Nan:2006-10-22-thinkpad-rfd

From: John Navas <spamfilter0@navasgroup.com>
Subject: RFD: comp.sys.laptops.thinkpad
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups, news.groups, comp.sys.laptops
Followup-To: news.groups
Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2006 10:46:07 -0700

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

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


NEWSGROUPS LINE: comp.sys.laptops.thinkpad

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


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

The existence of ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad and the popularity of
forum.thinkpads.com 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.





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 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.

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

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 as well.
 



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:

2006-10-22     1st RFD