Subject: RFD: comp.lang.perl reorganization
From: [email-masked] (A. Deckers)
Date: 11 Jun 1997 16:20:23 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl.announce,comp.lang.perl.misc

REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)
            moderated group comp.lang.perl.data-structure
             moderated group comp.lang.perl.inter-process
              moderated group comp.lang.perl.programmer
                 moderated group comp.lang.perl.regex

This is a formal Request for Discussion (RFD) for the creation of
world-wide moderated Usenet newsgroups in the comp.lang.perl
hierarchy.  This is not a call for votes; you cannot vote at this
time. Procedural details are below.

Newsgroups lines:
comp.lang.perl.data-structure	Using Perl data structures. (Moderated)
comp.lang.perl.inter-process	Inter-process communications in Perl. (Moderated)
comp.lang.perl.programmer	General non-FAQ Perl programming issues. (Moderated)
comp.lang.perl.regex	Using Perl regular expressions. (Moderated)

RATIONALE: all groups

Most Perl-related issues are currently discussed in
comp.lang.perl.misc (clpm). The statistics compiled by one of the
proponents indicate that this group regularly receives more than
one thousand articles from approximately 500 posters each week, a
volume of traffic many readers find overwhelming.

In addition, a significant fraction of the traffic on clpm
consists of off-topic articles, many of them widely cross-posted
through the comp.* hierarchy and ammounting to little more than
flame-wars, articles asking questions that are answered in the
FAQs, and above all, a regular flow of articles asking questions
related to the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) but unrelated to
Perl.

In these circumstances, a number of regular posters to the group
have stopped reading clpm, while new readers can find it
difficult to find relevant posts. Both facts result in a reduced
usefullness of the existing clpm newsgroup.

These comp.lang.perl groups are therefore proposed as high
signal-to-noise moderated newsgroups where readers are not
subjected to the types of articles described above. The intention
is both to provide a usefull resource for inexperienced Perl
programmers, and to attract and retain experienced programmers
who can make a substantial contribution to the group.

In the light of experience in clpm, moderation is considered
essential to ensure a sufficiently high signal-to-noise ratio
that will guarantee the usefullness of the proposed groups.

The thematic split is proposed in order to provide more
specialised groups where readers (and posters) can follow topics
in which they have a special interest without necessarily having
to see articles related to other aspects of Perl.

CHARTER: all groups

The group shall be moderated using a Perl script, which shall be
overseen by a moderation panel. The moderation panel may at its
discretion implement any technical solutions it considers
necessary to enforce the provisions of this charter.

The moderation script will escrow submissions from first-time
posters, who will be sent registration instructions in addition
to the group charter and pointers to relevant references.
Submitions from registered users will be auto-approved provided
their posts comply with all the criteria set out in this charter.

By submitting a registration, users implicitly accept to abide by
the provisions of this charter. Any poster who has 5 consecutive
posts rejected by the moderation script will be removed from the
pre-approval list.

In addition, the moderation script shall be configured to reject
any article:

+ which is cross-posted, save for the blanket cross-posting
  provisions described below;

+ which is deemed to contain a binary file. In so far as it is
  practicable, the moderation script shall be configured so as to
  pass PGP signatures and similar authentication schemes, while
  rejecting articles containing binary files;

+ which is deemed to be encoded primarily using a markup scheme,
  with the exception of Plain Old Documentation (POD). In so far
  as it is practicable, the moderation script shall be configured
  so as to pass articles containing short fragments of markup
  embedded within them;

+ which is deemed to be encoded in any MIME type considered
  inappropriate by the moderation panel. Initially, only articles
  of text/plain MIME type will be accepted by the moderation
  script;

+ which is deemed to contain more quoted than unquoted text.
  This condition will not be applied to articles containing fewer
  than 40 lines of body text, excluding the signature if one is
  found. Articles without any unquoted text, not taking into
  account the signature if one is present, will be rejected;

+ which is deemed to be a duplicate of a previously submitted
  article;

+ which has a subject header starting with the string 'Re: ' but
  doesn't contain a references header;

+ which contains a signature over 6 lines in length.

