From: David Bostwick bostwick@cas.chemistry.gatech.edu Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,misc.immigration.australia+nz, rec.travel.australia+nz,soc.culture.new-zealand,nz.general,nz.net.announce Subject: RESULT: soc.culture.new-zealand moderated fails 95:24 Followup-To: news.groups Organization: Usenet Volunteer Votetakers Approved: newgroups-request@isc.org Archive-Name: soc.culture.new-zealand Date: Mon, 29 Sep 1997 20:53:21 GMT Lines: 444
There were 95 YES votes and 24 NO votes, for a total of 119 valid votes. There was 1 abstain and 1 invalid ballot. For group passage, YES votes must be at least 2/3 of all valid (YES and NO) votes. There also must be at least 100 more YES votes than NO votes. There is a five day discussion period after these results are posted. Unless serious allegations of voting irregularities are raised, the group may not be voted on again for six months. Newsgroups line: soc.culture.new-zealand Topics related to New Zealand. (Moderated) The voting period ended at 23:59:59 UTC, 25 Sep 1997. This vote was conducted by a neutral third party. Questions about the proposed group should be directed to the proponent. Proponent: Simon Lyall simon@darkmere.gen.nz Votetaker: David Bostwick bostwick@cas.chemistry.gatech.edu
In recent times soc.culture.new-zealand (s.c.n-z) has been victim of
a large number of crossposted threads that cover many *.culture.* and
other groups. Virtually all of these have nothing to do with New
Zealand and the authors show no inclination to modify the groups they
post to.
Like most groups, s.c.n-z also has its share of spam, make-money-fast,
advertising and general junk posts.
While many regular readers employ killfiles to filter out these posts, a
consensus has been reached that s.c.n-z would benefit considerably from
light robo-moderation. Not only is it felt that it is more effective to
filter these articles once, before they can propagate, but also the low
signal to noise ratio acts as a deterrent to first-time readers, making
them less likely to participate in the discussions in s.c.n-z.
Although the group has an extensive and regularly posted FAQ, many
first time posters do not appear to be aware of nor read this, and ask
questions that are answered in the FAQ.
Thus, in addition to filtering out excessively cross-posted articles,
it is suggested that the robo-moderator be programmed to identify
first-time posters, and draw their attention to the group's FAQ.
Full moderation was not desired since it would slow down conversation
and many people did not feel comfortable with a bias that might be
introduced by a human moderator even if the Charter forbade moderation
on content.
Since the group will not be moderated on content, there was little
perceived need for retaining an unmoderated group as an alternative to
the moderated one.
The requirements for first-time posters (see the Charter below) would
also have a positive effect of filtering out many hit-and-run
"spammers" who either do not read their email, or do not have the
inclination to go through an extra step to post to a newsgroup.
The two measures that would be introduced would be:
1) Articles that are crossposted to more than a small number of groups
will be rejected.
This would prevent the threads that are crossposted to many groups from
invading s.c.n-z while at the same time allowing shared threads with
two or three other groups where posts are much more likely to be on-topic
for all the groups concerned.
2) New posters will be encouraged to learn a little about the group
before posting. This will be done in two ways:
* All first-time posters to the group will get a short welcome
message summarizing the group's Charter.
* The first time poster would have to reply via email to this message
in order for their first and other posts to be accepted.
The purpose of this process is to encourage newcomers to learn something
about the group before they post, by reading either the FAQ and/or the
welcome message. This isn't intended to restrict anyone from posting,
instead it is to ensure that people who post to the group have at least
taken some time to scan the welcome message and hopefully the FAQ.
Once a person has gone through this first-post stage they are free to
post to the group subject only to the crosspost restrictions.
The group provides a forum for discussion of topics related to New
Zealand. In particular such things as:
News, politics, Maori and Pacific Island culture, music, sport, events,
films, telly, jobs, farming, the environment, economics, food, tourism,
places to see, trade, education, bungy jumping, pavlovas, the Goodnight
Kiwi and Wal and the Dog in Footrot Flats.
In short anything and everything Kiwi.
Contributions and queries from New Zealanders, ex-pats and those just
interested in New Zealand are equally welcome.
The following are unwelcome because they do not positively contribute
to discussion:
- Personal advertisements.
- Pen pal requests.
- Commercial advertisements and money-making schemes.
- Chain letters.
- Tests.
- Binaries.
- Excessive crossposts.
- Repetitive posts.
- Posts that have nothing to do with New Zealand or New Zealanders.
