Date   : Mon, 18 Nov 1996 12:08:09 +0100
From   : Robert Schmidt <rsc@...>
Subject: Re: BBC newsgroup?

Theo Markettos wrote:
> 
> About three months ago, there was discussion about creating a BBC newsgroup.
> I think the name comp.sys.acorn.8bit won in the end, but nothing further
> appears to have happened. Has there been any progress? Was there some
> stumbling block which prevented things going any further?

I did a bit of the talking on this at the end of the summer.  I wrote
that I anticipated an increase in the Usenet/list traffic on 8-bit Acorn
machines, which would warrant the creation of a BBC newsgroup.

I must admit I'm not impressed by the activity yet, but still, there is
some on this list.  I'm still very much in favour of "our own" newsgroup
(suggested name: comp.sys.acorn.8bit), but I'd like to feel confident
that the effort won't fall through.  I.e., I'd like to know that the
support is out there.

The creation of a comp. newsgroup is a long-winded process.  There's
first the announcement on realated groups and new.newgroups.announce (I
think), then at most 30 days of discussion, then 21-31 days for voting. 
To be created, the vote needs at least 100 more YES votes than NO votes,
*and* at least 2/3 YES.  According to those who have gone through this
before, there's *always* quite a few sceptics out there who oppose any
new group, so those margins might prove quite tough.

Does anyone feel the urge to take on the task of initiating the process?
Does anyone have experience from earlier newsgroup creations?

--
Robert Schmidt <rsc@...       > 
Software Developer / Vingmed Sound tel +47 67124237 fax +47 67124355
Private tel +47 22352293 WWW http://www.nvg.unit.no/~rsc

The law forbids both rich and poor to beg, steal and sleep under
bridges.