The procedures for coordinating newsgroup management within the UK hierarchy are contained in three documents, of which this article contains the first.
These guidelines have the approval of the major UK service providers, who have declared that they will only carry and propagate groups created using them.
It should be pointed out here that, as always, the decision whether or not to create a newsgroup on a given machine rests with the administrator of that machine. These guidelines are intended as an aid in making those decisions. On the other hand, it should be understood that groups created contrary to these guidelines are unlikely to propagate far.
Control will cross post the RFD to uk.net.news.announce, uk.net.news.config and any other groups or mailing lists related to the proposed topic or likely to be affected. The groups to be cross posted into should be those requested by the proponent. The proponent may also indicate which groups the Followups should be set to. Control may, at his discretion, add additional groups to these lists (or remove groups where such cross posting is beyond the technical capabilities of the news software). Uk.net.news.config shall be included in both the original cross posting and followups. Only postings which are cross posted to uk.net.news.config will be considered part of the definitive discussion.
The RFD should include as much as possible of the following information concerning the proposed group:
The Charter shall make clear what the topic of discussion within the group is to be (useful if arguments about what is "on-topic" should arise later on). It is also advisable for the Charter to indicate whether or not advertisements are welcome within the group, and if so of what sort. The same applies to the admissibility of job adverts, etc. Binaries are allowed in uk.* only in hierarchies explicitly created for binary posts, and having a hierarchy charter stating this. In all other hierarchies the group charter shall state that binaries are not permitted. In any uk.* hierarchy or group whose charter does not mention binaries, the assumption shall be that binaries are forbidden.
Retromoderation, i.e. moderation of a newsgroup by way of content-based cancelling of articles, is not allowed, and RFDs which include the possibility of retromoderation will not be accepted. This does not affect the general power of moderators to cancel articles which have appeared in the group as a result of forgery, catastrophic failure of moderation software, or in other unforseen emergency circumstances.
The One-line Summary will eventually go into the "newsgroups" file which many newsreaders make available to users as a quick guide to the intent of each newsgroup. As regards group Names, reference should be made to the document "Guidelines on uk.* Newsgroup Names" which is posted periodically to uk.net.news.announce.
Newsgroups line:For moderated groups only:uk.* <summary description> [(moderated)]
Charter for [moderated] group uk.*
<brief description of subject matter and on-topic material>
Small amounts of strictly on-topic advertising may be permitted at discretion of the moderators.
Encoded binaries (eg pictures, compressed files, etc.) are forbidden. Cryptographic signatures (eg PGP) may be used where authentication is important and should be as short as possible. Posts must be readable as plain text. HTML, RTF and similarly formatted messages are prohibited.
The moderators may use whatever tools and processes they feel appropriate to ensure the smooth running of the group. The moderators will appoint their own successors. The moderators should publish a moderation policy giving more information about what is encouraged and permitted.Initial moderators:
<Names of initial moderators. There must be at least two.>
The scope of subjects shall be clear and finite, it must be possible to create a definitive list of potential groups (although it is not required that the proponent provides such a list). The scope shall give clear instructions as to the formation of group names under the template, including any flexibility (to be exercised at the discretion of the committee) that is allowed in naming.
A group quick creation template RFD may also specify a single group which will be created
immediately the proposal passes, without need of a quick creation request.
Where 90 days have elapsed since the publication of the first RFD, the committee may direct that no further RFDs shall be published, but that the proposal shall either proceed to a vote within 40 days of the present RFD or be withdrawn. Any vote resulting from such a decision by the committee shall include the option ROD (re-open discussion). Where the RFD is concerned with the committee constitution, and the committee has not acted to curtail discussion within 130 days, the RFD shall proceed as if the committee had done so.
A Fast Track request which creates a group must be accompanied by the names of at least 10 supporters, or 6 in the case of a moderated group, but no more than 20. Supporters are people who wish to use the new group and may include the proponent and proposed moderators.
If Control (as advised by the Committee) is satisfied that the request is in order, Control shall announce in the same groups as the RFD, that: Subject to confirmation of support, and in the absence of valid objections, the group shall be created on a date not less than 10 days thereafter. Control's announcement shall contain the names/valid email addresses of the proponent and (as applicable) supporters and moderators. Objections must be emailed to control@usenet.org.uk.
