> What is the procedure for creating a bionet group, anyway? I mean the
> correct social procedures, I know the technical details about creating
> groups.
Newsgroup Creation Policy
-------------------------
Proposals for new groups must contain a statement of purpose for the
group and the name of a person designated as discussion leader unless
the group is in the service category such as METHODS, EMPLOYMENT, etc.
Discussion leaders are responsible for ensuring that a reasonable
level of activity is sustained on the newsgroup (see Newsgroup
Termination Policy below). The discussion leader can also propose the
creation of moderated newsgroups if he/she agrees to serve as
moderator (this requires access to USENET news software at the
moderator's site). Proposals should be sent to
biosci at genbank.bio.net.
When a proposal is received it will be posted on
BIONEWS/bionet.announce. A ten day period for discussion on
BIOFORUM/bionet.general will follow and precede the call for votes.
After the discussion, the person proposing the newsgroup may modify or
withdraw the proposal prior to the call for votes. The modified
proposal will then be included in a call for votes on
BIONEWS/bionet.announce. The proposal must collect 80 YES votes in 30
days and the number of YES votes must exceed the number of NO votes by
at least 40 to pass.
BIOSCI management must be informed in advance of any intended efforts
to advertise the newsgroup proposal in other forums. While BIOSCI
wishes to inform potential users of the creation of newsgroups that
might be of interest to them, promotional efforts should be focussed
in forums likely to be utilized by professionals in the subject area
covered by the newsgroup proposal, and should seek participation in
the discussion of the proposal within bionet.general/BIOFORUM rather
than promoting separate discussions in other forums to which portions
of the BIOSCI readership may not have ready access.
If a proposal is not passed by the readers, there will be a three
month period before it can be brought up for another vote.
Newsgroup Termination Policy
----------------------------
Any group with less than 52 msgs in the previous calendar year will be
put on notice by posting an announcement to the newsgroup (not to
bionet.announce) that it faces cancellation. It can be reprieved if
80 readers respond within two weeks (this policy will be stated in the
termination announcement). It then has two months to reach a usage
level of one message per 3 days or else it will be abolished. Appeals
to the BIOSCI management about high content albeit low volume on the
group will be considered.
