Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 06:42:26 GMT
From: "Tim Skipper (Proponent)" <csp@euro-share.com>
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,alt.comp.freeware,alt.comp.shareware,alt.comp.shareware.authors,alt.comp.shareware.for-kids,alt.comp.shareware.programmer,comp.programming
Subject: RFD: comp.software.shareware.* moderated

                     REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)
            moderated group comp.software.shareware.users
           moderated group comp.software.shareware.authors
           moderated group comp.software.shareware.announce

Newsgroup lines:
comp.software.shareware.announce        Shareware announcements. (Moderated)
comp.software.shareware.authors Creation of shareware. (Moderated)
comp.software.shareware.users   Use of shareware. (Moderated)

This is a formal Request For Discussion (RFD) for the creation of the
world-wide moderated Usenet newsgroups comp.software.shareware.users,
comp.software.shareware.authors and comp.software.shareware.announce.
This is not a Call for Votes (CFV); you cannot vote at this time.
Procedural details are below.

RATIONALE: all groups

Shareware is software which may generally be freely distributed for
evaluation purposes - sometimes referred to as Try-Before-Buy.  After
the expiration of a specified evaluation period or number of uses,
the software must be registered usually by the payment of a fee to
the author, either directly or through a third party.  The popularity
of shareware as a method of distribution of software has increased
dramatically as access to the Internet has widened. Although other
types of software are also distributed over the Internet, including
public domain software, freeware and commercial demoware or
crippleware, it is likely that more shareware is available online
than any other category of software.

In view of the ubiquity of shareware it is surprising that there are
no newsgroups in the "Big 8" hierarchies specifically devoted to it.
The closest to such newsgroups that already exists is the sub-
hierarchy alt.comp.shareware.*, of which the three primary groups are
alt.comp.shareware, alt.comp.shareware.authors and
alt.comp.shareware.programmer.

A significant shortcoming of the existing alt.comp.shareware.* groups
is the limitation on their distribution which is inherent in their
relegation to the alt hierarchy.  Another problem with the groups is
the large number of flame-wars, off-topic posts and cross-posts they
receive, including requests for "cracks" and registration keys to
overcome the registration incentives incorporated by many shareware
authors in their programs.  Furthermore the groups alt.comp.shareware
and alt.comp.shareware.programmer are commonly cross-posted
between, and it would be difficult to justify the retention of both
groups in the new sub-hierarchy proposed here.

It is impractical to moderate groups in the alt hierarchy because of
the ease with which their status can be changed back to unmoderated
and there is no desire to limit by process of moderation the
discussion of those that participate in these newsgroups currently.
It is therefore proposed that three new moderated groups be formed in
the existing comp.software.* sub-hierarchy.  The proposed newsgroup
comp.software.shareware.users will serve a similar purpose to
alt.comp.shareware, but will be moderated to filter messages falling
outside the group's charter.  Likewise, the proposed newsgroup
comp.software.shareware.authors will be a moderated group serving
similar purposes to both alt.comp.shareware.authors and
alt.comp.shareware.programmer.  The proposed newsgroup
comp.software.shareware.announce will be solely to provide a forum
for announcements of releases of new shareware products and
resources. Note that this proposal does NOT advocate the removal of
the alt.comp.shareware.* groups or any change in it's charter.

CHARTER: comp.software.shareware.users

This is a moderated newsgroup, intended for discussion related to the
use of shareware software.  Without limitation, acceptable postings
may relate to:

  Support questions.
  Bugs, fixes and workarounds.
  Usage tips.
  Shareware reviews and comparisons.

Binary postings are not acceptable, although pointers to binary
postings in appropriate binaries groups are.  Commercial
advertisements are not acceptable.  Cross-posting between this
newsgroup and other comp.software.shareware.* newsgroups is not
acceptable.

END CHARTER.

MODERATOR INFO: comp.software.shareware.users

Moderator: Scott Kane <moderator@micronexus.com.au>
Moderator: Tim Skipper <cssumoderator@euro-share.com>
Administrative contact address: <cssuadmin@micronexus.com.au>
Article submission address:     <cssusubmit@micronexus.com.au>

Moderation of comp.software.shareware.users will initially be
conducted by manual human intervention which will reject postings
that are:

  Binary files.
  Cross-posted to more than three other newsgroups.
  Cross-posted from the alt.comp.shareware.* hierarchy.
  Commercial or personal advertisements falling outside the charter.
  Information about or requests for warez, cracks or registration
  keys.
  Designed to flame, offend or annoy other readers of the newsgroup.

The human moderators may be supplemented by additional human moderators
if necessary and may also be supplemented by robomoderation if deemed
appropriate by the Moderator. Details of the robomoderation algorithm,
if any, in use at a given time will be supplied on request to the
administrative contact address.

