3rd RFD: rec.ponds.moderated moderated (LAST CALL FOR COMMENTS)

REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)
rec.ponds.moderated

This is a formal Request For Discussion (RFD) for the creation of the
moderated Usenet newsgroup, rec.ponds.moderated.


PROCEDU

The B8MB plans to begin voting on this proposal after five days. Please
offer any final discussion or comments before the end of this waiting
period. Voting may take up to one week (7 days); a result will be posted
following the end of the voting period.

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

The full group creation procedure is documented he

http://www.big-8.org/dokuwiki/doku.p...cies:proposals



NEWSGROUPS LINE: rec.ponds.moderated

rec.ponds.moderated Care & enjoyment of recreational pods & water gardens. (Moderated)


SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION:

The first RFD was published on 12-14-06. RFD#2 was published on 01-12-07.
Updates were published on 01-25-07 and 02-17-07. RFD#3 was published on
02-28-07.

The proposal for the creation of rec.ponds.moderated quickly received much
support from those interested in ponding. This support can be viewed in
the 2nd straw poll. The results of the poll will be summarized later in
this RFD. The complete poll results will be submitted and published
immediately following the publishing of this RFD.

Numerous issues were raised and discussed following the first and second
RFDs. These include:

SD01 The need and purpose for such a group, whether moderation
was a proper means to deal with the problems of rec.ponds, and
whether there were alternatives.

SD02. The method of moderation was debated at length. The proponent
and proposed moderators have made it clear in all 3 RFD's that
moderation shall be by content only, and not based upon
personality. This also precludes suspensions and blacklisting.

SD03. The issues of anonymous posting and name-shifting were raised.
The RFD's make it clear that anonymous posting shall be permitted,
as well as limited, non-excessive name-shifting. These terms
("limited" "non-excessive") shall be at the discretion of the
moderators.

SD04. There was some discussion of forgery protection, and the
current limits of such protection.

SD05. There were numerous expressions of support for individual
proposed moderators from other persons involved in ponding.

SD06. Concern was expressed for two moderators who were related to
each other. This discussion led to several additional criteria
regarding moderators in RFD#2.

SD07. It is stated in all 3 RFD's, and strongly reaffirmed by the
proposed moderators, that there will be no editing of posts
whatsoever.

SD08. After RFD#1, the issue was raised about the need for the
moderation team to be more globally represented. This was addressed
in RFD#2, and soon after, Gill Passman from the UK was added to the
list of proposed moderators.

SD09. RFD#1 mentioned that the newsgroup planned to use automated
moderation software, but that no program had yet been chosen. By
RFD#2, our choice had narrowed to Ready-Stump and Modbot. Soon
afterwards, our team chose to go with Modbot. On 1-25-07 an update to
n.g.p. stated that we were still waiting for the unnamed finished
program (Modbot). On 2-17-07, the proponent was informed that the
program would not be available, and this was announced in n.g.p. On
2-23-07, the proponent and proposed moderators voted to use
Ready-Stump, and contracted with its author. This decision is found
in RFD#3.

SD10. Following RFD#1, a major discussion was raised regarding
commercial advertising. Commercial posts were eliminated in RFD#2.

SD11. The issue of off-topic posting was raised after RFD#1. RFD#2
attempted to offer a refined definition of permitted off-topic
posting, However, the debate, sometimes polarized, continued. It was
the decision of the proponent and moderators that all discussion of
off-topic posting would be eliminated in RFD#3.

SD12. Following RFD#2, the question was raised whether content-based
moderation would mean that a post containing possibly wrong or
false ponding information would be approved. The moderators made it
clear that there would be no editing or censorship of such posts.
Moderation is based solely upon the content criteria mentioned in the
Charter. This fact is made clear in RFD#3, and it is also mentioned
that follow-up replies (for the purpose of correcting any possible
mis-information) can be made by any and all interested persons from
the newsgroup.

SD13. After RFD#2, a poster once again raised the question of whether
such a moderated group was really necessary. The issue was briefly
rehashed.


RATIONALE: rec.ponds.moderated

Rec.ponds was founded in 1994 for backyard pond enthusiasts to share
experiences and information. For most of its existence rec.ponds was
an active and thriving Internet community of long-term ponders as well
as newcomers to the hobby.

