HOWTO: Create a Group. $Revision: 1.5 $ 1. Check out the competition. Look to see if there is already a group already in existence in the big-n set of groups. (rec, soc, sci, comp, news, ????) that would meet your needs. You'll need to do this for the Rationale Section of your RFD (see below) 2. Choose your location If you want a group to discuss an ethnic grouping (for example Latvian tribes) then you might be better off going for a group with world-wide propagation, for example: soc.culture.letts uk.people.letts would be the wrong place for this sort of thing. Similarly, if there are collectors of sprockets world-wide, then rec.collecting.sprockets rather than uk.rec.sprockets might be better. in general the UK hierarchy is for uk discussions. If you want a UK group, please continue.... 3. Pick a Name If you you pick something that slots in neatly with the rest of the groups in uk.* it makes life easier. If you need help, please contact the committee (committee@usenet.org.uk), who should be able to help. 4. Write a RFD the layout of RFD's in the past has been lax. One of the aims of this document is to tighten up formats. Please submit RFDs using the following layout: a * means this section is optional ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ RFD for (un)moderated group: Summary: a description, including (Moderated) at the end if moderated. Rationale: One or more paragraphs written in English, spell checked, in the present tense, indented from the left and having a total line length of around 72 characters. (tip: if using a Unix system, indent the paragraph and use !}fmt within vi to reformat it using the external fmt command; this also works with the MKS toolkit) This section describes WHY you want the group. It says why any other groups you found in step 1 are not good enough. Oh, the 72 character limit allows people to quote parts from the RFD without it wrapping on their replies. Charter: One or more paragraphs written in English, spell checked, in the present tense, indented from the left and having a total line length of around 72 characters. This section describes what the group WILL discuss. It may also say what will not be discussed, pointing readers at more relevant groups Advertising: What advertising is permitted. I would suggest the following stock paragraph: Short (less than 20 line) announcements of events relevant to readers are permitted; blatant off-topic or commercial advertising is not. Binaries: Do you allow binaries?; I would suggest the following text if not: Binaries are not permitted on this group, however references to FTP-able material and Web URL's are welcomed. Moderated: Is this group moderated *Moderator: If moderated, who are the moderators. *Moderation Policy: If moderated the moderation policy Proponent: Your/their names and email addresses Procedure: This RFD will be discussed in uk.net.news.config for days. If there is a large degree of support for the group It will be fast-tracked otherwise a vote will be asked for. Further Information: Any other information you would like to give on the topic. Ideally less than 20 lines. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5. Start the ball rolling Send the RFD to me. I'll spell check it and make sure it is formatted correctly. I'll correct minor errors, but anything requiring major work will be returned, together with this document. If I do not think that the group name fits in the UK hierarchy, then I'll forward it to the committee for their opinion 6. Assist the discussion In the past it has been a bone of contention, and grief that people have complained that their comments have not been taken into consideration. I think it would be worthwhile for you to write a precis of the discussion. Include the negative comments, and the counter arguments. 7. Decision Time... Once the time limit on the RFD has expired you need to choose between RFD or Fast Track. If you're going for a fast-track then you produce a document like the one below and send it to me. If you want to hold a vote, then contact ukvoting@usenet.org.uk they will assign a volunteer vote-taker to assist you in holding the vote. I suspect they would like a document like the one below too, as they then only need to add the ballot form to the document and send it to me. [aside: use the same address if you would like to volunteer your services as a vote-counter.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ FAST-TRACK of (un)moderated group: Summary: a description, including (Moderated) at the end if moderated. Results of the RFD: One or more paragraphs written in English, spell checked, in the present tense, indented from the left and having a total line length of around 72 characters. (tip: if using a Unix system, indent the paragraph and use !}fmt within vi to reformat it using the external fmt command; this also works with the MKS toolkit) This section summarises the discussion. What you've changed in the sections below Charter: [As before] include any changes you have made Advertising: [As before] Binaries: [As before] Moderated: [As before] *Moderator: [As before] *Moderation Policy: [As before] Proponent: [As before] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8. Voting/Complaining Next we either hold a vote, and act on the result, or wait for complaints to the RFD. - the vote-taker should be able to tell you more about the voting procedure. 9. Newgroup & charter If the vote passes, or there are no valid complaints from the fast-track notice, I'll issue the newgroup message 5 working (or 7-9 real) days later. A little while later the charter is posted to the group, and to uk.net.news.announce. Some ISPs (eg demon) take a while to create the group so please be patient over the creation of the group after the charter appears. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------