>> Article 2084 of news.groups:
>> Path: purdue!gatech!hao!ames!amdcad!sun!pitstop!sundc!seismo!uunet!munnari!vuwcomp!andrew
>> From: andrew@comp.vuw.ac.nz (Andrew Vignaux)
>> Newsgroups: news.groups
>> Subject: How **NOT** to Create a New Newsgroup :-)
>> Summary: A parody of Gene Spafford's regular posting
>> Date: 9 Feb 88 00:02:57 GMT
>> Organization: Comp Sci, Victoria Univ, Wellington, New Zealand
>>
>>
>> How **NOT** to Establish a New Newsgroup
>>
>> [ This is not a criticism of the backbone administration, Gene Spafford's
>> posting, or Bob Webber. It is just an example of what the "Creation
>> Guidelines" posting might look like if someone had to describe what really goes
>> on in "news.groups". ]
>>
>>
>> Guidelines
>> ----------
>> The following guidelines assume you have determined that you want a newsgroup
>> to be created. You may want this newsgroup to address a topic of particular
>> interest, or it might be to help subdivide an existing newsgroup. Once you
>> have decided you want a new newsgroup, you should do the following:
>>
>> 1) Post a message to an existing newsgroup describing your proposed newsgroup.
>> Ask for suggestions and a possible name. If there are several newsgroups that
>> might be interested -- cross-post to them all. Don't worry if the group already
>> exists -- the backbone admins will tell you when you get to step 6.
>>
>> 2) After a day or so, examine the responses and invent a name for your proposed
>> newsgroup -- a name should be short, ambiguous and preferably unpronounceable.
>> If there is some doubt about the top-level name leave it undecided -- this is
>> just the discussion stage [Note: if the top-level name is "comp" it is likely
>> to have a wider distribution than, say, the "talk" groups]. If you are
>> proposing to split a group, suggest 20 or more sub-groups -- a dictionary may
>> be of help here. Also determine if you want the newsgroup to be moderated.
>> This is a very important question and the answer will determine the success or
>> failure or your new group. Why not toss a coin?
>>
>> 3) Post an article to the newsgroup "news.groups" describing your proposed new
>> group. Be sure to emphasize that significant discussion has gone on in other
>> groups and creation should just be a formality. Ask for any comments and votes
>> to be posted or mailed. Be sure to cross-post your article to any newsgroups
>> where there might be interest, so people who don't read "news.groups" can
>> follow the discussion.
>>
>> 4) Consider carefully all comments and objections, whether posted or mailed.
>> Flame all objections and most of the questions because it keeps the discussion
>> alive during the voting period. Make a casual remark about MES. This will
>> encourage the MES opponents into the discussion who will immediately cross-post
>> to everything in sight and will mean that your proposal will be spread further.
>> Remember, that the backbone admins regard the almost inevitable flamage between
>> you and Bob Webber as epitomising the arguments for and against the creation of
>> the group. Prepare for this debate -- practice your arguments on friends.
>>
>> 5) Collect the votes on the issue of the new newsgroup. Post current totals
>> and received votes every second day so people know whether their vote has
>> arrived (don't worry about the communication bills -- it's in a good cause).
>> If after a reasonable time there are more "yes" votes than "no" votes, post an
>> article to the "news.groups" newsgroup with the totals and the list of account
>> names of people voting. Thank people for their support -- make it touching and
>> poignant. If you fail to get enough votes, it is probably because of the well
>> documented conspiracy of the backbone against the creation of new newsgroups.
>> You could consider starting a mailing list for your topic or else show the
>> backbone what you think of the bureaucracy of a central administration and
>> start the group as an "alt" group.
>>
>> 6) Send mail to the backbone and ask that the group be created. You can issue
>> the control message yourself, but many sites will ignore the group unless the
>> control message originates from a known backbone admin. If you know how, try
>> forging the creation message to be from one of them -- it will save them the
>> trouble if posting it themselves.
>>
>> 7) Now the newsgroup has been created, the first topic of conversation should
>> be whether you have chosen the correct name for the group. There are three
>> situations: (a) everyone is deliriously happy with the name of the newsgroup
>> and your group enters the top 40 newsgroups (by popularity) after only one
>> week; (b) the name seems to overlook a significant area of discussion and
>> therefore it should be changed slightly. The backbone admins will be more than
>> happy to oblige as long as you hold another public vote in "news.groups" (see
>> steps 3-6); (c) people seem to think that your newsgroup is the place to
>> discuss things that are completely different from the topics you want
>> discussed. If this happens, let them have their new group and start up another
>> (correct) newsgroup from step 1.
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Domain address: andrew@comp.vuw.ac.nz Path address: ...!uunet!vuwcomp!andrew
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