Nan:2006-10-16-geos-binaries-lcc

From: board@big-8.org (The Big-8 Management Board)
Subject: 2nd RFD: remove comp.binaries.geos moderated (LAST CALL FOR COMMENTS)
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups, news.groups, comp.binaries.geos,
 comp.os.geos.misc, comp.sys.pen
Followup-To: news.groups
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2006 12:31:07 -0700

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

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


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:

Several comments were received.

One was concerned that it was comp.os.geos.misc that would be removed.
The proposal is to remove comp.binaries.geos.

One suggested removing all the Geos groups, because articles were
relatively few, and the posts were from a dozen or so posters.  I
don't think groups should be removed, unless there is an objective
measurement of traffic.

And another noted that there are working webbrowsers and FTP-clients for
GEOS which make distribution of programs and clipart straightforward with
links posted in comp.os.geos.misc; especially given the absence of
articles approved in comp.binaries.geos for the past 9 years.


RATIONALE: remove comp.binaries.geos

There have been no approved messages since September 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.geos was created in March 1994.


DISTRIBUTION:

This document has been posted to the following newsgroups:

  news.announce.newgroups
  news.groups
  comp.binaries.geos
  comp.os.geos.misc
  comp.sys.pen


CHARTER:

The newsgroup line is:

comp.binaries.geos	Binaries for the GEOS operating system.

The charter (from the Results posting):

The purpose of 'comp.binaries.geos' is to provide a place for the
posting of uuencoded binaries for use with the GEOS operating system
on conventional Personal Computers (PC's), pen-based Personal Digital
Assistants (PDA's), and hybrid Personal Information Assistants
(PIA's).

This will include any freeware or shareware applications, drivers,
libraries, document templates, screen backgrounds, clip-art, document
files, icons, fonts, et cetera.  Binaries for other operating systems
which provide interaction or compatibility with GEOS will also be
accepted.  The group will be moderated; non-binaries and files without
relation to GEOS will be returned.


PROPONENT: 

Jim Riley <jimrtex@pipeline.com>


CHANGE HISTORY: 

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