During the year 2005, rec.ponds was overrun by trolls, flames,
forgeries and destructive crossposting. Most pond regulars left the
group and went to mailing lists or forums where they could discuss
their hobby in relative peace. A few remained to answer questions
from newcomers and to attempt to rebuild the community that previously
existed.

However, the signal became mired intractably in noise. At the same
time, many former rec.ponders discovered that other outlets were not a
useful alternative. Many of the boards, lists, and forums that permit
pond discussions appear to be more oriented to the high-end hobbyist.

Many rec.ponders, by contrast, are content with a few common fish,
some plants, and relatively small ponds that may or may not be
mechanically filtered.

At the present time, many newcomers who discover rec.ponds are quickly
driven away by hostile posts.

Continuing interest in online pond discussion is evident by the number
of pond-related posts to such forums as: The Freshwater Aquarium,
Koiphen, Koishack, The Mud Pond, Garden Web, Aquascape, the
Professional Pond Builder's Society and the rec.aquaria newsgroups.
All of these groups are visited by pond newcomers, who will sometimes
post their questions there.

Some overlap between rec.ponds and the rec.aquaria groups has always
existed and should not be seen as detrimental to this proposal.


TRAFFIC ANALYSIS AND SUPPORT:

The proponent of this proposal has kept a record of those who have
posted on news.groups.proposals regarding their support or opposition
to the creation of this newsgroup. As of Feb.25, 2007, the results
are as follows:

support and will/did read 28
support 12 (including 1 originally opposed)
support, will not read 06
opposed 01 (originally 2)
support from proponent, proposed 09
moderators and mentor


CHARTER:

C01 Description and Purpose

Rec.ponds.moderated is a moderated newsgroup that provides a friendly,
respectful forum for the discussion of all aspects of ponds and water
gardens. The rec.ponds.moderated newsgroup appeals to a wide range of
people involved in both the recreational and professional aspects of
establishing and maintaining a pond or water garden. Participants
range from novices to persons with many years of experience, from
amateur hobbyists to professional botanists and ichthyologists, from
students wishing to get help with science projects to retired persons
seeking a quiet, pleasurable pastime. All interested persons are
welcomed to share ideas, ask questions, or simply to lurk and learn.

C02 Permitted Content

Discussions appropriate to a ponding community including, but not
limited to:

* Building a pond/water garden
* Establishing an ecosystem
* Plant life
* Fish
* Amphibians and reptiles
* Aquatic environmental concerns
* Discussions of large, unlined natural ponds

C03 The Following Is Prohibited

All posts containing these items are rejected, and returned with
explanation if permitted by the automated software.

* Obscenities
* Implied or direct threats, slander, insults, bigotry, prejudice
or harassment
* Flaming, trolling, flooding, and personal verbal attacks
* Frequent petty criticism of another poster
* Posts advocating violence or containing physical threats
* Attacks on others based on gender, race, sexual orientation
or religion
* Commercial posts
* Excessive cross-posting, although limited, on-topic cross-posting
is permitted
* Chain letters
* Posts written in HTML
* EMP spam
* Binaries, other than pgp signatures, x-face headers, and other
ancillary article meta-data
* Forgery of names, valid email addresses and/or approval headers
* Excessive morphing/nym shifting ("excessive" is undefined but is
at the discretion of the moderators)
* Excessive quoting of old material, with little new content
(these will be judgment calls made by the moderators)
* Personal identification information associated with anyone other
than the poster (e.g. residential addresses, phone numbers and
government identifications)
* Content advocating acts that would be intrinsically illegal
in most places
* Copyright violations. (However, pointers to news articles,
blogs, etc. that are on-topic are welcome. They must comply with
fair use standards.)

C04 Charter Implementation

The charter of this newsgroup is implemented by a group of moderators.
Their task is to develop and carry out the methods and means necessary
to insure that the stated purposes of the group charter are accomplished.
Their methods shall be defined as Moderation Policy and Practices. (MPP)

Moderators make use of whatever tools and discussion processes they deem
necessary to carry out their responsibilities. One such tool may
include the use of automated moderation software.

