Very Computer

SUMMARY

This is the Call for Votes regarding the proposal to split the newsgroup
comp.os.linux, containing discussion of the Linux operating system.

The proposed groups are   .announce .questions .bugs .misc

(An X group is not being proposed because of the vote regarding and
possible forthcoming creation of comp.windows.x.i386unix.)

PROPOSAL

The following groups are proposed:

comp.os.linux.announce moderated

Announcements of new software, documentation, FTP sites, etc.
Frequently Asked Questions lists may be crossposted here.
Urgent notices of serious bugs and their (short) patches.

comp.os.linux.questions

Any questions from any user about using or installing Linux.
They should only be answered in the group if the answer is of general
interest, and then only by the relevant authoritative person.
Otherwise they should be answered by mail.

Frequently Asked Questions with Answers lists should be posted here.

comp.os.linux.bugs

Bug reports, patches, suggested fixes, "me too" postings. A bug should
only be reported here if the poster knows that it is a bug rather than
incorrect use or installation.

comp.os.linux.misc

Discussion about Linux which does not fall into any of the other Linux
groups' categories. No articles should be crossposted to c.o.l.misc
and any of those other groups.

We recommend that you vote either for both .bugs and .questions or
against both as the result if one passes and the other fails would
be undesirable.

If c.o.l.misc is created then comp.os.linux will be removed after a
suitable transition period.

VOTING PERIOD

The voting period will last from the date of this posting until
noon (1200GMT) on Thursday the 26th of November.

HOW TO VOTE

Votes will be processed automatically, so please keep to this format:

The body must consist _only_ of a series of lines, one for each
proposed group. Any signature will be ignored.

Each line may be either of the form
      I vote for/against the group comp.os.linux.announce as proposed
or of the form
      .bugs yes/no

Case is not significant (and the pattern matching is a bit flexible).

You will get a personal acknowledgement (within a day or three,
depending how often I run the program) of the way my software parsed
your vote; things it doesn't recognise it'll bounce back at you.

If you miss out a group it will count as an abstention, and will show
up as such in the acknowledgement.
--

Due to the outgoing mail flood causing problems at my site I regret
that I'm unable to send out any more individual acknowledgements.
Those people who have received them, lucky for you :-).

The rest of you will have to wait for the mass acknowledgement with
the 2nd CFV to see if your vote arrived correctly.

I shall continue to send out error messages for votes that my software
couldn't parse and which therefore weren't counted.

Ian Jackson.
--

Olivetti Research Ltd, Old Addenbrookes Site, Trumpington St, Cambridge, UK;
Home: 35 Molewood Close, Cambridge, CB4 3SR; +44 223 327029.     +44 223 343398