Nan:2006-10-09-newton-binaries-lcc

From: board@big-8.org (The Big-8 Management Board)
Subject: RFD: remove comp.binaries.newton moderated (LAST CALL FOR COMMENTS)
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups, news.groups, comp.binaries.newton,
 comp.sys.newton.announce, comp.sys.newton.misc
Followup-To: news.groups
Date: Mon, 09 Oct 2006 10:02:52 -0700

                      REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)
                      remove comp.binaries.newton

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


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 (draft) group removal procedure is documented here:

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


SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION:

There were no comments received.


RATIONALE: remove comp.binaries.newton

There have been no approved messages since November 1997.

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.newton was created in February 1994.


DISTRIBUTION:

This document has been posted to the following newsgroups:

  news.announce.newgroups
  news.groups
  comp.binaries.newton
  comp.sys.newton.announce
  comp.sys.newton.misc


CHARTER:

The newsgroup line is:

comp.binaries.newton	Apple Newton binaries, sources, books, etc.

The charter (from the Results posting) is:

Comp.binaries.newton is to be used for posting Newton software, both
runnable applications and source code.  Free software, shareware, and
demoware are all suitable (by demoware, I mean demo versions of
commercial applications which are artificially limited in
functionality in some way).  Software might include applications,
Newton Books, or other Newton-related non-textual material which, in
the opinion of the moderator, is of general interest to the Newton
community.  This will not include product announcements or items of a
strictly promotional nature, but it might include upgrades, patches,
and the like.  The moderator will also maintain ftp and gopher
archives of all c.b.n postings.


PROPONENT: 

Jim Riley <jimrtex@pipeline.com>


CHANGE HISTORY: 

2006-10-09     2nd RFD/LCC
2006-09-28     1st RFD