There is about a week left to go in the BIONEWS reorganization voting
as detailed below. This is the last call for votes in case you missed
the earlier announcement (one vote per person please; if additional
votes are sent in they will be deleted).
The voter turnout has been pretty reasonable to date, but please be
aware that by NOT voting you are NOT selecting any of the following
options. All you are doing is letting others decide the organization
of the newsgroup for you. Voting closes at midnight next Sun/Mon.
Sincerely,
Dave Kristofferson
GenBank Manager
kristoff at genbank.bio.net
---------------
Received: by genbank.bio.net (5.65/IG-2.0)
id AA04223; Thu, 19 Dec 91 10:22:34 -0800
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 91 10:22:33 PST
From: Dave Kristofferson <kristoff at genbank.bio.net>
To: bionews
Cc: kristoff
Subject: CALL FOR VOTES on BIONEWS Reorganization
Reply-To: biovote at genbank.bio.net
Message-Id: <CMM.0.90.2.693166953.kristoff at genbank.bio.net>
The ballot has become a bit more complex after the discussion. There
are 5 options (Plans A - E) below. Some are new and others have been
modified as a result of the debate. The text of each plan was sent to
the original proposer for private review. Please read all options
carefully before deciding. When you have made your decision, please
send a message containing only the line
PLAN X
where you SUBSTITUTE A,B,C,D, or E for X in the line above. PLEASE DO
NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE. Send your vote to one of the following
addresses, whichever is most convenient.
Address Location Network
------- -------- -------
biovote at irlearn.ucd.ie Ireland EARN/BITNET
biovote at uk.ac.daresbury U.K. JANET
biovote at bmc.uu.se Sweden Internet
biovote at genbank.bio.net U.S.A. Internet/BITNET
Because of the Christmas and New Year's holidays, voting will be open
through 12 January 1992. Votes received after midnight on that day,
i.e., after 00:00:00 hours on Monday the 13th, will not be counted.
If no proposal receives a majority of the total votes cast, a runoff
will be held starting on Monday, 13 Jan '92, between the two Plans
with the highest total votes. That vote will run through the end of
January and the winning proposal will be enacted in February.
Sincerely,
Dave Kristofferson
GenBank Manager
kristoff at genbank.bio.net
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Plan A
The current BIONEWS/bionet.general newsgroup will be split into two
forums:
I. BIONEWS/bionet.announce
a *moderated* newsgroup (moderated by me, at least, and any other
BIOSCI managers that want to volunteer some time). This means that
postings will be screened first (but NOT edited) before posting to the
newsgroup. Only postings deemed to be announcements directed at a
widespread audience of biologists will be posted. Other postings will
NOT be discarded or edited, but will be simply forwarded to the second
newsgroup (or other BIOSCI forum, e.g., methods questions to METHODS,
etc.) which is described as follows:
II. BIOFORUM/bionet.general
this will be a newsgroup for discussions on any topic of interest in
biology and will specifically be the appropriate home for discussions
which do not fit into any of the current BIOSCI/bionet specialty
newsgroups. This forum will be unmoderated and unfettered, being
subject only to the usual network regulations prohibiting commercial
use, advertising, and job postings.
Current e-mail subscribers to BIONEWS/bionet.general will be
automatically subscribed to newsgroup I, BIONEWS/bionet.announce.
E-mail subscriptions to BIOFORUM will have to be requested from your
local BIOSCI node.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Plan B
Make available the options:
bionet.general BIOFORUM
bionet.announce BIONEWS
*****without a moderator for either forum*****.
The earlier proposed name DISCUSS for bionet.general has been changed to
BIOFORUM. Regarding the earlier proposed BIOCHAT and BIOHELP forums:
postpone (or eliminate if no need becomes apparent) formation of the
following:
general forum for very informal exchanges:
bionet.general.biochat BIOCHAT
and a general forum intended for seeking help at any level of sophistocation:
bionet.general.helpme BIOHELP
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Plan C
Change nothing, BIONEWS/bionet.general is acceptable in its current format.
The description on the BIOSCI info sheet should read as follows:
BIONEWS General announcements and discussions of interest to biologists
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Plan D
All BIOSCI messages on all newsgroups will be sent to *one* "directed"
group (biosci-everything?), the "director" of which would decide to
which group the message should be "directed". This means that **all**
BIOSCI/bionet newsgroups would be converted to moderated forums.
The sole job of the "director" would be to decide which newsgroup should
get the messages; s/he would neither edit nor fail to post any message.
Nevertheless, anyone who posts a message would be free to suggest to the
"director" where it should be posted.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Plan E
GENERAL bionet.general As is now, open
BIONEWS bionet.announce As proposed by David, moderated
BIOHELP bionet.help As proposed by Fote, open
----------------------------------------------------------------------
