3rd RFD: rec.scouting* reorganization
BILL NELSON (nelsonb@AZTEC.ASU.EDU)
Thu, 7 Mar 1996 07:49:31 -0700
REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)
unmoderated group rec.scouting.guide+girl
unmoderated group rec.scouting.issues
unmoderated group rec.scouting.misc (renames rec.scouting)
unmoderated group rec.scouting.usa
Newsgroup line:
rec.scouting.guide+girl Guiding and girl scout organizations.
rec.scouting.issues Issues related to scouting policy.
rec.scouting.misc General and international guiding and scouting topics.
rec.scouting.usa Scouting and guiding in the USA.
This is a formal Request For Discussion (RFD) for the reorganization
of the rec.scouting group into a rec.scouting.* hierarchy. This is
not a Call for Votes (CFV); you cannot vote at this time. Procedural
details are below.
CHANGES from previous RFD:
The group rec.scouting.girls was renamed to rec.scouting.guide+girl.
It is very apparent in the discussion surrounding the previous RFD
that the name rec.scouting.guide+girl is preferred over
rec.scouting.girls by those advocating the new group. The new name
better describes the topics to be discussed by the new group. The
size of the name does not seem to be an issue with those advocating
the group.
RATIONALE: all groups
Rec.scouting is read by scouts and guides worldwide. It has become a
central source of program information for them. The original charter
for rec.scouting specified rec.scouting as a place to go for program
information and over the years a great interest has emerged in
discussing political issues related to scouting and guiding.
The traffic in group rec.scouting currently averages about 93 posts
per day, of which 15-30 are of issues oriented designated as 3G in the
group). This volume indicates that we should consider a split if
merely for every user's efficiency or cost savings to download and
read.
It is time for rec.scouting to be divided into a number of groups to
better handle the traffic and subject matters discussed. Also this
categorization will allow for the growth of discussions within each of
these subject areas.
Normally when a group is converted to a hierarchy it is recommended
that the base group is renamed to a group on the same hierarchical
level as the new subgroup. The new group is traditionally named
".misc" to avoid confusion with the hierarchy. We are proposing
rec.scouting.misc. There are both administrative and namespace
consistency aspects for doing so. Briefly: it simplifies news system
administration for people taking just that topic area, reduces
cross-posting with the hierarchy some, lessens the perception by some
people that some topics are being "relegated to a subgroup", makes it
easier to logically develop the hierarchy with other groups at a later
date, and keeps more clear the distinction of hierarchy vs. group in
the namespace model. It emphasizes to some sites taking just the
parent group that a change has been made. This could be very
important to the way their feeds are configured, especially with the
changes that are planned for the future Internet. Finally, news server
filesystem performance is better when the kernel routine that looks up
pathnames doesn't have to search a directory full of articles to find
the subdirectory for an article posted to a subgroup. Groups ending
in .misc are the "real homes" for discussions in a lot of hierarchies.
For example, the rec.arts.comics and rec.games.frp people are rather
proud of their .misc groups being the centralized location for diverse
articles in their respective topic areas.
In the scope of consistent usage of a term in the Usenet
categorization scheme, the idea of a "general" group is _exactly_ what
.misc means. It is for diverse articles on the topic of the parent
hierarchy that don't have more specific groups within the
subhierarchy; e.g., everything about cooking except the specific case
of equipment (or some other more specific group).
The charter rec.scouting.misc is the same as that for rec.scouting
(the previous charter), except for the addition that relevant posts
will be directed to the other proposed new groups.
The proposed rec.scouting.usa newsgroup provides a forum for the
discussion of program, membership, finance, and unit support topics
related to the scouting programs in the United States, and in areas
where the USA's scouting programs are carried out around the world.
Such topics include but are not restricted to discussion of the
WEBELOS Cub Scout program, the Eagle Scout rank and the steps leading
to this rank, outdoor and community activity ideas, memorabilia
trading and explanation, and other topics. There are many posts
currently posted to rec.scouting that discuss these and related topics
and it is envisioned with the creation of this new newsgroup, that
more and frequent postings will be made to this group.
There is precedence on USENET for national forums. There are
currently newsgroups for UK, Canadian, Dutch, Chilean, and other
national programs.
People who have tried to place ongoing articles, information, and
responses to current discussion onto rec.scouting pertaining to USA-
only programs have been forced off by current users of rec.scouting
with the explanation that rec.scouting is meant to be an international
group. A place for these posts is needed and should be provided for on
the Internet via USENET.
The appropriate place to put such a group would be in a rec.scouting.*
hierarchy. This hierarchy does not, presently, exist. This change
would create this hierarchy and a convenient place for future
expansion of rec.scouting.* groups.
rec.scouting.issues is new group concentrating on discussing issues
within and between the national and regional organizations and local
users or implementors of scouting and guiding programs. The large
percentage of such posts in rec.scouting show that this new group will
be read and written to by many people. This group would be open to
any issue relating to a scouting or guiding program. For example,
anything relating to the "the 3Gs" in the USA, or alcoholic beverage
consumption during Scouting activities and camps in European Scouting
programs, or issues of youth versus adult leadership in short term
camping events.
rec.scouting.guide+girl is a new group concentrating discussions of
interest to members of Scouting and Guiding organizations or
organizations that are affiliated with the World Association of Girl
Guides and Girl Scouts(WAGGGS). These discussions tend to be specific
because Girl Scouting and WAGGGS are completely separate from scouting
as performed by organizations only affiliated with the World
Organization of Scouting Movement (WOSM); the majority of discussions
within rec.scouting are simply not relevant to Girl Scouting/Guiding.
