Final RFD / Last Call for Comments

Outline of the Process

• After the proponent and the board agree that it is time to end discussion and decide the question, the proponent e-mails the final Request for Discussion (RFD) to board@big-8.org.
• The Final RFD / Last Call for Comments (LCC) goes out under the Board's name. This indicates that the Board will begin a vote five days later, on the assumption that no major issues emerge during the final round of discussion.
• The LCC should provide evidence that the newsgroup proposal has support. One good method for doing so is to list the [1] of posts in favor of the proposal. The Message-ID is a required header for all posts--all posts must have a Message-ID in order for the message to be displayed or to be circulated from one news server to another.
• When the LCC is published in n.a.n., the Chair of the Board asks the members whether the question can be decided by consensus. If there are no objections from the members, the period required to establish consensus will coincide with the period for final comments on the RFD.
• If a formal vote is required, voting starts five days after the LCC is published. Voting is internal to the Board and may last as long as a week; however, a result may be announced as soon as a majority is reached for or against the RFD.
• The results of the vote are published to the whole distribution list.
• If the board votes to create a new newsgroup, the Technical Team implements the decision.
• See this section of the Creation FAQ for questions and answers about the LCC.

Time table

At the same time that the board publishes the Final RFD / Last Call for Comments, the chair asks for consensus on the RFD. The time for reaching consensus coincides with the last five days of comment on the RFD.

Day		Hour	Action
0		0	Final RFD / Last Call for Comments
1		24
2		48
3		72
4		96
5		120
6		144	Formal vote begins if no consensus
7	(1)	168
8	(2)	192
9	(3)	216
10	(4)	240
11	(5)	264
12	(6)	288
13	(7)	312	Formal vote ends (at the latest).
14		336	Decision announced.

Calculating the consensus dateline with GNU date

Example

Message-ID: <1jw101v.1hocf361hzjgffN%board@big-8.org>
Subject: RFD: comp.security.announce (remove) Last Call For Comments
NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2011 04:49:15 +0000 (UTC)

Check for syntax errors

Use option -d to let GNU date parse the value of NNTP-Posting-Date. This will catch syntax errors, and will output the date in local time zone. Check the plausibility of the result. In this example the local time zone happens to be CET.

$ date -d 'Wed, 2 Feb 2011 04:49:15 +0000 (UTC)'
Wed Feb  2 05:49:15 CET 2011

Add option -u to get results in UTC time zone. In this example the input happens to be in UTC, so output equals input.

$ date -u -d 'Wed, 2 Feb 2011 04:49:15 +0000 (UTC)'
Wed Feb  2 04:49:15 UTC 2011

Calculate the dead line

1. Set minutes and seconds to 0.
2. Add 1 hour.
3. Add 5 days.
4. Don't forget option -u

$ date -u -d 'Wed, 2 Feb 2011 04:00:00 +0000 (UTC) 1 hour 5 days'
Mon Feb  7 05:00:00 UTC 2011

International date format

The Board recommends using yyyy-mm-dd to present the date. Interestingly, GNU date provides no short option to get this format.

$ date --rfc-3339=seconds -u -d 'Wed, 2 Feb 2011 04:00:00 +0000 (UTC) 1 hour 5 days'
2011-02-07 05:00:00+00:00

Format for the Final RFD/LCC

• The final RFD should be distinguished from all others by including "LAST CALL FOR COMMENTS" at the end of the subect line.
• This RFD need not be indentical in all respects to the last published RFD, but the Board may decide that substantive changes in the charter or moderation policy may require another round of discussion. Two areas where the final RFD may well be different are:
  • A summary of discussion under the previous RFD;
  • Any additional information gleaned since the last published RFD such as polls or other supporting feedback.
• The final RFD will be circulated by the B8MB under its own name, indicating that the proposal will be acted on by the Board.
• The boilerplate procedure section of the final RFD should be changed to read:

Please refer to the newsgroup creation policies listed here:
 
  http://www.big-8.org/wiki/How_to_Create_a_New_Big-8_Newsgroup

All discussion of active proposals should be posted to 
news.groups.proposals.

To this end, the followup header of this RFD has been set to 
news.groups.proposals.

The final comment period lasts for five (5) days from the
time that this RFD is posted.

Please refer to the newsgroup removal policies listed here:
 
  http://www.big-8.org/wiki/Procedure_to_remove_newsgroups

All discussion of active proposals should be posted to 
news.groups.proposals.

To this end, the followup header of this RFD has been set to 
news.groups.proposals.

The final comment period lasts for five (5) days from the
time that this RFD is posted.