User:Deross

Beyond merely participating in various newsgroups, my first involvement with Big8-Usenet was in 1998, when I was a principal proponent in a successful RFD to split rec.collecting.stamps into rec.collecting.stamps.discuss and rec.collecting.stamps.marketplace. This was during the era when the general Internet public voted on Big8 RFDs, and I had to defend myself against attacks from commercial interests that wanted to continue spamming a newsgroup intended for hobbyists who collected stamps.

After a career of more than 40 years creating and testing computer software, I retired in 2003. In the meantime, I had headed a small charitable foundation for some 17 years, an unpaid volunteer position from which I retired in 2007. I then sought venues for other volunteer service.

One venue was Big8-Usenet, where I volunteered to create a list of Internet RFCs affecting newsgroups for the Wiki. RFCs are "requests for comments", some of which lead to Internet standards. When an opening on the Big8 Management Board then arose in 2009, I then volunteered for election. I have served on the Board since then.

I have always been active volunteering, and I remain so in venues other than the Big8 Management Board.