A mailing list was formed (Scout-Girls-L) and has been flourishing for
over a year. As reported by the list czar, the drop rate for this
group is among the lowest he has seen. However, persons interested in
Girl Scout/Girl Guide issues invariably report disappointment in not
finding a newsgroup specific to their concerns. The list
administrator also reports maintenance to be a growing burden. A
separate newsgroup is the obvious solution.
END RATIONALE
CHARTER: rec.scouting.misc
Rec.scouting.misc is an unmoderated group for boy and girl scouts and
guides, cub scouts, venturers, rovers, scout leaders and all people
interested in scouting and guiding, worldwide. This group discusses
issues relevant to scouting activities, and the administration of
scout units. It allows for the solicitation of advice from other
netters on what to do in certain situations, and generally seek and
provide support and encouragement with respect to scouting.
Cross-posting to other rec.scouting groups is strongly discouraged.
Postings concerning topics pertaining solely to US scouting is
strongly discouraged. Postings not related to scouting or guiding are
discouraged.
END CHARTER.
CHARTER: rec.scouting.usa
rec.scouting.usa is an unmoderated group for Boy and Girl Scouts, Cub
Scouts, Explorers, Christian Service Brigade members, members of
religious-based scouting or guiding organizations, their leaders,
advisors, professional or career employees of USA scouting movements,
and all people interested in scouting and guiding in the United
States.
This group discusses issues relevant to the program, unit support,
finance, membership development and the administration of scout units.
It allows for the solicitation of advice and information from other
netters on what to do in certain situations, and generally seek and
provide support, general information and encouragement regarding
scouting.
The content of this newsgroup is NOT to be accepted as "official
information" coming from American scouting organizations, as such
information comes normally through their national offices through
regional groups to local organizations for distribution to units and
members; however posted messages to this newsgroup may contain parts
of official publications and information to answer or respond to
questions or issues brought up with the proper crediting of such
information by the poster.
This newsgroup is NOT the place for discussions on scouting ISSUES,
for instance, issues related to girls in the boy scout program,
whether or not Assembly of God churches should abandon the Boy Scouts
of America's programs in favor of the Royal Rangers, or open
homosexual members as members or leaders in BSA programs. Those
discussions will take place on rec.scouting.issues, and those posting
to this newsgroup will be followed or redirected to
rec.scouting.issues. Cross-posting to other rec.scouting groups is
strongly discouraged. Postings not related to scouting in the United
States are discouraged.
END CHARTER.
CHARTER: rec.scouting.issues
rec.scouting.issues is an unmoderated newsgroup for the discussion and
explanation of worldwide, national or regional issues concerning
national Scouting or Guiding organizations' policies, rules or
regulations. Cross-posting to other rec.scouting groups is strongly
discouraged. Postings not related to Scouting or Guiding issues are
discouraged.
END CHARTER.
CHARTER: rec.scouting.guide+girl
rec.scouting.guide+girl is an unmoderated newsgroup for the discussion
and explanation of issues concerning guiding organizations and those
that belong to the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.
Cross-posting to other rec.scouting groups is strongly discouraged.
Postings not related to Girl Scouting or Guiding are discouraged.
END CHARTER.
PROCEDURE:
This is a request for discussion, not a call for votes. In this phase
of the process, any potential problems with the proposed newsgroups
should be raised and resolved. The discussion period will continue
for a minimum of 21 days (starting from when the first RFD for this
proposal is posted to news.announce.newgroups). All discussion should
be posted to news.groups.
At the end of the discussion period, a Call for Votes (CFV) will be
posted by a neutral vote taker.
This RFD attempts to fully comply with Usenet newsgroup creation
guidelines outlined in "How to Create a New Usenet Newsgroup" and
"Writing an RFD". Please refer to these documents if you have
questions about the process.
DISTRIBUTION:
This RFD has been posted to the following newsgroups:
news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,rec.scouting,rec.backcountry,
can.scout-guide,nl.scouting,uk.rec.scouting,chile.scout,
shamash.j-scouts
...and to the mailing lists:
SCOUTS-L@TCUBVM.IS.TCU.EDU
ARROW-L@TCU.EDU
Scout-Girls-L@slic.cts.com
Discussion will take place in news.groups ONLY. Please post
follow-ups to news.groups only.
-
Proponents:
Bill Nelson <nelsonb@aztec.asu.edu>
Susan Hough <hough@seismo.gps.caltech.edu>
James A Lindberg <jal@cray.com>
Mike Walton <blackeagle@hcc-uky.campus.mci.net>
--
Bill Nelson Committee Chair, Pack 878 Assistant Scoutmaster,
Troop 14, Unit Commissioner, Tempe District, Grand Canyon Council
Phoenix, Arizona USA mailto:nelsonb@aztec.asu.edu
Member of U.S. Scouting Service Proj., http://www.hiwaay.net/usscouts
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