Moderation Policy
-----------------
Posts to s.c.n-z will not be moderated according to their content.
The group is moderated by a robo-moderation program under the
control of the group's readership. The moderation program will:
* Filter out crossposts, according to the following criteria:
- All submissions to soc.culture.new-zealand that are posted (of the
followup set to ) to more than four newsgroups (including s.c.nz)
will be rejected subject to the following exceptions:
- The first two nz.* groups will not be counted towards the total
numbers of groups an article is crossposted or followups set to.
- Articles approved by the news.announce.newgroups and/or
nz.net.announce and/or news.answers moderators and crossposted
to soc.culture.new-zealand will be automatically approved.
- Articles received my the robo-moderator will be examined to check
if they are crossposted to other moderated newsgroup. Should
there be other moderated newsgroup(s) posted to then article will
be forwarded to the moderator of the other newsgroup(s) for
approval. If all the other moderators of groups that the article is
posted to approve the article then the robo-moderator shall post the
article, if it passes all other moderation guidelines.
* Keep a list of email addresses of posters, potential posters, and
persons interested in the group. Persons on this list may post to
the group and participate in group votes.
* When someone on the list submits an article, post it immediately
subject to the crossposting rules.
* When someone not on the list submits an article:
- Email the poster a welcome message that summarizes this Charter
and gives a pointer to the FAQ and other information. This message
will be sent from the "Registration" email address which will be
different from the submission address.
- If the poster replies to this message within 5 days then add their
name to the list and post the article unless the poster requests
otherwise.
- If no reply is received within 5 days and/or the message bounces
then the person will not be added to the list.
* Persons can also add their address to the list by sending email
to the registration address without posting an article.
* The Maintainers will also add or delete people's address(es) to or
from this list if they request it. This will include people who use
"unreplyable" email addresses (ie "john@wibble.ac.nz.NOSPAM" ).
* In cases where a person uses multiple similar addresses a wildcard may
be added to the list as long as all the people potentially covered by
the entry consent.
* All authors of rejected posts will be automaticly notified via email
to. The program will also return the first 50,000 bytes of any rejected
posts.
* All rejected articles, bounces and other errors will be forwarded to an
open mailing list for inspection by interested parties.
The list of email addresses is to be used only for approving posts to
soc.culture.new-zealand and for verifying voters for group votes. It
may not be sold, given away, or used as a mailing list. It starts empty,
and is added to only as above. Each new poster shall be advised that
their address has been added to the list and given the option of
removing it. List entries may be aged out after a term determined by the
space available on the moderating host, to be not less than one year.
The moderation program maintainers should also post regular summary
information about the number of people in the database, the number of
approved posts, rejected posts and other general information that may be
of interest to the readership of the group. However in no case may
individual entries be identified.
Changes to the Charter
----------------------
The Charter may be changed by the following procedures. At all times the
Official Charter is the original one (created by vote to moderate the
group) as modified by procedures contained within the section of the
Charter.
Changes to the Charter are made via an official proposal and a group vote
if required. It is the duty of the maintainers to oversee this process.
A proposal should be posted to s.c.nz with the subject starting with the
string "PROPOSAL: " . People may then followup to the post with comments
and or posts explicitly "opposing" or "supporting" the proposal. In order
for an opinion to count the post must contain one of the following lines:
I officially oppose this proposal.
I officially support this proposal.
After a one week period the number of people explicitly expressing an
opinion on the proposal is counted.
* If the number of people supporting the proposal is less that 10, then
the proposal is deemed to have failed, and it may not be re-proposed for
at least 4 months.
* If 10 or more people support the proposal, *and* fewer than 5 people
oppose it, *and* it does not affect any protected clauses in the
Charter, then the proposal is carried, and the Charter is changed to
reflect the proposal.
* If 10 or more people support the proposal *and* 5 or more people
oppose it, OR if it affects a protected clause in the charter, then it
must go to a vote.
Even if a proposal attracts enough support to go to a vote the proponent
may withdraw it between the time the initial results is announced and the
vote is scheduled to start. However the proposal may not be re-proposed
for at least 4 months.
Any person who is on the list of valid posters to the group may
participate in the vote. One vote per person, one vote per email address.
When a proposal must go to a vote the Maintainers must find a vote-taker
and and a voting period of two weeks established from a set date. The CFV
(Call for Votes) must contain a clear, complete description of the issue
to be decided and of what constitutes a valid ballot. It must be as easy
to vote NO to any change as to vote YES.
