First Call For Votes for rastb5.moderated

[B5JMS Poster]

It is finally out!  The first CFV for rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated was
posted earlier today (March 1, 1996).  As I promised you when the RFD
(Request for Discussion) was out, I am providing you this CFV for your
convenience.  Please read it carefully and make your personal determination
as to how, if at all, you wish to vote.  If you do choose to vote, please
make sure you send the correct message to the exact email address listed in
the CFV, *not* to the B5JMS list or its maintainer.

Note that the CFV asks at the very end not to forward it to disinterested
parties, and prefers that people be directed to the original post on the
Usenet newsgroups it was posted to.  I am assuming you are all very
interested in it.  Also, I know that most of you either don't have access to
Usenet newsgroups or the time to look for it among many other posts.  For
these reasons, I am forwarding the complete message to you unmodified.

Thank You.

B5JMS Poster.
Maintainer: B5JMS <b5jms-owner at majordomo.cs.columbia.edu>


==============================================================================

Path: news.cs.columbia.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!news.uoregon.edu!newsserver.pixel.kodak.com!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!yama.mcc.ac.uk!warwick!tank.news.pipex.net!pipex!newsfeed.internetmci.com!uunet!bounce-back
From: warren at syra.net (Warren Lavallee)
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,alt.babylon5.uk,alt.tv.babylon-5,rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5,rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.info,uk.media.tv.sf.babylon5
Subject: CFV: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated moderated
Followup-To: poster
Date: 1 Mar 1996 01:40:54 -0000
Organization: Usenet Volunteer Votetakers
Lines: 207
Sender: tale at uunet.uu.net
Approved: newgroups-request at uunet.uu.net
Expires: 23 Mar 1996 00:00:00 GMT
Message-ID: <12598.16156.80003 at uunet.uu.net>
Reply-To: voting at syra.net
NNTP-Posting-Host: rodan.uu.net
Archive-Name: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Xref: news.cs.columbia.edu news.announce.newgroups:7805 news.groups:174631 alt.babylon5.uk:1097 alt.tv.babylon-5:46374 rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5:173614 rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.info:238

                     FIRST CALL FOR VOTES (of 2)
          moderated group rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated

Newsgroups line:
rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated	Babylon 5 creators meet Babylon 5 fans. (Moderated)

Votes must be received by 23:59:59 UTC, 22 Mar 1996.

This vote is being conducted by a neutral third party.  Questions about
this proposal should be directed to the proponent.

Proponent: Jay Denebeim <denebeim at deepthot.cary.nc.us>
Proponent: Chris Carter <carter at teleport.com>
Proponent: David Stinson <dstinson at ix.netcom.com>
Proponent: G. O. Eddore <gharlane at ccshp1.ccs.csus.edu>
Proponent: John Pietrzak <pietrzak at escalante.cs.byu.edu>
Proponent: John Schilling <schillin at spock.usc.edu>
Mentor:    John Pimentel <pimentel at roots.ultranet.com>
Votetaker: Warren Lavallee <warren at Syra.NET>

RATIONALE: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated

For the past few years, the rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5 newsgroup has been
a thriving resource and conversational outlet for the fans of the
television program BABYLON 5.  However, in recent months the
proliferation of flame posts, USENET spam, deliberate trolling,
and accidental and purposeful posting of spoilers have made a
congenial discussion of the show difficult.

CHARTER: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated

rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon-5.moderated is to be a moderated newsgroup
dedicated to the following topics:

       * The plots and characters of Babylon 5 episodes.
       * Musings and speculations about where the show is going.
       * Other topics of interest to the fans in the newsgroup.

AND NOT, NOT, NOT Story Ideas.

The difference between speculation and story ideas can be rather
subtle, so please refer to the definition below, or to the
R.A.SF.TV.B5 FAQ, for more information.

The group will be fairly relaxed about what is on topic.  Basically,
anything remotely related to the show, science fiction, or the television
business, is on topic.

What are not on-topic are the following:

1) Story Ideas
2) Flames
3) Trolls
4) Spam

A "Story Idea" is the description of a new character or event in the
show, the exact scripting of a scene, or any detailed discussion of
events which have not already appeared in an aired show, been
described on-line by show production staff, or specifically predicted
by dialogue and events in shows already aired.

(Obviously, parodies are acceptable.)

Speculation is allowed, however.  The difference between speculation
and a story idea is that speculation is directly supported by events
or dialogue in the show or statements made on-line or published in
magazine articles which are directly attributable to the show's
production staff.