Control shall also email each supporter provided by the proponent informing them that they must email a reply within 10 days to acknowledge that they support the request, and stating the applicable threshold.
In the event of 6 or more objections, or any objection which seems to the Committee to be well founded, the fast-track procedure shall be halted, and the RFD should either proceed to a vote, or have a revised RFD submitted for further discussion.
Only a well-founded objection will block a Fast Track which does nothing but create a single group. If a Committee Member submits an objection, there is no need for that Member to recuse themselves from the Committee's consideration of the objection. If the Fast Track fails (whether due to objection(s), or lack of support), Control or the Committee shall announce this to the same groups as received the original posting.
In circumstances where the fast-track has failed on only minor problems, the proponent is permitted to correct these, and re-submit a fast-track request with the corrections, which shall then be conducted as above.
Otherwise, the proponent may, within 40 days of the original publication of the most recent RFD, ask the votetaking organisation to conduct a vote. Where the vote results from the failure of a Fast Track, and the 40 day period has expired, the proponent may request a vote within 10 days of the Committee notice that the Fast Track was not successful.
The proponent may, at any stage, withdraw an RFD, or permit another person to take over as proponent on the current RFD. The proponent must notify control@usenet.org.uk. Control shall publish a notice of the change of proponent or withdrawal to all newsgroups which were included in the original RFD.
Note than only control@usenet.org.uk may issue 'newgroup', 'rmgroup' and 'checkgroups' messages which are to be regarded as valid under these guidelines.
A 'Quick Creation' request may be made by:
A request for Control to create a group using the template shall contain the names and valid email addresses of the proponent and at least 11 (maximum 20) supporters. If Control (as advised by the Committee) is satisfied that the proposed group lies within the scope of the template, he shall announce in the newsgroups specified in the template that if a minimum of 11 of the provided list of supporters respond as indicated below then, in the absence of valid objections, the group shall be created on a date not less than 10 days thereafter. Control's announcement shall contain the names/valid email addresses of the proponent and supporters.
Control shall email each supporter provided by the proponent informing them that they must email a reply within 10 days to acknowledge that they support the request and that the request will fail if fewer than 11 respond positively.
If, at the end of the 10 day period, the minimum level of support
has been achieved then Control shall post to the same groups that
the proposed group shall be created in 5 days unless there are any
objections.
For Quick Creations matching the Quick Creation Template, the Fast Track shall be posted to the groups specified in the Quick Creation Template.
Objections, which must be emailed to control@usenet.org.uk, to quick creation will only be considered on the grounds that:
In the event that a 'Quick Creation' request is rejected by the committee, expires through lack of support or is overturned following an objection, a similar proposal may be submitted for discussion by the normal RFD process without incurring a 3 month delay. However, a failed or expired quick creation request may not be re-submitted as a quick creation request within 90 days.
It is important that group names and newsgroups file lines are useful and appropriate. Accordingly there is a low threshold for objections to a newsgroup name or newsgroups file line. If the Committee upholds an objection to the proposed group name and/or newsgroups file line, it should (in its notice of decision) suggest an acceptable group name or newsgroups file line.The following are not in themselves good grounds for objection to group creation: creation would harm an existing related newsgroup by attracting away its readers; the proposal is controversial and therefore not suitable for Fast Track; the group's opponents are likely to produce complaints, discussion and perhaps RFDs.
The proper initial response to a disagreement over group moderation in uk.* is to complain (privately or publicly) to the moderators. In case of persistent unresolved disagreement - that is, multiple sets of people with irreconcilable views - it would usually be appropriate to set up a competing newsgroup with different moderators. The need for and viability of such a proposed competing group is to be measured by the 6-supporters rule.
If such a further moderated group is required, the distinction from the existing group should be alluded to in the group name.
In the case of multiple RFDs on overlapping subjects, the Committee may delay RFDs if necessary to effectively manage the RFD/CFV/Fast-Track processes. In the case of multiple creation proposals for similar groups it may be best to delay all but one of the proposals (for, say, 3 months) until time has shown whether the other has succeeded in meeting the needs of users.
A proposal which has been the subject of a successful Fast Track, or of any valid vote should not be brought up for discussion until at least 3 months have passed from the date of the Fast Track notice, or the close of the vote.
Where an RFD has been withdrawn, no waiting period shall apply before a new RFD can be published.