Nan:2006-11-03-thinkpad-lcc

From: board@big-8.org (The Big-8 Management Board)
Subject: 3rd RFD: comp.sys.laptops.thinkpad (LAST CALL FOR COMMENTS)
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups, news.groups, comp.sys.laptops
Followup-To: news.groups
Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2006 09:29:38 -0800

                      REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)
                       comp.sys.laptops.thinkpad

This is a formal Request For Discussion (RFD) for the creation of the
unmoderated Usenet newsgroup, comp.sys.laptops.thinkpad.


PROCEDURE:

The B8MB plans to begin voting on this proposal after five days.  Please
offer any final discussion or comments before the end of this waiting
period.  Voting may take up to one week (7 days); a result will be posted
following the end of the voting period.

All discussion of this proposal should be posted to news.groups.

The full group creation procedure is documented here:

  http://www.big-8.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=policies:proposals



NEWSGROUPS LINE: comp.sys.laptops.thinkpad

comp.sys.laptops.thinkpad	IBM/Lenovo line of laptop computers.


SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION:

A small amount of discussion in news.groups centered mostly on Usenet
management issues and on the wisdom of using a brand name, but was
otherwise about evenly divided pro (4) and con (3) (with another six users
being skeptical, indifferent, or not starting their preferences clearly).
Most ThinkPad users were apparently indifferent.


RATIONALE: comp.sys.laptops.thinkpad

ThinkPad is a major and very popular brand of laptop/notebook computers,
formerly part of IBM, now part of Lenovo, with many unique features that
set the brand apart from other brands of laptop computers.

Discussions pertaining to ThinkPad laptop computers are currently
carried in:

  * comp.sys.laptops:
    - generic laptop discussion group
    - traffic of 40 articles per day, down from peak of over 100 per day
    - will remain for discussions not pertaining to ThinkPad
    - Google archive of over 170,000 articles

  * ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad:
    - invalid newsgroup not carried by many news providers
    - traffic of 10 articles per day
    - Google archive of over 9,000 articles

  * http://forum.thinkpads.com/
    - broken down into multiple specific topics
    - over 15,000 registered users
    - over 200,000 articles

  * ThinkPad mailing list
    - List: http://stderr.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/thinkpad
    - Archive: http://zurich.ai.mit.edu/hypermail/thinkpad/
    - traffic of 5-15 messages per day

The existence of ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad and the popularity of
forum.thinkpads.com, and traffic on the ThinkPad mailing list, are
evidence of the demand for a ThinkPad
brand-specific forum.

Once it becomes carried widely, comp.sys.laptops.thinkpad is expected to
have initial traffic of at least 20 articles per day.

comp.sys.laptops would remain for discussions not pertaining to ThinkPad
computers. Although some traffic would presumably be siphoned off into
comp.sys.laptops.thinkpad, the creation of a specific subgroup might
re-stimulate interest enough to result in more traffic, and possibly in
the creation of other comp.sys.laptops.* subgroups.


HISTORY: comp.sys.laptops

comp.sys.laptops was created in about 1990.  Traffic apparently peaked
at over 100 articles per day before declining to its current level of
about 40 articles per day.  This decline is believed to be more due to
siphoning off by brand-specific web forums (e.g., forum.thinkpads.com),
and lack of brand focus, not any lack of interest in laptop computers.

Adding specific subgroups (IBM, Toshiba, etc.) to comp.sys.laptops was
proposed in 1994-1995, but apparently went nowhere:

  ftp://ftp.isc.org/usenet/news.announce.newgroups/comp/comp.sys.laptops-reorg
  ftp://ftp.isc.org/usenet/news.announce.newgroups/comp/comp.sys.laptops.toshiba


CHARTER:

comp.sys.laptops.thinkpad is for discussions pertaining to ThinkPad (IBM
and Lenovo) laptop computers.  It is NOT an official support forum for
IBM or Lenovo.

General Usenet "netiquette" guidelines as posted in
news.announce.newusers and news.answers shall apply to this newsgroup.
In particular, participants are asked to show courtesy and respect for
other participants, and to avoid the use of offensive language,
excessive quoting, or long signature blocks. Participants are encouraged
to use descriptive Subjects (e.g., "T41 won't boot after disk swap"
rather than just "Help").

The following types of posts are prohibited:

  * Off-topic (not directly related to ThinkPad laptop computers)
  * Binaries (except for appended text-encoded digital signatures)
  * Spam (including excessive cross-posting)
  * Make-money-fast or other chain or fraudulent schemes
  * Work-at-home or other scams
  * Commercial advertisements, "infomercials," or announcements
  * Auction notices (e.g., eBay)
  * Forged articles (anonymous articles are allowed)
  * Personal insults or repetitive flaming (attacks)
  * Employment (help and/or position wanted) notices

The use of e-mail addresses from articles posted to this group for the
purpose of sending junk (mass unsolicited) e-mail or for compiling a
list so that others may do so is specifically prohibited.

In the absence of moderation, prohibitions can, of course, only be
enforced by the collective will of the group and/or by after-the-fact
complaints to the offender's service provider. Nevertheless, it is hoped
that this charter will help in getting complaints resolved.





DISTRIBUTION:

This document has been posted to the following newsgroups:

  news.announce.newgroups
  news.groups
  comp.sys.laptops


PROPONENT:

John Navas <spamfilter0@navasgroup.com>


CHANGE HISTORY:

2006-11-03     3rd RFD/LCC
2006-10-26     2nd RFD
2006-10-22     1st RFD