How To Create New Newsgroups in BIG-8 Hierarchies

Big 8 Usenet Newsgroups

How to create and remove newsgroups in the BIG-8 hierarchies

When creating a new newsgroup in the big-8 hierarchies, it is important to do your research first to determine if a newsgroup already exists with the same specific topic. The more specific and unique your topic, the higher the chances are that you will be able to create a newsgroup.

The following are a list of steps which are the general guidelines in creating a newsgroup:

1) Start an informal discussion on the newsgroup you wish to create by posting to news.groups and news.groups.proposals. Follow your post and its replies. Example of post guideline here
2) Submit a Request For Discussion (RFD) proposal and post to news.announce.newsgroups.
3) Post and discuss the newsgroup proposed in news.groups.proposals – Post a message and follow the discussion of the newsgroup, following the RFD guidelines on news.groups.proposals. Example of formatting here
4) Follow the guidelines for the Final RFD/Last Call for Comments process –
After you and the board agree that it is time to end discussion and input and to move forward with the decision, you must email the final RFD to mailto:[email protected]. The format specifications should include a summary of the discussion and any additional information deemed relevant and worthy to the last published RFD.
5) At this point, the board votes on the proposal and if accepted, a technical team will create and circulate the request to create the new group.

What are the BIG-8 hierarchies?

The BIG-8 hierarchies contain most of the articles in the Usenet world. Many of the newsgroups in these hierarchies are moderated. Only the hierarchy moderator is allowed to create new groups or remove existing groups. If you would like to create a new BIG-8 group, you have to propose it on news.groups. Submit as many details and information as possible. If there is enough interest in your group, an email based election will take place. If 2/3 of all voters voted for the group and there are at least 100 more YES-votes than NO-votes, the moderator will create the group. All proposed Usenet newsgroups who do not meet the voting guidelines are declined. More information on the BIG-8 can be found here

What is a moderated newsgroup and how does it differ from an unmoderated newsgroup?

Moderated newsgroups are specific topic newsgroups that rely on a moderator to act as a gatekeeper approving messages before they are posted. Moderated newsgroups automatically email to notify the moderator of the messages. Moderator´s foundation of responsibility to the newsgroup is to decrease the volume of off topic posts and threads and increase the significant on topic content of posts.
In contrast, unmoderated newsgroups allow messages to be freely posted to the newsgroup without any moderation or censor.

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