In the context of this charter, a signature is defined as
everything found after the last cut line, ie /^-- $/, found in
the article.  Posters are requested to make use of such cut lines
to delimit their signature from the article body.

Any article whose primary purpose is the advertisement of a
commercial property, good or service, including job offers and
demands, MLMs and MMFs, shall be off-topic and therefore
forbidden in the group. The moderation panel may at its
discretion implement appropriate technical solutions to ensure
such articles are not published in the group.

Posters are requested to use informative subject lines, to be
concise and to the point, and to include in their posts any
relevant diagnostic information and code. The moderation panel
may at its discretion implement technical measures to enforce all
or part of this provision.

Posters are requested not to post answers to questions which are
explicitly addressed in the documentation, including the relevant
FAQs.  A pointer to the relevant resource should instead be
emailed to the questionner.

Any article rejected by the moderation script will be returned to
its author together with a copy of the charter of the relevant
group and a brief note explaining the reason for the rejection.
No attempt will be made to verify the validity of the poster's
email address, and bounces will be discarded.

The moderators of comp.lang.perl.announce, comp.answers and
news.announce.newgroups, and any succesor groups thereto, are
hereby granted blanket permission to cross-post to the proposed
groups at their discretion.

While permission to routinely cross-post to the group will not be
granted in other cases, the moderation panel will consider
requests on a case-by-case basis, and grant their approval if
they deem that this would be of significant benefit to the
readership of the group. This provision applies especially, but
is not limited to, relevant FAQs.

Sites wishing to receive posts approved by the moderation script
via email, shall apply to the moderation panel, which shall
maintain a mailing list for this purpose. This provision is
primarily intended to help poorly connected sites to reduce
propagation delay for the proposed groups.

The moderation panel will consist of no fewer than 5 and no more
than 10 members. In the case of a temporary absence by a member
of the moderation panel, he or she shall nominate a replacement
for the duration of said absence.  New members may be appointed
upon the permanent departure of an existing member, or as the
moderation panel deems appropriate.

With the exception noted in the next paragraph, the moderation
panel shall take all its decisions on the basis of a simple
majority vote among its current members, and formulate and
publish additional terms of reference, including rules of
procedure, in accordance with the provisions of this charter, at
its earliest convenience.

The moderation panel may depose one of its members if a motion to
this effect is approved by a majority of 2/3 of existing members.

All members of the moderation panel shall be authorised to cancel
any article which has not been approved by an authorised
moderation site.

Any article submitted by a member of the moderation panel outside
the exercise of his or her administrative role will be subject to
the full moderation procedure described herein.

END CHARTER.

CHARTER: comp.lang.perl.data-structure

The group comp.lang.perl.data-structure will deal with issues
related to Perl's data-structures as described in the perldata,
perldsc, perllol, perlobj and related manual pages included in
the Perl distribution.

Any article which doesn't address issues related to Perl's data
structures will be off-topic in this group, and the moderation
panel may at its discretion implement appropriate technical
solutions to ensure they are not published in the group.

END CHARTER.

MODERATOR INFO: comp.lang.perl.data-structure

Moderator: Russ Allbery <[email-masked]>
Moderator: Greg Bacon <[email-masked]>
Moderator: Tom Christiansen <[email-masked]>
Moderator: Alain Deckers <[email-masked]>
Moderator: Andrew M. Langmead <[email-masked]>
Moderator: Tad McClellan <[email-masked]>
Moderator: Chris Nandor <[email-masked]>

Submission address: [email-masked]
Administrative address: [email-masked]

END MODERATOR INFO.

CHARTER: comp.lang.perl.inter-process

The group comp.lang.perl.inter-process will deal with issues
related to the implementation of interprocess communications
(signals, fifos, pipes, safe subprocesses, sockets, semaphores
and related issues) in Perl.

