Nan:2007-01-12-ponds-moderated-rfd2
From Usenet Big-8 Management Board
From: Ron Schompert <rons515@localnet.com>
Subject: 2nd RFD: rec.ponds.moderated moderated
Newsgroups: rec.aquaria.freshwater.misc, news.announce.newgroups,
rec.aquaria.misc, news.groups.proposals, rec.ponds
Followup-To: news.groups.proposals
Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2007 09:50:53 -0600
Organization: http://www.big-8.org/
REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)
moderated group rec.ponds.moderated
This is a formal Request For Discussion (RFD) for the creation of the
moderated Usenet newsgroup, rec.ponds.moderated.
NEWSGROUPS LINE: rec.ponds.moderated
rec.ponds.moderated Care & enjoyment of recreational pods & water gardens. (Moderated)
RATIONALE: rec.ponds.moderated
Rec.ponds was founded in 1994 for backyard pond enthusiasts to share
experiences and information. For most of its existance, rec.ponds was an
active and thriving Internet community of long-term ponders as well as
newcomers to the hobby.
During the year 2005, rec.ponds was overrun by trolls, flames forgeries
and destructive crossposting. Most rec.ponds regulars left the group and
went to mailing lists or forums where they could discuss their hobby in
relative peace. A few remained to answer questions from newcomers and to
attempt to rebuild the community that previously existed.
However, the signal became mired intractably in noise. At the same time,
many former rec.ponders discovered that other outlets were not a useful
alternative. Many of the boards, lists and forums that permit pond
discussion appear to be more oriented to the high-end hobbyist. Many
rec.ponders, by contrast, are content with a few common fish, some plants,
and relatively small ponds that may or may not be mechanically filtered.
At the present time, newcomers who discover rec.ponds are quickly driven
away by hostile posts.
Continuing interest in online pond discussion is evident by the number of
pond-related posts to such forums as: The Freshwater Aquarium, Koiphen,
Koishack, The Mud Pond, Garden Web, Aquascape, the Professional Pond
Builder's Society and the rec.aquaria newsgroups. All of these groups
are visited by pond newcomers, who will sometimes post their questions
there.
Some overlap between rec.ponds and the rec.aquaria groups has always
existed and should not be seen as detrimental to this proposal.
TRAFFIC ANALYSIS:
Our team is considering the analyzing of pond related traffic on the
Internet. We will include details as they are prepared.
CHARTER:
C1 Description and Purpose
Rec.ponds.moderated is a moderated newsgroup that provides a friendly,
respectful forum for the discussion of all aspects of ponds and water
gardens. The rec.ponds.moderated newsgroup appeals to a wide range of
people involved in both the recreational and professional aspects of
establishing and maintaining a pond or water garden.
Participants range from water garden/pond novices to persons with many
years of experience, from amateur hobbyists to professional botanists
and ichthyologists, from students wishing to get help with science
projects to retired persons seeking a quiet, pleasurable pastime.
All interested persons are welcomed to share ideas, ask questions, or
simply to lurk and learn.
C2 Permitted Content
On-topic discussions about ponding or reasonable off-topic posts are
allowed.
Reasonable off-topic posts are loosely defined as the normal civil
banter and socializing that naturally occurs between friendly members
of a community.
On-topic discussions include, but are not limited to:
* Building a pond/water garden
* Establishing an ecosystem
* Plant life
* Fish
* Amphibians and reptiles
* Aquatic environmental concerns
* Discussions of large, unlined natural ponds
* Limited occasional advertising by individual group members will
be permitted if they have a personal pond-related item they
wish to sell. No followup by the seller is permitted within the
group.
* Disagreements and different points of view regarding on-topic
items are acceptable and permitted as long as they remain civil
and respectful in tone.
Permitted off-topic items shall include:
* Limited discussions of moderation policy, group operation, and
other matters that affect the group, as long as the posts and
threads do not become uncivil or repetitious. The extent of
such discussions is at the discretion of the moderators, whose
decisions are final, and is subject to the conditions of C3.
* The civil, social bantering that naturally occurs amongst
members of a community, and that contributes to the life, vigor
and camaraderie of the community.
* The occasional posting of moderator announcements, charter,
FAQ, and moderation policy.
C3 The Following Is Prohibited
All posts containing these items are rejected, and returned with
explanation if possible.
* Implied or direct threats, slander, insults, bigotry, prejudice
or harassment.
* Flaming, trolling,flooding, and personal verbal attacks.
* Posts advocating violence or containing physical threats.
* Bashing others based on gender, race, sexual orientation or
religion.
* Commercial posts.
* Excessive cross-posting; although limited, on-topic
crossposting is permitted.
* Chain letters.
