VOTE: voting continues on comp.unix.wizards

[John F. Haugh II]

Hi.  Two weeks ago a vote was announced in comp.unix.internals
on the question of re-creating comp.unix.wizards.  You will
recall that comp.unix.wizards was removed, and replaced with
a wealth of other newsgroups.

There have been several questions and complaints since the
vote was originally called, and I'd like to take this time
at middle point of the vote to remind everyone the vote is
still going on, and to answer some of the questions.

1). What is this vote for?  Didn't we just have a vote?
    Yes, we just had a vote, and many people were dissatisfied
    with the outcome.  Many of those people think the old
    .wizards group should be restored, so this vote will
    give those people a chance to have their voices heard.

2). What is going to happen to these new groups?
    Nothing.  The new groups have their purpose, and they will
    stay just the way they are.  This vote only affects the
    existence of comp.unix.wizards, and does not remove any
    other groups.

3). Why didn't this get posted in news.groups?  Isn't that a
    requirement?
    The guidelines only suggest that news.groups be included,
    as well as other "relevant" newsgroups.  Since news.groups
    is not related to the subject of UNIX programming, and
    since it is typically such a high-noise newsgroup, I felt
    news.groups was an inappropriate newsgroup.  This is
    permitted by the guidelines and has allowed this decision
    to be made by the users of comp.unix, rather than a group
    of uninvolved bystanders.  Many people disagree, and they
    have posted articles in news.groups on the subject of this
    vote.  So the issue is being covered in news.groups even
    without my posting a formal "Call For Votes" there.

4). Where do I send "NO" votes?
    You send your "NO" votes to the same place as your "YES"
    votes, jfh at rpp386.cactus.org.  Posted votes don't count.
    You may put anything you wish in the vote, so long as the
    meaning is clear.  Profane language will not be tolerated,
    however, so please keep your votes clean.

5). Wouldn't it be better if it was a moderated group?
    Perhaps, but I'm not holding a vote on that question.
    Many people have expressed the opinion that .wizards should
    be moderated, and I have come to agree with them.  I
    offered to stop this vote should a moderator with known
    credentials step forward, and so far none has.  That offer
    still stands.

6). When does the vote end?
    November 3rd, one month after the start of the vote.

7). What are we going to do about inappropriate and inaccurate
    postings?
    Troublesome postings have been with us for years, and
    creating 1,000 new groups will not reduce the number of
    such postings.  We can only hope that the users of
    comp.unix.wizards will be professional enough to ignore
    postings which they find "inappropriate" and to not answer
    postings which they aren't qualified to answer.
-- 
John F. Haugh II                             UUCP: ...!cs.utexas.edu!rpp386!jfh
Ma Bell: (512) 832-8832                           Domain: jfh at rpp386.cactus.org
"SCCS, the source motel!  Programs check in and never check out!"
		-- Ken Thompson