For example:
If Morden is afraid of green penguins, and Draal is shown to have
access to them, a speculation would be that Draal will use them
against Morden in the future.  However if Draal only has a purple
moose, saying that he could use it against Morden would be a story
idea.

Flames are defined as posts which:

(1) personally insult or attack one or more of the members of the
    newsgroup; or

(2) make defamatory allegations, without corroborating evidence,
    concerning a person/poster in the newsgroup, in a deliberate and
    repetitive manner (resembling a common sense definition of
    libel/slander, but not specifically limited to the legal
    interpretation of those terms).

Trolls are posts that the moderators believe were posted only to
provoke members of the group into responding heatedly.

Spam is a post that was made, essentially unchanged, to a number of
newsgroups, generally for religious, political, commercial, or
irrational reasons.

What is on-topic but unacceptable is a posting that contains an
unprotected spoiler.  This is either because the article contains no
warning in it's subject line, no space between the header and the
spoiler, or the subject line itself is a spoiler.

Spoilers are information contained in a show that has not been
broadcast in both the U.S. and the U.K.  It has been agreed that after
the last day of broadcast in both countries' first run, spoiler
protection is no longer necessary.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
================================

The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) presently used by the newsgroup
rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5 will be used by this newsgroup to avoid
duplication of effort.

Amending This Charter
=====================

This charter can be amended at any time by following the procedures
then in effect for newsgroup creation.

END CHARTER.

MODERATOR INFO: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated

Moderation will be performed by a group of moderators assisted by
whatever scripts they deem necessary to help them accomplish their
task.  Moderators can be removed or added at their discretion, although
it is intended that they will consider the opinions of the members of
the newsgroup when making their decision.

The moderators will enforce the above charter by warning people who
violate it, and by moderating posts when necessary.

Unprotected spoilers will have spoiler protection manually inserted.
This includes changing the subject line to include the term "*SPOILER*"
and to remove spoilers from the subject line if necessary.  Additionally
spoiler space, "Spoilers for episode X" followed by a ^L 25 blank lines
^L, will be added to the post.

Spoiler space before, and bracketed, initialed comments of the moderator
are the only editing allowed in posts.  The body of the post as written
by its original author will under no circumstances be modified by the
moderators, excepting the aforementioned additions.

Moderator:      Bill Zimmer <zim at ibx.com>
Moderator:      Jay Denebeim <denebeim at deepthot.cary.nc.us>
Moderator:      John Pietrzak <pietrzak at escalante.cs.byu.edu>
Moderator:      John Schilling <schillin at spock.usc.edu>
Moderator:      Michael J. King Sr. <kingpin at primenet.com>
Moderator:      Patricia A. Swan <zafaran at drake.dnet.net>
Moderator:      Teresa Lhotka <kemaris at winternet.com>

Submission address: <rastb5-request at solon.com>
Contact address:    <rastb5 at solon.com>

END MODERATOR INFO.

HOW TO VOTE

Send E-MAIL to:   voting at Syra.NET

Your e-mail message should contain one and only one of the following
statements:

      I vote YES on rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
      I vote NO on rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated

You may also vote ABSTAIN or CANCEL; these are not counted as votes and
don't affect the vote count.

Anything else may be rejected by the automatic vote counting program.
The votetaker will respond to your received ballots with a personal
acknowledge- ment by mail - if you do not receive one within several
days, try again. It's your responsibility to make sure your vote is
registered correctly.

If you later change your mind you may vote again; only your last valid
vote will count.

VOTING PROCEDURE NOTES:

Standard Guidelines for voting apply.  One person, one vote.  Votes must
be mailed directly from the voter to the votetaker.  Anonymous,
forwarded or proxy votes are not valid; this includes votes generated by
WWW/HTML/CGI forms.

Vote counting is automated.  Failure to follow these directions may mean
that your vote does not get counted.  If you do not receive an
acknowledgment of your vote within three days, contact the votetaker
about the problem.  It's your responsibility to make sure your vote is
registered correctly.  Duplicate votes are resolved in favor of the most
recent valid vote.  Addresses and votes of all voters will be published
in the final voting results post.

The purpose of a Usenet vote is to determine the genuine interest of
persons who would read a proposed newsgroup.  Soliciting votes from
disinterested parties defeats this purpose.  Please do not distribute
this CFV.  If you must, direct people to the official CFV as posted to
news.announce.newgroups.  Distributing pre-marked or otherwise edited
copies of this CFV is generally considered to be vote fraud.  When in
doubt, ask the votetaker.


DISTRIBUTION:

This Call for Votes is being posted to the following newsgroups:

     rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5       uk.media.tv.sf.babylon5
     alt.tv.babylon-5              rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.info
     Alt.Babylon5.UK