* Posts written in HTML.
* EMP spam.
* Binaries (other than PGP signatures, X-Face headers, and
other ancillary article meta-data).
* Forgery of valid email addresses and/or approval headers.
* Excessive morphing/nym shifting ("excessive" is undefined but
is at the discretion of the moderators).
* Excessive quoting of old material, with little new content
(these will be judgement calls made by the moderators).
* Personally identifying information associated with anyone
other than the poster (e.g. residential addresses, phone numbers,
and government identifications).
* Content advocating acts that would be intrinsically illegal in
most places.
* Copyright violations. (However, pointers to news articles,
blogs, etc. that are on-topic are welcome. They must comply
with fair use standards).
C4 Charter Implementation
The charter of the group is implemented by a group of moderators. Their
task is to develop and carry out the methods necessary to insure that
the stated purposes of the group charter are accomplished. Their
methods shall be defined as Moderation Policy.
Moderators make use of whatever tools and discussion process they deem
necessary to carry out their responsibilities, including robotic software.
C5 Moderation Policy Objectives and Practices
Moderation policy adheres to and carries out the stated goals and
purposes of the group. Moderation policy practices may be changed by
the moderators to meet the ongoing needs of the newsgroup charter.
Proposed changes are announced by the moderators, and newsgroup members
are invited to share and discuss their views of proposed changes.
Passage is by a 2/3 majority vote. Changes are published in the
newsgroup.
C6 Moderator Standards
Moderators approve or reject posts based upon content and the other
items mentioned in C3 above. Moderators maintain a standard of
neutrality and non-bias. Moderators do not add, delete, or edit
anything within a post. Tags are not added. Moderators' decisions
are final. Moderators permit posts that may contain technically
incorrect information, provided that the post is not deemed to be
deliberately deceptive. Any forwarded post that contains incorrect
information may and should be followed up by posts that attempt to
correct the misinformation.
All personal posts made by moderators go through the same complete
process as posts made by the general readership of the group.
Moderators do not review their own posts, nor those of a relative.
Moderators who fail to abide by the charter and current moderation
policy may be warned and/or removed by the other moderators (see
moderation policy).
C7 Moderator Accessibility and Accountability
The moderators provide options for both private and public interaction
with the readership of the group. An email contact address is provided
for complaints, appeals, reviews and suggestions. The receipt of emails
to the contact address is acknowledged by a return email, provided a
valid return address is given. In addition, the Charter provides for
limited public discussion of the general issues of moderation policy,
group operation, and other matters that affect the group.
C8 Readership Participation & Responsibility
All participants in the group may:
* Request changes to moderation policy & participate in the
discussion of changes.
* Privately ask for all moderators to review a specific rejected
post (within numerical limits determined by the moderators).
* Nominate new moderators.
MODERATION POLICY: rec.ponds.moderated
M01 Purpose
The purpose of moderation policy is to carry out the objectives
and goals of the charter.
M02 Robotic Moderation Software Programs
If and when feasible, the moderation team may employ robotic moderation
software to screen and filter all incoming posts, and to ensure that all
posts meet certain current moderation policies. Posts that do not will
be automatically returned along with a brief explanation, provided that
such posts have a valid return address.
All posts that are approved by the robotic software will be forwarded to
human moderators for further examination.
M03 Cross-posting
Minimal cross-posting to related groups based on content (e.g., fish
hobby, gardening, wildlife management) will be allowed. No cross-
posting to irrelevant groups will be permitted. Such cross-posted
messages shall be returned.
When feasible, cross-post filtering will be handled by the robotic
software.
M04 Authorship of Posts
Anyone will be allowed to post on-topic or reasonable off-topic posts
as long as they are not forging another poster's name. Anonymous
posting will be allowed. Occasional name-shifting may be permitted,
but excessive name-shifting will not be permitted. Robotic software
methods to protect the author's identity may be employed through the
use of voluntary passwords, PGP, or other methods that become
technically available.
M05 Human Moderation
After passage by any robotic software, messages are forwarded to
the moderators who will review them and shall then make final
decisions of approval or rejection based upon the content of the
post. There shall be no editing of any post by any moderator, as
stated in C6 of the Charter.
M06 Moderator Accept/Forward and Return/Reject Policies
At a minimum, when using robotic software, one moderator may
authorize a post to be forwarded to the newsgroup, and one moderator
may authorize a submission to be rejected/returned. If the robotic
software contains a multi-pass/rejectoption, then more than one
moderator may be asked to agree before a post is forwarded or returned.
Moderators may consult with one another before deciding to pass or
reject a post. This consultation may add to the time-delay of the
processing of a post.
