CFV: sci.philosophy.natural moderated
David Bostwick (david.bostwick@chemistry.gatech.edu)
21 Nov 1995 04:00:52 -0000
FIRST CALL FOR VOTES (of 2)
moderated group sci.philosophy.natural
Newsgroups line:
sci.philosophy.natural Ancient natural philosophy. (Moderated)
Votes must be received by 23:59:59 UTC, 12 Dec 1995.
This vote is being conducted by a neutral third party. Questions about
the proposed group should be directed to the proponent.
Proponent: Will Wagers <wagers@computek.net>
Mentor: Mark James <jamesm@dialogic.com>
Votetaker: David Bostwick <david.bostwick@chemistry.gatech.edu>
RATIONALE: sci.philosophy.natural
sci.philosophy.natural will meet a long-standing demand for a moderated
newsgroup for the scholarly discussion of and publications on ancient
natural philosophy (science) without flames and without unfounded
'speculative' postings. The proposed newsgroup would not replace any
existing groups. There is a small overlap with *many* existing newsgroups
and mailing lists in that subjects appropriate to sci.philosophy.natural
are occasionally discussed there. One purpose of sci.philosophy.natural is
to bring these discussions under one roof to facilitate interdisciplinary
scholarship. In some cases, this may result in offloading some traffic from
high volume newsgroups and mailing lists. It would still leave any and all
posters the forums that currently exist, so there is no question of denying
anyone an outlet for their ideas. The small number of newsgroups and
mailing lists which regularly deal with topics appropriate to
sci.philosophy.natural may regard the proposed newsgroup as a means of
publishing finished articles after the rounds of specialist comment and
criticism have occurred.
Minority viewpoints are seldom embraced and are often actively discouraged
on many specialist moderated newsgroups and mailing lists which are
dominated by a small group of established "experts". sci.philosophy.natural
welcomes minority and controversial viewpoints which are *justified by
scholarship and which pass moderation*.
The number of potential readers is difficult to estimate due to the
interdisciplinary nature of the group. However, a small survey for a single
subject area encompassed by sci.philosophy.natural drew 132 interested
readers or contributors. Many mailing lists from which
sci.philosophy.natural would draw participation have 300+ members.
CHARTER: sci.philosophy.natural
sci.philosophy.natural shall be a moderated newsgroup dedicated to the
discussion of and publications on ancient natural philosophy. All
viewpoints and levels of knowledge are welcome, subject to the moderation
policy described below. Because natural philosophy is such a broad subject
and because lively debate on issues is encouraged, this group is moderated
by a panel. Prospective articles are assigned to a moderator with skills
appropriate for approval. This method will hopefully lead to the fastest
turn-around time and least intrusion possible. Articles will *not* be
rejected based on whether the moderator(s) disagree with the views
expressed. The text itself will either be accepted as-is or rejected. In
some cases, the moderator may suggest changes.
Moderation policy:
* Articles may be full-length or extracts, requests for information,
announcements of relevance, etc. Lengthy quotation (more than 30 lines) of
source material must be accompanied by commentary or by other text which
ties it to on-going discussions. Articles which quote substantially the
same source material repetitively will not be approved. Articles consisting
of materials which are available on-line at ftp or WWW sites will not be
approved, rather pointers to sites may be given. Moderator(s) may waive
this rule at their discretion.
* Articles which contain personal attacks of any sort will not be approved
for posting.
* Articles which confuse politics with other subjects will be refused.
* Flameless disagreements are welcome; but, if a thread looks as though
it's never going to be resolved, the moderator(s) reserve the right to
terminate it or suspend it until new evidence is produced.
* Blank messages, test messages, advertisements, MAKE.MONEY.FAST, binaries,
uuencoded messages, and so forth, will not be approved posting.
* This is *not* a forum for the discussion of purely 'speculative' works,
such as those of Von Daniken, etc. So if you want to post something arguing
that aliens built the Pyramids, expect it to be rejected unless you can
offer citations from accepted professional journals. You will still have
the existing news groups in which to post.
* Moderator(s) may, at their discretion, change the Subject: lines for
threads which have strayed from the initial subject.
* Articles which include excessive quoting (e.g. an article which quotes an
entire other article in order to add a few comments at the end) will be
trimmed by the moderator(s).
* An article *must* have a valid reply-to address or it will not be
approved for posting.
* Cross-posting is strongly discouraged and requires a compelling reason
for approval.
* Rejected articles which would be acceptable after editing will be
returned to the poster with an explanation and suggestions for change.
Articles rejected for other reasons may be shared with the other moderators
for group consideration if the poster wishes to appeal.
