Minutes/2026-03-26

Present: TM, MM

Infrastructure
- MM reported that cron is sending the Board's e-mail account messages from Munin, which he thought we were no longer using. RL and TM confirmed that we were no longer using this software, so MM will uninstall it.
- TM noted cron messages indicating a failure of the backup script. MM indicated that this was a result of configuration changes on his end; he has since fixed the script.
Administration
- Unused comp.unix.* groups
  - TM posted the LCCs on 2026-03-20; community discussion to end on 2026-03-25, after which the Board has until 2026-04-01 to vote on the RFDs.
  - The meeting discussed the comments on the RFDs for about an hour, including arguments/observations that the groups are currently unused, that the OSes to which some of them are dedicated are obsolete and thus probably also currently unused, that news servers may be inconsistent in their application of control messages to remove groups, that message histories could be irretrievably lost (or conversely that existing efforts to archive Usenet would preserve them). It was further noted that nobody who responded to the RFDs indicated that they themselves intended to use the groups. The meeting acknowledged that commenters on both sides had raised valid arguments and that (in contrast to previous RFDs that had proposed removing moderated groups) there was no clear consensus among them, putting the Board into the position of having to weigh these arguments and the expected impacts of any decision to remove (or to not remove) the groups. The meeting also considered whether the expected benefits of removing (or retaining) the groups -- e.g., making active groups more discoverable by (new) users and (new) admins, increasing overall participation on Usenet, etc. -- could be better achieved through other actions.
  - It was agreed that Board members would reflect on the discussion and submit their votes on the LCCs by e-mail by 2026-04-01.
  - The
- Julien Élie's RFDs on reorganizing of the talk.* and news.* hierarchies
  - Matter to be revisited after the comp.unix.* business has concluded.