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Any interest in comp.specification.larch newsgroup?



Back around the holidays there was a spike in the traffic on this mailing 
list, along with some suggestions about dealing with it.  One of the obvious
alternatives is to create a comp.specification.larch newsgroup (analogous
to the existing comp.specification.z newsgroup), and presumably (though not
necessarily) eliminate the mailing list.  If the consensus is that this is a 
good idea, I'll deal with the bureaucracy.  I'd like to be sure that 
there's support before staring any formal wheels in motion, so please send
me your feedback (or discuss it on this mailing list).

Also note that an easier, less formal mechanism is to create the newsgroup
as an alt.* newsgroup, though the disadvantage is that many sites refuse
to carry the alt.* hierarchy.

Grimy political details follow, for those who are interested.

   Gary

Details:

The cycle to do this is approximately two months.  The first month has
a formal announcement, followed by discussion in news.groups.  Then the
vote is taken.  The requirement to pass is

        YesCount >= (2/3) * (YesCount + NoCount)
    &&  YesCount >= 100 + NoCount

The second clause, is to prevent newsgroups with limited interest, but it's
not as difficult to satisfy as it sounds.  There are a fair number of
people who frequent the news.groups.* discussions, and will contribute
votes based on their opinions of the merits of the new group, whether or
not they personally intend to read it.  I'd be hesitant to propose the 
newsgroup if the existing larch-interest list has fewer than 20 readers, 
confident if it has more than 50, and uncertain if it's in between.