After a vote is over, a complete list of voter addresses and votes must
be posted to the group by the vote taker, and a period of at least two
weeks allowed for challenges and confirmations of votes.
If the change does not affect a protected clause then it passes if at
least 30 YES votes are received and at least 3/4 of the total votes are
YES.
If the change affects a protected clause then it passes if at least
80 YES votes are received and at least 3/4 of the total votes are YES.
If a vote fails then the proposal may not be re-proposed for at least 4
months.
The following parts of the Charter as defined as being protected:
* The paragraph that forbids moderation of posts on content.
* The section of the Charter covering procedures to change the Charter
* The section that states that the list of posters may not be sold,
given away, or used as a mailing list.
* The section that states that the list of posters may not be
individually identified, only summary information on membership may be
published.
Moderation Program Maintainers
------------------------------
Several people will be appointed by the group to maintain the moderation
program. It is the Maintainers' duty to ensure that the program is always
running correctly, that the database is up-to-date , that votes and
proposals are run in a fair and straight forward manner and that the
program is in line with the group's current moderation policy.
The Maintainers will also ensure that the group is widely propagated.
The Maintainers can also be changed via a group-wide proposal or vote
(see above) and maintainers may resign if they wish. The initial
maintainers will be those listed in the vote to moderate the group.
The moderator is only permitted to cancel any unapproved posting to the
newsgroup, if it would have been rejected by the moderation program. In
cases where a flood of over 20 messages per day are coming from a single
source the moderators are allowed to temporarily block that source of
posts or cancel the posts until the problem is fixed.
END CHARTER.
MODERATOR INFO: soc.culture.new-zealand
Moderator: Simon Lyall simon@darkmere.gen.nz
Moderator: David Farrar dpf@ihug.co.nz
Moderator: Phil Stuart-Jones phil@hyphen.southern.co.nz
Administrative contact address: scnz-mod@nz.com
Article submission address: scnz@nz.com
List registration address: scnz-reg@nz.com
END MODERATOR INFO.
soc.culture.new-zealand Final Vote Ack
Voted Yes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
alien@netlink.co.nz Ross Smith
arielle@taronga.com Stephanie da Silva
ash@melbpc.org.au Ash Nallawalla
ashby@icrf.icnet.uk Stephanie Ashby
auto-reject@eraserco.demon.co.uk Malcolm Loades
avatar@arkane.demon.co.uk Alistair J. R. Young
bill@hugpar.gen.nz Bill Parkin
boud@rempt.xs4all.nl Boudewijn Rempt
brian.dooley@welcom.gen.nz Brian Dooley
brian.harmer@vuw.ac.nz Brian Harmer
brown@zephyr.meteo.McGill.CA William O.J. Brown
chriseb@nortel.ca Chris Ebenezer
chuckhoffmann@mindspring.com Chuck Hoffmann
cipher@mindspring.com David A. Howard
cls11@cornell.edu Clare Simpson
cne@efn.org Charles N. Eggen
craig@southern.co.nz Craig Shore
Crookesp@aol.com Philip Crookes
cruzy@voyager.co.nz S. Williams
cstone@math.unm.edu Chris Stone
daniel@ihug.co.nz Daniel de Klerk
david@home.net.nz David Farrar
dc@panix.com David W. Crawford
ddf90695@dialip.sdn.dk Hans-Henrik T. Ohlsen
deb@aswas.com Debbie Levitt
dennis@actrix.gen.nz Chris Dennis
Dmckeon@swcp.com Denis McKeon
donkiely@computer.org Don Kiely
dph4@cs.waikato.ac.nz David
elliott1@atcon.com David H. Elliott
fekete@rahul.net Zoli Fekete
frankv@pec.co.nz Frank van der Hulst
gdixon@iconz.co.nz Graham Dixon