* Any article that contains more than fifty percent quoted material (and
the author's signature shall not count as original material for purposes of
determining the proportion) may be trimmed or rejected at the discretion of
the moderator(s). In exercising this discretion, the moderator(s) shall
take readability considerations into account, such as the amount of quoted
material at the beginning of the message, and the size of the blocks of
quoted material. If the entire length of the article (excluding header and
signature) is less than 24 lines of 80 characters, then the requirement of
50% original material may be waived at the moderator's discretion.
* In keeping with Usenet netiquette conventions, signatures should be
restricted to 5 lines. Moderators may, at their discretion, trim signatures
to four lines before posting articles. Signatures may not sport commercial,
political, obscene, or contentious figures or slogans.
* Scholarly postings are considered the intellectual property of the
poster. If you intend to quote original material, e.g. to another newsgroup
or mailing list, permission must be sought from the original poster.
Moderators:
The proposer of the group is the initial moderator and is responsible for
recruiting others. If the number of moderators fall below four (4),
volunteers will be solicited. An automatic script will be used to share
postings among the moderators.
It is important to have a clear policy to cover the possibility that there
is conflict in the affairs of the moderation panel itself. It is generally
believed that moderators will come and go throughout the course of the
group, and in all cases the goal will be a consensus amongst the panel
regarding the addition of new moderators. A standard group decision process
will be followed: a motion will be made to add a new moderator, and if
there are no objections it will go ahead. Friendly relations are certainly
expected.
If there is an objection to a motion, and a group decision is not reached
by discussion, a vote can be carried out in accordance with the statements
below. In any of the following cases, a secret ballot may be requested --
and if a suitable (meaning: agreeably neutral) volunteer on the panel to
collect the ballots cannot be found, will be carried out via point #5 below
-- but voting will generally be public (within the confines of the
moderation panel itself).
1. If it comes to a vote, new moderators must be approved by a
supermajority (75% rounded downward, ie. two out of three moderators, eight
out of eleven moderators, nine out of twelve moderators, etc.) amongst the
moderation panel. Abstentions will not affect the outcome of this vote,
meaning that a supermajority among voting moderators must be obtained. In
the case of only two voting moderators who disagree, the prospective
moderator will not be added.
2. Moderators who will be unavailable for more than a week are expected to
have their names removed from the active file for that period. This implies
no permanent change in status, and they will be simply returned to active
duty afterward.
3. New moderators will be considered if the number of moderators falls
below four, or if several moderators have taken extended leaves of absence.
In the latter case, any new moderators will be "temporary" unless accepted
by the returning members of the moderation panel. Additional "temporary"
moderators will be added as required to handle various specialities, e.g.
ancient mathematics, ancient physics, archaeoastronomy, linguistics, etc.
If the volume of submissions warrants, such "temporary" moderators will be
made permanent. People named as successors by retiring moderators will
generally be given preference.
4. Moderators can be removed by a supermajority (as above) vote amongst the
moderation panel (including the moderator in question). Abstentions will
count as votes against removal.
5. If there is controversy amongst the moderators concerning the
application of these guidelines, the moderation panel agrees to submit to
binding arbitration by moderators-advice at UUNET. This situation covers
true interpretive controversy, as well as such technical scenarios as: only
two moderators, one wanting to remove the other; so many moderators on
extended leave or genuinely unresponsive that the active panel cannot
remove them to get on with business, etc.
6. Any votes or motions may be called into question by moderators returning
from leaves of absence, though these ballots may be counted as abstentions
in the interim.
7. All prospective moderators must agree to abide by these guidelines in
their entirety before consideration for moderator status. By acting as a
moderator, this point is implied, regardless of written confirmation.
Changes:
It requires unanimous approval of the moderation panel to change these
guidelines; and, they must remain within the broad outlines given in the
original CFV charter.
END CHARTER.
MODERATOR INFO: sci.philosophy.natural
Moderator: Will Wagers <wagers@computek.net>
END MODERATOR INFO.
HOW TO VOTE
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Only one vote is allowed per person or per account. Votes will be
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The purpose of a Usenet vote is to determine the genuine interest of
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news.groups. When in doubt, ask the votetaker.
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DISTRIBUTION:
In addition to the groups named in the Newsgroups: header, information
about the CFV will be mailed to the following mailing lists.
ANCIEN-L, ANE, ARCH-L, H-IDEAS, INDOEUROPEAN-L, INDOLOGY, ISLAM-L,
LEUCIPPUS, LITSCI-L, LT-ANTIQ, MEDSCI-L, SSREL-L, THEOLOG-L.
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