Nan:2008-12-02-news.admin.peering-rfd

From: "D. Stussy" <spam@bde-arc.ampr.org>
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups.proposals,alt.usenet.peering
Subject: RFD:  "news.admin.peering"  (initial proposal)
Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2008 19:08:44 EST
Message-ID: <gh4f01$6t0$1@snarked.org>

                 REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)
                 unmoderated group news.admin.peering

History:
Some time ago in 2007, it was noted that there was no "in band" (i.e. via
NNTP) way for a news server administrator to make general requests for
[additional] peering.  Thus, in December 2007, newsgroup
"alt.usenet.peering" was created.  It has had success and about 100 posts,
mainly peering requests and offers, and a couple of discussions regarding
organized peering arrangements (how to pick peers - from anarchy to
following a plan), and a discussion about itself.  As an "alt.*" group, it
didn't need a charter nor a vote, so rapid deployment occurred.
"Alt.usenet.peering" is an unmoderated group.

A survey of Usenet servers by "groupsearch.aacity.net" indicates that 18 of
the 49 servers it surveys (about 37%) carry "alt.usenet.peering" (3 servers
have no articles):


http://groupsearch.aacity.net/cgi-bin/prop.pl?action=search&group=alt.usenet.peering&sorting=group

Newzbot.com reports an additional 10 servers which carry the group.
Newzbot generally reports only newsservers "open" for reading and/or
posting.

  http://www.newzbot.com/search.php?t=group&q=alt.usenet.peering

It is also noted that some of the current participants in
"alt.usenet.peering" have posted articles sourcing from servers not in
either of the lists cited above.

Currently, there is also one "out of band" (HTTP - web site) way of
requesting peering that is viable.  A second web site exists but has
experienced constant abuse since about March 2008 thus rendering it
unusable.


Rationale:
In the discussion about itself, it was suggested that "alt.usenet.peering"
should have been created as "news.admin.peering" (or
"news.admin.connectivity") - a "big-8" group.  A few participants in that
discussion indicated that they would favor such.  Although it will probably
be a low volume group, it serves a critical infrastructure need to Usenet
as a whole.  It is expected that the majority of group participants will be
news server administrators and those wishing to start new servers.  The
general Usenet population is not expected to participate but may do so if
they wish.


Charter:
News.admin.peering is an unmoderated group where news server administrators
may request or offer NNTP peering with other news servers.  Queries
regarding connectivity problems and server closing announcements are also
permitted.  Discussions on how to best pick peers (at random or via some
plan) is also on-topic.  Discussions regarding hierarchy propagation may be
permitted (open for discussion in the RFD).

Issues regarding spam or network abuse are better posted to the
"news.admin.net-abuse.*" groups.

Posters are expected to abide by normal Usenet standards of decorum, and to
ignore articles intended to disrupt the group.  The usual suspects are
prohibited (spam, binaries, direct advertising, etc.).


For your newsgroups file:
news.admin.peering    Server peering requests, offers, and article flow
discussions.
-----

Should "news.admin.peering" be created, "alt.usenet.peering" will close in
deference to the new group.  Should the creation vote fail,
"alt.usenet.peering" will continue to fulfill the functions of the
proposed, failed group.

As this is a "request for discussion," I have written this message simply
to propose the idea.  Should someone [else] wish to write a better, formal
charter for the group, please do so (and post it as a reply to this
thread).

Proponent:  D. Stussy, replies@newsgroups.kd6lvw.ampr.org