Articles that are rejected by the moderation process will be returned
to the author along with an explanation of the rejection.  No appeal
process is proposed.

END MODERATOR INFO.

CHARTER: comp.software.shareware.authors

This is a moderated newsgroup, intended for discussion related to the
creation and sale of shareware software.  Without limitation,
acceptable postings may relate to:

  Development issues.
  Programming issues.
  Marketing techniques.
  Distribution techniques.

Binary postings are not acceptable, although pointers to binary
postings in appropriate binaries groups are.  Commercial
advertisements are not acceptable except insofar as they are bona
fide one-off announcements of new shareware products.  Cross-posting
between this newsgroup and other comp.software.shareware.* newsgroups
is not acceptable.

END CHARTER.

MODERATOR INFO: comp.software.shareware.authors

Moderator: Scott Kane <micronexus@ircnet.com.au>
Moderator: Tim Skipper <cssamoderator@euro-share.com>
Administrative contact address: <cssaadmin@micronexus.com.au>
Article submission address:     <cssasubmit@micronexus.com.au>

Moderation of comp.software.shareware.authors will initially be
conducted by manual human intervention which will reject postings
that are:

  Binary files.
  Cross-posted to three or more newsgroups.
  Cross-posted from the alt.comp.shareware.* hierarchy.
  Commercial or personal advertisements falling outside the charter.
  Information about or requests for warez, cracks or registration
  keys.
  Designed to flame, offend or annoy other readers of the newsgroup.

The human moderators may be supplemented by additional human moderators
if necessary and may also be supplemented by robomoderation if deemed
appropriate by the Moderator. Details of the robomoderation algorithm,
if any, in use at a given time will be supplied on request to the
administrative contact address.

Articles that are rejected by the moderation process will be returned
to the author along with an explanation of the rejection.  No appeal
process is proposed.

END MODERATOR INFO.

CHARTER: comp.software.shareware.announce

This is a moderated newsgroup, intended for informational
announcements related to shareware products and resources. Without
limitation, appropriate topics may include:

  Announcements of new shareware releases.
  Announcements of shareware FTP and WWW archives.
  Announcements regarding shareware related services, such as
  credit card registration services.

This group is not intended for discussion about shareware, and
follow-ups to articles in this group should be posted elsewhere.
Commercial advertisements are not acceptable except insofar as they
are bona fide one-off announcements of new shareware products or
services.  Cross-posting between this newsgroup and other
comp.software.shareware.* groups is not acceptable.

END CHARTER.

MODERATOR INFO: comp.software.shareware.announce

Moderator: Scott Kane <moderator@micronexus.com.au>
Moderator: Tim Skipper <cssanmoderator@euro-share.com>
Administrative contact address: <cssanadmin@micronexus.com.au>
Article submission address:     <cssadsubmit@micronexus.com.au>

Moderation of comp.software.shareware.announce will initially be
conducted by manual human intervention which will reject postings
that are:

  Binary files.
  Cross-posted to three or more newsgroups.
  Cross-posted from the alt.comp.shareware.* hierarchy.
  Commercial or personal advertisements falling outside the charter.
  Information about or requests for warez, cracks or registration
  keys.
  Designed to flame, offend or annoy other readers of the newsgroup.

The human moderators may be supplemented by additional human moderators
if necessary and may also be supplemented by robomoderation if deemed
appropriate by the Moderator. Details of the robomoderation algorithm,
if any, in use at a given time will be supplied on request to the
administrative contact address.

Articles that are rejected by the moderation process will be returned
to the author along with an explanation of the rejection.  No appeal
process is proposed.

END MODERATOR INFO.

PROCEDURE:

This is a request for discussion, not a call for votes.  In this
phase of the process, any potential problems with the proposed
newsgroups should be raised and resolved.  The discussion period will
continue for a minimum of 21 days (starting from when the first RFD
for this proposal is posted to news.announce.newgroups), after which
a Call For Votes (CFV) may be posted by a neutral vote taker if the
discussion warrants it.  Please do not attempt to vote until this
happens.

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

This RFD attempts to comply fully with the Usenet newsgroup creation
guidelines outlined in "How to Create a New Usenet Newsgroup" and
"How to Format and Submit a New Group Proposal".  Please refer to
these documents (available in news.announce.newgroups) if you have
any questions about the process.

DISTRIBUTION:

This RFD has been posted to the following newsgroups:

  news.announce.newgroups, news.groups, comp.programming,
  alt.comp.shareware, alt.comp.shareware.authors,
  alt.comp.shareware.programmer, alt.comp.shareware.for-kids,
  alt.comp.freeware.

Proponent: Tim Skipper <csp@euro-share.com>