M07 Personal Advertising
Very limited personal advertising shall be permitted. Advertising
must be directly related to on-topic aquatic/pond subject matter.
Regular, individual, non-commercial posters may mention personal "for
sale" items that they no longer need or want. Please refer to C2 for
additional details.
M08 Ending Threads
The moderators reserve the right to end a thread that has veered
significantly off-topic, or that has become dominated by rehashing
and/or repetition.
M09 Moderator Decisions
The decisions of the moderators shall be final.
M10 The Human Moderation team
The review and moderation of posts that are forwarded by robotic
moderation software will be conducted by a Moderation Team. The first
moderation team members will be divided into two classes appointed
for one or two year terms, to end on August 31 of the first and second
years after the initiation/startup of the group. Thereafter, a new
class of moderators will be elected annually during the month of August,
to serve two year terms to begin on September 1 of the election year
and to continue through August 31of the second year after the election
year. The moderation team will select each new class of moderators and
election will be by a minimum of 2/3 vote. Participants in
rec.ponds.moderated may propose/nominate potential moderators to the
team. Moderators may be re-elected. The moderation team shall elect
persons to fill vacancies using the 2/3 criterion for election.
M11a Head Moderator
The moderation team may elect a 'head moderator' by majority vote. The
duties of head moderator will be determined as needed.
M11b Moderator Removal
If a moderator does not abide by the charter and current moderation
policy, the other moderators may warn and, if necessary, remove that
moderator by a 2/3 vote. Moderators who wish to resign for any reason
may do so by emailing the head moderator.
M12 Moderation Policy Changes
As stated in the charter, moderation policy may be changed to meet
the objectives of the charter and the ongoing needs of the newsgroup.
Proposed changes are announced by the moderators, and newsgroup
members may discuss the proposed changes.
Changes shall be adopted by a 2/3 majority and published in the newsgroup.
M13 Moderator Posts
Moderators shall use [MODERATOR ANNOUNCE] to preface official
informational posts to the readership of rec.ponds.moderated.
M14 Moderator Contact Address
As per C7, the moderators shall provide a contact email address for
anyone who wishes to make a complaint, question, or offer a suggestion.
MODERATOR INFO: rec.ponds.moderated
Moderator: Derek <news@pointerstop.ca>
Moderator: Galen <ghekhuis@earthlink.net>
Moderator: ~jan <jjsorders@jjspond.us>
Moderator: Jim <phyllisandjimrp@gmail.com>
Moderator: Kathy30a <kthirtya@aol.com>
Moderator: Phyllis <phyllisandjimrp@gmail.com>
As of the time of the publishing of the 2nd RFD, the proponents and
proposed moderators for rec.ponds.moderated are considering two possible
robotic software programs: STUMP by Igor Chudov and Modbot by Richard
Ashton. We are also open to any suggestions for consideration of other
robotic moderation programs.
Prior to a vote by the Big8 Management Board regarding the creation of
rec.ponds.moderated, we will submit the name of our final choice of a
software program, as well as the required submission address.
Article Submissions:
Administrative Contact:
END MODERATOR INFO
PROCEDURE:
For more information on the newsgroup creation process, please see:
http://www.big-8.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=policies:creation
Those who wish to influence the development of this RFD and its final
resolution should subscribe to news.groups.proposals and participate in the
relevant threads in that newsgroup. This is both a courtesy to groups in
which discussion of creating a new group is off-topic as well as the best
method of making sure that one's comments or criticisms are heard.
All discussion of active proposals should be posted to news.groups.proposals.
To this end, the 'Followup-To' header of this RFD has been set to this group.
If desired by the readership of closely affected groups, the discussion
may be crossposted to those groups, but care must be taken to ensure
that all discussion appears in news.groups.proposals as well.
We urge those who would like to read or post in the proposed newsgroup
to make a comment to that effect in this thread; we ask proponents to
keep a list of such positive posts with the relevant message ID
(e.g., Barney Fife, <4JGdnb60fsMzHA7ZnZ2dnUVZ_rWdnZ2d@sysmatrix.net>).
Such lists of positive feedback for the proposal may constitute good
evidence that the group will be well-used if it is created.
DISTRIBUTION:
This document has been posted to the following newsgroups:
news.announce.newgroups
news.groups.proposals
rec.ponds
rec.aquaria.misc
rec.aquaria.freshwater.misc
The proponent will also post pointers to:
rec.aquaria.freshwater.goldfish
rec.aquaria.freshwater.plants
alt.aquaria
PROPONENT:
Ron Schompert <rons515@localnet.com>
Co-Proponent: Galen Hekhuis <ghekhuis@earthlink.net>
CHANGE HISTORY:
2006-12-14 1st RFD
2007-01-12 2nd RFD
