From [email protected] Fri Apr 14 17:44:51 1995
Path: uunet!bounce-back
From: Bruce Davies 
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,talk.politics.animals,alt.politics.greens,alt.activism
Subject: RFD: talk.politics.animals.{liberation,misc}
Followup-To: news.groups
Date: 14 Apr 1995 16:54:55 -0400
Organization: newcastle cs
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Xref: gs2.UU.NET news.announce.newgroups:6612 news.groups:144766 talk.politics.animals:38123 alt.politics.greens:8168 alt.activism:95439

                 REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)

Group names:    talk.politics.animals.misc
                talk.politics.animals.liberation

Groups affected: talk.politics.animals

Status:        talk.politics.animals.misc -- Unmoderated.
               talk.politics.animals.liberation -- Moderated.

Distribution:  World wide.

Summary:       talk.politics.animals.liberation -- Provides a home base for
               matters directly relating to animal liberation.

               talk.politics.animals.misc -- Provides a general, non-specific
               discussion area for other matters relating to animals and
               politics.

Proposed by:   Bruce J. Davies ([email protected])
                               ([email protected])

Cross Posted to:
               talk.politics.animals
               alt.politics.greens
               alt.activism

This is a formal Request For Discussion (RFD) on the restructuring of the
talk.politics.animals newsgroup. What is proposed is to create two
sub-groups,
namely talk.politics.animals.misc and talk.politics.animals.liberation.

This message initiates a discussion period to consider the creation the new
groups, as outlined above. Discussion and all follow up posts should be
made
to news.groups.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CHARTER & RATIONALE -- talk.politics.animals.liberation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHARTER talk.politics.animals.liberation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The group will provide a number of services which at present seem to be
lacking on the net including, but not limited to...

    1> An information service for Animal Liberation groups worldwide,
       providing...

        * Announcements of planned Animal Lib group activities.

        * Results of Animal Lib group activities.

        * Updates of legal battles by Animal Lib groups.

        * Information on establishment/industry plans for new animal
          factories.

        * A current listing of organistions and resources supporting the
          Animal Lib cause.

    2> A forum for debate on Animal Lib policies ONLY! These include, but
       are not limited to...

        a) Farming method reform.
        b) Animal testing and experimentation.
        c) Zoos.
        d) Battery hens.
        e) Fur industry.
        f) Rodeos.
        g) Circuses.

      As well as the issues themselves, policies on the mechanism of
      Animal Lib action should be discussed, including...

        a) Non-agressive demonstration technique.
        b) Press releases.
        c) Political lobbying.
        d) Legal assistance.
        e) Monetary assistance.

      Contributions from opponents of Animal Lib policies should be
      welcome.

      The ongoing result of discussion on these matters would be some set
      of uniformly agreed upon working documents for use by a unified
      Animal Liberation front.

MODERATION POLICY talk.politics.animals.liberation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Relevant materials on talk.politics.animals.liberation will include, but
not be limited to, those subject as outlined in the charter above.

This newsgroup shall have an active moderator, and at least two
co-moderators.  It shall be the responsibility of the active moderator
to screen postings to the newsgroup, and eliminate those which have no
connection with animal liberation, or are merely inflammatory or insulting.

All articles that are rejected will be sent back to the contributor with
a
short message explaning the reason for rejection. Such rejections may be
appealed as outlined below.

The co-moderators serve in a back-up capacity, so as to insure
continuity during either a temporary or permanent change in the status
of the active moderator.  In addition, the co-moderators will have the
responsibility, along with the active moderator, for voting on appeals
of rejected posts, the appointment of new moderators, and the possible
removal of a current moderator as outlined below.

Appeal of Rejection of Posts.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If a contributor whose post has been rejected wishes to appeal
this action, the current active moderator will forward this request
and the post in question to all co-moderators for a vote.  If the
majority of all moderators votes to overrule the rejection, the
article will be sent to the newsgroup.  If the post is rejected, the
person appealling the rejection will be sent a summary of the votes by
the moderators.

Appointment of New Moderators.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New co-moderators will be appointed as necessary through the
nomination of an individual by the other moderators. The appointment
will require a unanimous vote of the current moderators to pass. The
new co-moderator's name will then be submitted to the newsgroup for a
five day discussion period.  During these five days, any of the
current moderators may change their vote in response to this
discussion.  At the end of the five days, if all the moderators are
still in agreement, the nominee becomes a co-moderator.

Removal of a Moderator.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A moderator may be removed for the following causes:

    1> Failure to perform the outlined duties of the position.