geoff@southern.co.nz Geoff McCaughan
grandi@noao.edu Steve Grandi
gregmtaylor@unn.unisys.com Greg Taylor
harmanc@et.byu.edu Robert Craig Harman
HARVEY@INDYVAX.IUPUI.EDU James Harvey
hh299@cleveland.Freenet.Edu Jim Baranovich
hr@ronvig.com Heinrich R=F8nvig
ichudov@algebra.com Igor Chudov
idiot@sans.vuw.ac.nz Idiot/Savant
ijf16@student.canterbury.ac.nz Isaac Freeman
imurphy@mail.netshop.net Ian Murphy
iwh@pacific-ocean.com Ian W Halliday
jdg@but-i-dont-like-spam.boxmail.com John David Galt
jjms@world.std.com James Melhuish
JMarshall@enterprise.net John Marshall
jollian@es.co.nz Dave Joll
jonc@pinnacle.co.nz Jonathan Chen
jpc@drum.msfc.nasa.gov J. Porter Clark
Judi.Lapsley.Miller@vuw.ac.nz Judi Lapsley Miller
julio@cs.umd.edu Julio Rosenblatt
kimdv@best.com Kim DeVaughn
l.nah@auckland.ac.nz Lin Nah
lawry@maths.ox.ac.uk James Lawry
leather@phobos.actrix.gen.nz Lesley Walker
mack@appliedreasoning.com Joseph Mack
Michael.Norrish@cl.cam.ac.uk Michael Norrish
miller_p@clear.net.nz Paul G. Miller
mjpicker@snoopy.uadv.uci.edu Mary Jane Pickering
mph489@biomed.abdn.ac.uk Michael Cree
nabobj@gte.net Bob Jordan
nick.kean@ihug.co.nz Nick Kean
nick@cimio.co.uk Nick Waterman
ocean~@wave.co.nz Althea Barker
OGUOCHA@sask.usask.ca Oguocha Ike
olav@viking.mv.com Olav Nieuwejaar
p-ashby@ns1.nimr.mrc.ac.uk Peter Ashby
paustin@astro.ocis.temple.edu Pam Austin
peter@whistler.ee.uec.ac.jp Peter Dowden
phys218@cantua.canterbury.ac.nz Lyndon Watson
pin00033.nospam@ping.be Stiphane Dohet
que@qbit.co.nz D. Quentin McDonald
ramsch@forwiss.uni-passau.de Martin Ramsch
rboerger@austx.tandem.com Ron Boerger
richardk@world.std.com Richard Keightley
robertsl@kahu.lincoln.ac.nz Lawrence Roberts
rufinus@e-math.ams.org J Rufinus
simon@darkmere.gen.nz Simon Lyall
smd49@csc.canterbury.ac.nz Suzanne Doig
starman@clear.net.nz Robin Halligan
stephen@waikato.ac.nz Stephen Judd
stuart@cosc.canterbury.ac.nz Stuart Yeates
Tim.Frost@nz.eds.com Tim Frost
tim.sneath@diamond.co.uk Louise Sneath
tlawson@amug.org Todd C. Lawson
tonyb@null.net Tony Basoglu
vpdura@hiwaay.net Vic Dura
webbdk@kauri.lincoln.ac.nz Deb Webb
webmaster@tracs.co.nz Mark Harris
widenius@ling.helsinki.fi Risto Widenius
wmcclain@salamander.com Bill McClain
xyzzy@ponyexpress.net Edward Franks
young@botn.canterbury.ac.nz Graeme Young
Voted No
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
booda@datasync.com Martin H. Booda
calabres@chass.utoronto.ca Tony Calabrese
cfbd@southern.co.nz Colin Douthwaite
dlv@bwalk.dm.com Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM
dougob@ix.netcom.com Doug O'Brien
easther@het.brown.edu Richard Easther
euthke@siam.muc.de Ekkehard Uthke
gpr96002@uconnvm.uconn.edu G.P. Ryan
jasmine@fl.net.au Jasmine Taylor
jeffery.hunt@bigfoot.com Jeffery D. Hunt
jmg24@cornell.edu Jolisa Gracewood
j_hunt2@squid.stmarys.ca JD Hunt
lcs@zk3.dec.com Larry Smith
lrk@pobox.com Lance Kibblewhite
marquez@pacbell.net Aaron Marquez
moir+@pitt.edu Mark Moir
msoysal@mistik.express.net Mustafa Soysal MS57
patl@lcs.mit.edu Patrick J. LoPresti
scooter@taranaki.spamnot.ac.nz Scooter
sgwm@maitreya.demon.co.uk SGWM
stainles@bga.com Dwight Brown
steiners@primenet.com Jason Steiner
zed@cjnetworks.com Ned Fleming
zevon@london.org Warez Dood
Abstained
guymacon@deltanet.com Guy Macon
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Votes in error
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
not@this.address Brian Grant
! Invalid address
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comments and questions regarding this html conversion to richardk@enzed.com
Return to The Internet in New Zealand .
The New Zealand related faqs page
The eNZed HOME page
5-October-97