2gS7yimdzpBhsWW3/ctB7/jo9j2Pxy7CClHKmWbmBlpGAxH q3v2DsCbCkaOC+wzQ69vp35iqaKQg6Dm6BYVT/Z6MDUYVwzr3lJhsm6bFu1T+YuN NnpEWNh0/pI= =NQ5a -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----