Nan:2006-06-26-update

From: skirv@big-8.org (Tim Skirvin)
Subject: [B8MB] State of Affairs - Voting, Removals, Polling, Committees
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups, news.groups
Followup-To: news.groups
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2006 15:12:27 -0700

        It's been about a month since my last report on the goings-on with
the Big-8 Management Board.  I've got a few things to report.


Reporting Voting Counts and Consensus
-------------------------------------

  Astute observers of news.announce.newgroups may have noticed that we are
  now reporting some vote results as "by consensus".  This change was
  implemented in large part due to a suggestions by Geoff Berrow and Mark
  Goodge; what it indicates is that there were no Board objections to the
  proposal, and that a vote was deemed unnecessary.  A single objection
  can still force a vote.  We hope that this will streamline the process
  somewhat - and, in fact, our initial runs using the system have been
  both faster and more clear.

  Note that when a proposal does go to a vote, we will continue to report
  the actual vote totals.


Group Removals
--------------

  Much of the work we've put into the system over the last few weeks has
  concerned group removals, and particularly large-scale removals.  The
  Deadwood Groups Task Force currently has eleven groups in the NAN queue,
  as well as a larger proposal for 31(!) more groups that we're delaying.

  The Board is currently working on drafting procedures that will allow 
  us to handle this kind of load gracefully.  How we currently expect this 
  to work:

     1. The proponent posts a comprehensive RFD to NAN and news.groups.

     2. A message is posted to each target group which points to the 
        message ID of the RFD and announces that all development of the 
        RFD will take place through discussion in news.groups and posts 
        in n.a.n.; such notices should have followup set to news.groups, 
        although those who wish may crosspost to the groups slated to be 
        removed.

     3. All further versions of the RFD, Last Call for Comments, and 
        results are posted only to n.a.n. and news.groups.

  Comments on this meta-procedure are, as always, welcome and encouraged.

  The relevant web pages for all removal issues:

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


Polling
-------

  The B8MB is still extremely interested in setting up a useful polling
  system that would (amongst other goals) help proponents decide on basic
  issues regarding their proposals - group names, charter information,
  etc - and to gather information that will allow the Board itself to make 
  better decisions.  To this end, we have proposed the creation of the 
  Usenet Volunteer Pollsters, the spiritual successor to the UVV.  

  At this point, there are several people on the UVP mailing list, and 
  there have been some preliminary discussions.  But there are still 
  many issues to work out, including:

        o The UVP's mission and goals.                                          
        o Membership guidelines and policies.                                   
        o Who "speaks" for the UVP.                                             
        o Overall technical goals for any software.                             
        o Who writes and maintains the software.  (Licensing, too.)             

  If you have any interest in any of these issues, please subscribe to 
  (and participate in) the mailing list, at:

                http://lists.big-8.org/mailman/listinfo/uvp/

  In the mean time - on behalf of the Big-8 Management Board, I would like
  to thank Geoff Berrow for the work he has already put into his polling
  system.  I believe that his software offers an excellent start to help 
  us build up a robust, effective service to the proponents and the Board.


Actions
-------

  For the record, the following list summarizes the changes to the Big-8
  hierarchy newsgroup list since my last posting:

    - soc.culture.asatru (moderated) has been created.
    - comp.os.ms-windows.win95.moderated has been removed.
    - soc.culture.ethiopia.moderated has been removed.
    - soc.culture.galiza has been unmoderated.
    - comp.soft-sys.octave has been created.
    - comp.lang.prograph has been removed.
    - comp.binaries.apple2 has been removed.

  That's not too bad for a month.


Moderator Vacancy Investigations
--------------------------------

  Thanks to the work of the Deadwood Groups Task Force, we plan to begin
  a pair of Moderator Vacancy Investigations shortly.  We are currently
  working out the procedures; please help us revise the rules as we go
  through the new system.


Volunteer Committees
--------------------

  As a reminder - the B8MB is attempting to put together several volunteer
  organizations to handle individual aspects of the new group creation
  system.  These groups are not currently fully populated, but they have
  fairly clear (if general) goals.  And most importantly, they have
  mailing lists, so it's possible to start getting them organized.

  If you would like to volunteer for any of these organizations, please
  subscribe to the relevant mailing lists.  We are not restricting
  membership at this point.


  Usenet Volunteer Pollsters
  ==========================

  Coordinator    Tim Skirvin
  Mailing List   http://lists.big-8.org/mailman/listinfo/uvp/
  Description    http://www.big-8.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=workgroups:polltakers


  Usenet Volunteer Moderators
  ===========================

  Coordinator    Jonathan Kamens
  Mailing List   http://lists.big-8.org/mailman/listinfo/uvm/
  Description    http://www.big-8.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=workgroups:moderators


  Group Mentors
  =============

  Coordinator    Tim Skirvin
  Mailing List   http://lists.big-8.org/mailman/listinfo/group-mentors/
  Description    http://www.big-8.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=workgroups:mentors


  Deadwood Groups Task Force
  ==========================

  Coordinator    Dave Sill
  Mailing List   http://lists.big-8.org/mailman/listinfo/deadwood/
  Description    http://www.big-8.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=workgroups:deadgroups


		                    - Tim Skirvin (skirv@big-8.org)
                                      Chair, Big-8 Management Board
-- 
http://www.big-8.org/                           Big-8 Management Board 
http://www.killfile.org/~tskirvin/        Skirv's Homepage <FISH>< <*>