Nan:2006-10-16-ibm-pc-binaries-lcc

From: board@big-8.org (The Big-8 Management Board)
Subject: 2nd RFD: remove comp.binaries.ibm.pc moderated (LAST CALL FOR COMMENTS)
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups, news.groups, comp.binaries.ibm.pc,
 comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d, comp.os.msdos.misc
Followup-To: news.groups
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2006 12:31:09 -0700

                      REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)
                      remove comp.binaries.ibm.pc

This is a formal Request For Discussion (RFD) to remove the moderated
newsgroup comp.binaries.ibm.pc.


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 removal procedure is documented here:

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


SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION:

One comment was received stating, "If someone doesn't remove these old
groups, the non-content clutter of Usenet will become problematic."


RATIONALE: remove comp.binaries.ibm.pc

There have been no approved messages since February 1996.

Distribution of binary programs via Usenet, and in particular the Big
8 comp.binaries.* groups is no longer particularly useful or viable.
The binaries groups were created before there was widespread access to
the Internet, so that propagation of binaries via Usenet was a viable
alternative to distribution via floppies or other removal storage
media sent by mail.

Binaries newsgroups typically have very short expiration periods, so
someone interested in acquiring programs would have to constantly
monitor a newsgroup, or hope that the programs were archived so that
they can be accessed via the internet (such as by FTP).  But if the
programs can be sent via internet, there is no need for the Usenet
alternative.

Google does not archive binaries in newsgroups.  So even though they
maintain archives of the comp.binaries.* groups, they do not archive
most of the content (the reason for existence of the group in the
first place).

Over the years, programs have generally become larger and more
complex.  When transmitted by Usenet this may require the programs be
distributed in many parts, some of which may be lost.  Again,
transmission via FTP is more reliable.

The moderators of binaries newsgroups may be legally responsible for
the reliability of software, whether it is legal to distribute, and
whether it is free of viruses and trojans.  Many may not be willing to
assume that responsibility, and unmoderated binaries groups are not
acceptable in the Big 8.

This proposal is one of several that will removal all groups in the
comp.binaries.* hierarchy except comp.binaries.cbm.


HISTORY: 

The newsgroup comp.binaries.ibm.pc was created in June 1987.  In
November 1987 it was converted to an unmoderated newsgroup.  In May
1988, it was once again converted to a moderated newsgroup.

Historically, the group was primarily for posting of MS-DOS binaries,
and this emphasis was later confirmed with the creation of
comp.binaries.os2 in March 1990 and comp.binaries.ms-windows in
January 1993.

>From time to time, there was discussion about renaming the group to
comp.binaries.msdos, but apparently this was never a formal proposal.


DISTRIBUTION:

This document has been posted to the following newsgroups:

  news.announce.newgroups
  news.groups
  comp.binaries.ibm.pc
  comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
  comp.os.msdos.misc

The proponent will also post pointers to:

  comp.sys.ibm.pc.classic


CHARTER:

The newsgroup line is:

comp.binaries.ibm.pc	Binary-only postings for IBM PC/MS-DOS.


PROPONENT: 

Jim Riley <jimrtex@pipeline.com>


CHANGE HISTORY: 

2006-10-05     1st RFD
2006-10-16     2nd RFD/LCC