C05 Moderation Policy Objectives and Practices

Moderation policy adheres to and carries out the stated goals and
purposes of the group. Moderation policy & practices (MPP) may be
changed by the moderators to meet the ongoing needs of the newsgroup
charter.

Proposed changes are announced by the moderators in the
newsgroup, and newsgroup readers are invited to share and discuss
their views of the proposed changes. Passage of the changes is by a
2/3 majority vote of the moderators. Changes are published in the
newsgroup.

C06 Moderator Standards

Moderators approve or reject posts based upon content as listed in C02
and C03 above. Moderators maintain a standard of neutrality and
non-bias. Moderators do not add, delete, or edit anything within a
post. Tags are not added.

Decisions of the moderation team are final. Moderators permit posts
that may contain technically incorrect information, provided that the
post is not deemed to be deliberately deceptive. Any approved post
that is forwarded to the newsgroup, and contains incorrect information,
may and should be followed up by posts that attempt to correct the
misinformation. Such corrective posts may be made by any interested
person/s in the newsgroup.

All personal posts made by moderators go through the same complete
process as posts made by the general readership of the group.
Moderators do not review their own posts, nor those of a relative.
Moderators who fail to abide by the charter and current moderation
policy may be warned and/or removed by the other moderators.

C07 Moderator Accessibility and Accountability

The moderators provide options for both private and public
interaction with the readership of the newsgroup. An email contact
address is provided for complaints, appeals, reviews and suggestions.
The receipt of emails to the contact address is acknowledged by a
return email, provided a valid return address is given.

In addition, the Charter provides for limited public discussion
of the general issues of moderation policy, group operation and other
matters that affect the group.

Moderators shall create and occasionally publish FAQ and other
documents that promote the functionality of the newsgroup.

C08 Readership Participation & Responsibility

All participants in the group may:

* Request changes to moderation policy and participate in the
discussion of changes.
* Privately ask for all moderators to review a specific rejected
post (within practical numerical limits determined by the
moderators.)
* Nominate new moderators.


MODERATION POLICY: rec.ponds.moderated

MPP01 Purpose

The purpose of moderation policy & practices is to carry out the
objectives and goals of the charter. MPP may be changed as per the
Charter and MPP13.

MPP02 Automated (robotic) Moderation Software

If and when feasible, the moderation team may employ automated
moderation software to initially screen and pre-filter all incoming
posts, and to ensure that all posts meet certain current moderation
policies. Posts that do not will be automatically returned along with
a brief explanation (if permitted by the automated software), provided
that such posts have a valid return address. All posts that are
approved by the automated software will be forwarded to human
moderators for further examination.

MPP03 Cross-posting

Minimal cross-posting to related groups based on subject matter
(e.g.,fish hobby, gardening and wildlife management) will be allowed.
No cross-posting to irrelevant groups will be permitted. Such
cross-posted messages shall be returned, provided a valid return email
address is provided. When feasible, cross-post filtering may be
handled by automated software.

MPP04 Authorship of Posts

Anyone will be allowed to post as long as they are not forging another
poster's name or address. Anonymous posting will be allowed.
Occasional name-shifting may be permitted, but excessive name-shifting
will not be permitted, as per C03.

Automated robotic software methods to protect the author's identity
may be employed through the use of voluntary passwords, pgp, or any
other methods if and when such methods become technically available.

MPP05 Human Moderation

After approval by any automated software, messages are forwarded
to the moderators who will review them and then make final decisions
of approval or rejection based upon the content of the post (C02 and
C03). There shall be no editing of any post by any moderator, as
stated in C06 of the Charter. Rejected messages shall be returned to
the poster, provided a valid return address is available. If
permitted by the software, an explanation for the rejection shall be
included.

MPP06 Moderator Approval and Rejection Policies

At a minimum, when using automated software, one moderator may
approve a post to be forwarded to the newsgroup, and one moderator may
reject a post and have it returned. If the automated robotic software
contains a multi-pass/reject option, then more than one moderator may
be asked to agree before a post is approved or rejected.

Moderators may consult with one another before deciding to pass
or reject a post whose content is borderline or questionable. This
consultation may add to the time-delay of the processing of a post.

