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From: spaf@gatech.CSNET (Gene Spafford)
Newsgroups: net.news.group,net.music
Subject: Yet Another Rogue Group -- net.music.guitar
Message-ID: <1207@gatech.CSNET>
Date: Thu, 12-Sep-85 08:58:37 EDT
Article-I.D.: gatech.1207
Posted: Thu Sep 12 08:58:37 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 13-Sep-85 04:09:55 EDT
Organization: The Clouds Project, School of ICS, Georgia Tech
Lines: 49
Xref: watmath net.news.group:3754 net.music:9173

Once again, someone has decided to create a newsgroup without going
through the proper procedure.  "net.music.guitar" showed up on our
machines without having been discussed in net.news.group, and without
any word of explanation.

Since procedure was not followed, I have sent out a "rmgroup" on it and
it will not be added to the semi-official "List of Active Groups."

For future reference, the proper procedure for creating a new group
is:
1) Establish a definite need.  This is done either by noting an
   existing high volume of postings in a current newsgroup (or groups),
   or by picking such a group and getting discussions going to show
   such a need.  A volume of at least 40 to 50 articles a month on the
   subject which would be the purpose of the new group would constitute
   an appropriate volume to justify its own group.

2) AFTER establishing a need, the proposed group should be suggested to
   the net in the group "net.news.group" and any related group (such as
   net.music, in this case).  The new group is discussed both pro and
   con, along with options for mailing lists, moderated newsgroups,
   limited geographic distributions, and alternative names.  Any
   significant objections raised here must be addressed before
   proceeding to the next step.

3) A netwide "vote" is taken, with the person(s) making the suggestion
   for the newsgroup tallying all responses sent BY MAIL.  A minimum of
   40-50 votes more in favor than opposed are required before starting
   the group.  The vote results (preferably along with the login/site
   names of the people voting) should be published in net.news.group.

4) Only if all the other steps are followed is the group created.
   By this point, anyone reading net.news.group should be aware of the
   situation and willing to create the new group.  Many of them may
   very well do such a thing; I usually do.  Multiple instances of
   "newgroup" messages help make sure the group is created at every
   node in the network.  I add an entry in the list of active groups,
   and we all observe how the group is used.

As far as net.music.guitar goes, I don't read net.music, so I don't
know if #1 has been met, but I read net.news.group all the time and I
have seen no evidence that #2 and #3 were done.  If there are large
numbers of you out there interested in starting such a group, follow
the procedure and see what happens.
-- 
Gene "3 months and counting" Spafford
The Clouds Project, School of ICS, Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332
CSNet:	Spaf @ GATech		ARPA:	Spaf%GATech.CSNet @ CSNet-Relay.ARPA
uucp:	...!{akgua,allegra,hplabs,ihnp4,linus,seismo,ulysses}!gatech!spaf