Procedure to remove newsgroups

Jim Riley has done many studies showing that a very large number of newsgroups are abandoned. Removing groups through the rmgroup control message has not been done for many years. There are serious doubts about how much cooperation the B8MB finds from news administrators when such rmgroup control messages are sent. Nevertheless, the B8MB believes that it is in the interests of the Big-8 to remove unused and abandoned groups from the canonical list.

We are looking for volunteers to serve on the Dead Groups Task Force.

See also RESULT: policy for removing extremely-low-traffic unmoderated groups passes.

Outline of Procedure (DRAFT)

1. A proponent submits a Group Removal RFD to news.announce.newsgroups.

2. The Board decides whether to publish the Group Removal RFD.

3. Discussion of the RFD takes place in news.groups.proposals.

4. The RFD is revised as needed.

5. When the proponent and the board agree that no further revisions or research are required, the board schedules a vote on the RFD.

6. If the proposal to remove the group is endorsed by the board, the Technical Team will implement the decision.

Special Case: Removing Groups of Groups

1. The proponent posts a comprehensive Group Removal RFD to news.announce.newgroups (n.a.n.) and news.groups.proposals.

2. A message is posted to each target group which points to the message ID of the RFD and announces that all development of the RFD will take place through discussion in news.groups.proposals and posts in n.a.n.; such notices should have followup set to news.groups.proposals, although those who wish may crosspost to the groups slated to be removed.

3. All further versions of the RFD, Last Call for Comments, and results are posted only to n.a.n. and news.groups.proposals.