Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site burl.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!rcj
From: rcj@burl.UUCP (Curtis Jackson)
Newsgroups: net.news.group
Subject: proposed 'standard' for creating new groups
Message-ID: <1073@burl.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 2-Mar-86 22:59:42 EST
Article-I.D.: burl.1073
Posted: Sun Mar  2 22:59:42 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 3-Mar-86 04:39:10 EST
Reply-To: rcj@burl.UUCP (Curtis Jackson)
Organization: AT&T Technologies, Burlington NC
Lines: 48

I was going to send the following to the person who just posted the
request for etiquette in creating net.books.sf, but I thought it
might be of general interest.  See if the stuff below appears sound
to you, mail me comments/criticisms/suggestions, and I'll try to
work it into something that might be included in net.announce.newusers
or posted to this newsgroup with a long expiration time.  If there is
already something like this in net.announce.newusers that I've missed
just drop me mail to that effect and accept my apologies in advance:

a) Post a request for votes in groups where there might be substantial
   interest; make sure that one of those groups is net.news.group.
   [Here that would probably be:  net.news.group,net.books,net.sf-lovers]
b) Stress VERY STRONGLY in your posting that you want votes via mail
   ONLY!
c) Ask the 'yes' voters to indicate whether they would read the group, post
   to the group, or both.
d) Put a line in your article header that reads:
Followup-To: net.news.group
   so any further discussion generated by the 'f' key will go to
   net.news.group only.
e) Note in your posting that followups should only go to net.news.group
   (protects against ancient software that doesn't process the Followup-To
    line).
f) During the time you are collecting replies, subscribe to net.news.group
   because some votes will invariably be posted there (usually, and hopefully,
   as afterthoughts in articles discussing issues involved in the creation
   of the group in question) and you'll want to gather them, too.
g) Keep all replies (in case any suspicious person asks for verification).
   When they have trickled off to next to nothing (usually about 2 weeks),
   summarize the results to net.news.group.
h) If the results are positive enough (both # of responses and percentage
   of 'yes' votes), talk your news admin into posting an announcement (in
   the same posting as your summary is fine) saying that the group will
   be created on date X unless some people bitch NOW.  Since the decision
   on how many responses and what percentage of 'yes' votes is required to
   create a given group is highly subjective (at least at this point in
   USENET evolution), this is a good way to get the opinion of concerned
   net citizens on whether your estimation that there *is* enough interest
   to create the group is valid or not in their eyes.
i) Assuming you are still alive and relatively unscorched after the results
   of (h) above, on date X, have your news admin create the group.

Let me hear from you,
-- 

The MAD Programmer -- 919-228-3313 (Cornet 291)
alias: Curtis Jackson	...![ ihnp4 ulysses cbosgd mgnetp ]!burl!rcj
			...![ ihnp4 cbosgd akgua masscomp ]!clyde!rcj