If a post is rejected, it may be appealed to the Moderation Team,
provided it is seen as a legitimate request, and not as a disruptive
attempt or tactic to distract or flood the team with large numbers of
obviously inappropriate messages.

MPP07 Personal Advertising

Very limited personal advertising shall be permitted. Such
advertising must be directly related to on-topic aquatic/pond subject
matter. Such postings must be non-commercial and of a "for-sale" type
for items that the poster no longer needs or wants. The number of
ads permitted by any one poster per any given time period shall be
left to the discretion of the moderators, with all posters subject to
the same conditions.

MPP08 Ending Threads

The moderators reserve the right to end a thread that has veered
significantly off-topic, or that has become dominated by rehashing
and/or repetition.

MPP09 Moderator Decisions

The decisions of the moderation team shall be final.

MPP10 Structure of the Human Moderation Team

The review and moderation of posts that are approved by the automated
software program will be conducted by a Moderation Team.

The first moderation team members will be divided into two classes,
and appointed for one or two year terms, to end on August 31, 2008 and
2009 respectively. Thereafter a new class of moderators will be
elected annually during the month of August, to serve two-year terms,
beginning on September 1st of the election year and continuing through
August 31st of the second year after the election.

The current moderation team will select each new class of moderators,
and election will be by a minimum 2/3 vote of the current moderators.

The total number of moderators may be changed by the moderation team,
which will seek to maintain an equal number of members in each class.

The general readership of rec.ponds.moderated are encouraged to
propose/nominate potential moderators to the team, as per C08.

When nominating and electing new moderators, all persons involved
shall remain mindful of the benefit and need for the moderation team
to be as globally positioned as possible. This helps to ensure
adequate global representation and also to lower the time-delay factor
in approving posts.

Moderators may be re-elected. The moderation team shall elect
persons to fill vacancies using the 2/3 criterion for election.

MPP11 Head Moderator

The moderation team may choose to elect a (head/chief/administrative)
moderator by a majority vote, if it deems such a position to be
necessary. The duties and responsibilities of such a position would
be determined as needed.

MPP12 Moderator Removal

If a moderator does not abide by the charter and current moderation
policies, the other moderators may warn and, if necessary, remove
that moderator by a 2/3 majority vote of the moderation team.
Moderators who wish to resign for any reason may do so by emailing
the head moderator or the moderation team.

MPP13 Changes to Moderation Policy & Practices

As stated in the Charter, moderation policy & practices (MPP) may
be changed to meet the permanent objectives of the Charter and the
ongoing needs of the newsgroup.

Proposed changes are announced by the moderators in the newsgroup,
and the general readership may discuss the proposed changes. Changes
shall be adopted by a 2/3 majority of the current moderators, and
will be published in the newsgroup.

As stated in C08, the general readership may suggest changes to
policy and practices.

MPP14 Moderator Posts

Moderators shall use [MODERATOR ANNOUNCE:] to preface official
informational posts to the readership of rec.ponds.moderated.

MPP15 Moderator Contact Address

As per C07, the moderators shall provide a contact email address
for anyone who wishes to make a complaint, question, or offer a
suggestion.


MODERATOR INFO: rec.ponds.moderated

Moderator: Derek
Moderator: Galen
Moderator: ~jan
Moderator: Jim
Moderator: Kathy30a
Moderator: Phyllis

At the time of the submission of the 3rd RFD/LCC, the proponent and
proposed moderators of r.p.m have chosen to use ReadySTUMP as the
automated software program for the newsgroup.


Article Submissions:
Administrative Contact:


DISTRIBUTION:

This document has been posted to the following newsgroups:

news.announce.newgroups
news.groups.proposals
rec.ponds
rec.aquaria.misc
rec.aquaria.freshwater.misc

The proponent will also post pointers to:

rec.aquaria.freshwater.goldfish
rec.aquaria.freshwater.plants
alt.aquaria


PROPONENT:

Ron Schompert

Co-Proponent: Galen Hekhuis


CHANGE HISTORY:

2006-12-14 1st RFD
2007-01-12 2nd RFD
2007-02-28 3rd RFD/LCC