Any article which doesn't address issues related to the
implementation of inter-process communication in Perl structures
will be off-topic in this group, and the moderation panel may at
it discretion take appropriate measures to ensure that such
articles are not published in the group.

END CHARTER.

MODERATOR INFO: comp.lang.perl.inter-process

Moderator: Russ Allbery <[email-masked]>
Moderator: Greg Bacon <[email-masked]>
Moderator: Tom Christiansen <[email-masked]>
Moderator: Alain Deckers <[email-masked]>
Moderator: Andrew M. Langmead <[email-masked]>
Moderator: Tad McClellan <[email-masked]>
Moderator: Chris Nandor <[email-masked]>

Submission address: [email-masked]
Administrative address: [email-masked]

END MODERATOR INFO.

CHARTER: comp.lang.perl.programmer

The group comp.lang.perl.programmer will deal with all general
Perl-related issues that are not explicitly addressed in Perl's
documentation, where documentation is defined as anything which
is found in the <URL:http://www.perl.com/CPAN/doc/> directory,
and which exceed the scope or doesn't match the subject matter of
other comp.lang.perl groups.

Any article which doesn't satisfy the preceding criteria will be
off-topic in this group, and the moderation panel may at its
discretion adopt technical measures to ensure that they are not
published in comp.lang.perl.programmer.

END CHARTER.

MODERATOR INFO: comp.lang.perl.programmer

Moderator: Russ Allbery <[email-masked]>
Moderator: Greg Bacon <[email-masked]>
Moderator: Tom Christiansen <[email-masked]>
Moderator: Alain Deckers <[email-masked]>
Moderator: Andrew M. Langmead <[email-masked]>
Moderator: Tad McClellan <[email-masked]>
Moderator: Chris Nandor <[email-masked]>

Submission address: [email-masked]
Administrative address: [email-masked]

END MODERATOR INFO.

CHARTER: comp.lang.perl.regex

The group comp.lang.perl.regex will deal with issues related to
Perl's regular expressions as described in the perlre manual page
and related documents.

Any article which doesn't address issues related to Perl's
regular expression will be off-topic in this group, and the
moderation panel may adopt appropriate technical solutions to
ensure that such articles are not posted in the group.

END CHARTER.

MODERATOR INFO: comp.lang.perl.regex

Moderator: Russ Allbery <[email-masked]>
Moderator: Greg Bacon <[email-masked]>
Moderator: Tom Christiansen <[email-masked]>
Moderator: Alain Deckers <[email-masked]>
Moderator: Andrew M. Langmead <[email-masked]>
Moderator: Tad McClellan <[email-masked]>
Moderator: Chris Nandor <[email-masked]>

Submission address: [email-masked]
Administrative address: [email-masked]

END MODERATOR INFO.

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), after which a Call For Votes (CFV) may
be posted by a neutral vote taker if the discussion warrants it.
Please do not attempt to vote until this happens.

All discussion of this proposal should be posted to news.groups.

This RFD attempts to comply fully with the Usenet newsgroup
creation guidelines outlined in "How to Create a New Usenet
Newsgroup" and "How to Format and Submit a New Group Proposal".
Please refer to these documents (available in
news.announce.newgroups) if you have any questions about the
process.

DISTRIBUTION:

This RFD has been posted to the following groups:

        news.announce.newgroups
        news.groups
        comp.lang.perl.misc
        comp.lang.perl.modules
        comp.lang.perl.tk

Proponent: Russ Allbery <[email-masked]>
Proponent: Greg Bacon <[email-masked]>
Proponent: Tom Christiansen <[email-masked]>
Proponent: Alain Deckers <[email-masked]>
Proponent: Andrew M. Langmead <[email-masked]>
Proponent: Tad McClellan <[email-masked]>
Proponent: Chris Nandor <[email-masked]>

-- 
Alain Deckers <[email-masked]>