    2> A pattern of biased or discriminatory rejections of postings.
       Such removal will be made by the formal vote of all current
       moderators. A 2/3rds vote in favor of such action will be
       required for removal. The reasons for, and results of, all such
       votes will be posted to the newsgroup. If there is a large
       negative response from the newsgroup, then the removal of the
       moderator will be deemed to be invalid, and the moderator
       re-instated.

Moderator Selection.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All moderators should be socially distant from each other. By this I
mean that moderators should be connected only by the fact that they
are moderators of the talk.politics.animals.liberation newsgroup.
Moderator selection and continuance should be based on performance
as a moderator, nothing more and nothing less.

Ideally, one co-moderator should be in agreement with the arguments
put forward by animal liberationists, and one against. The active
moderator should at all times be be in agreement with animal liberation
policies.

The appointment of the inaugural co-moderators will be done by the
inaugural active moderator. See non-(pushy and self-serving) application
by me, below!

FAQ.
~~~
The moderators, as a group, will be responsible for the development
and posting of a frequently asked question (FAQ) file for this newsgroup.

Posting of Charter and Moderators List.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This charter will be reposted, along with the list of current moderators
to the newsgroup every three months.

(Many thanks to Brian Ross, RFD: soc.history.war.vietnam for most of the
above moderation policy;-)%% Good work man.

Application for active moderator.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the expense of seeming rather pushy and self-serving (which I'm not)
I would like to nominate for the position of active moderator for the
group talk.politics.animals.liberation. I have been a member of the
Australian Animal Liberation group for some time now, and feel that I
have gained enough knowledge on animal liberation issues to effectively
perform the duties as described for the position. In my spare time I
also do other things, such as tutor in C++ at Newcastle Uni, program
erosion visualization and modelling applications, lift weights and play
squash.

If this Request For Discussion is successful, my first duty will be to
call for applications for the positions of co-moderators. From the
responses received (hopefully lots) I will select the co-moderators. I'm
sorry if this seems rather despotic, but I can think of no better or
easier way to do it. Be assured, the co-moderators will be unknown
personally to me, and will have been selected on the basis of the
descriptions in their applications.

After this initial moderator selection process, the moderator system will
work as described in the moderation policy.

RATIONALE talk.politics.animals.liberation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is to be a group primarily aimed at achieving a higher standard of
living (and dying) for all the animals on earth. Issues of a wider span
should be addressed to the (proposed) talk.politics.animals.misc group.
The liberation group is aimed solely at Animal Lib policies and operations.

If this group is accepted as such, it will provide a "one-stop shop" for
anyone wanting to know the current state of animal liberation issues in
both their local area and globally.

People and organizations with relevant postings will be able to post to this
newsgroup and be sure that their subject is reaching the right audience, and
will not be surrounded by many, unrelated articles.

The group is to be aimed at results. As such, the group should welcome
contributions from all members of the community, regardless of their
choice of foodstuffs and lifestyle.

It is a group aimed at debate. As such, the group should welcome
contributions from opponents of Animal Lib policies.

Why moderated?

A moderator is needed when dealing with topics of this nature. Moderation
will filter out flames and subjects which are unrelated to the primary
topic, or which are merely time wasting devices. This process will not be
intended to stifle discussion or information dissemination -- rather,
moderation will serve to keep the newsgroup on the topic. Postings from
reasonable opponents of animal liberation policies shall be welcomed.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHARTER & RATIONALE -- talk.politics.animals.misc
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHARTER.
~~~~~~~
Basically, this group is to become what the current talk.politics.animals
group is today. It is to be an unmoderated discussion forum for all matters
of animal politics unrelated to animal liberation.

Unfortunately, we can't locate the original Request For Discussion for
talk.politics.animals, so please see this charter as being a rough outline
of what the original may have been.

The talk.politics.animals.misc group will provide an unmoderated discussion
forum for all and any matters related to animal politics, perhaps even
those articles deemed unsuitable for inclusion in talk.politics.animals.lib-
eration.

RATIONALE.
~~~~~~~~~
The subjects covered by the umbrella of talk.politics.animals are broad.
Although the creation of a specific group talk.politics.animals.liberation
will provide a resource for matters relating to animal liberation, the story
does not end there. Within the talk.politics.animals.misc group there is
space
for arguments of a more ethreal nature, flames, passion and all the other
joys
usually associated with an unmoderated and controversial newsgroup.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------


NOTES
~~~~~
If the subject matter interests you, have a browse around the
http://www.umanitoba.ca/arrs/index.html resource on the WWW. It is a good
starting place.

    Also recommended is the book "Animal Liberation" by Peter Singer.

Please post any responses to this message to news.groups.

This is NOT a call for votes. A Call For Votes (CFV) will be posted
21 to 30 days from now and will be conducted by an independent third
party.

If you are interested in the group, then please participate in the
discussion.