[ This article is being relayed from the Usenet "alt.native" newsgroup. ]
Please take special note of this article IT IS VERY IMPORTANT for
readers of the NATIVE-L and NATCHAT mailing lists.
This article describes a request for consideration of a proposal to
create a new "Usenet newsgroup" to be called "soc.culture.native"
for the purpose of exchanging information and ideas along the same
lines that the NativeNet mailing lists have been doing for over three
years now.
For those who don't know, Usenet provides a mechanism for exchanging
articles without using mailing lists. It is more efficient and easier
to use. There are thousands of machines all over the world which are
members of Usenet, mostly at universities and high-tech corporations,
millions of subscribers, and hundreds of newsgroups on a very wide
variety of subjects.
If and when the new newsgroup comes into being, it will provide an
additional channel for the NativeNet exchanges presently taking
place via NATIVE-L and NATCHAT. The only effect it will have on
those mailing lists is that it will greatly enlarge the number of
people likely to take part in the exchanges. The mailing lists
will continue to be moderated and they will continue to remain
separate from one another, though articles from the two newsgroups
will be intermixed for the benefit of Usenet readers. Soc.culture.
native will be unmoderated. (Thus some articles posted to the news-
group will not be passed on to NATIVE-L or NATCHAT - and the modera-
tors of the mailing lists will decide to which of the mailing lists
a given article arriving from Usenet that is approved will be posted.)
I urge all readers of NATIVE-L and NATCHAT to vote on this proposal,
regardless of which way you vote. Personally, I feel the proposal
is a good one, and know it will result in a larger community - one
that I feel can achieve very worthwhile results.
Thanks very much for your help.
Gary Trujillo, NativeNet facilitator
[ Please note that the "Reply-To:" header line of this message has been
set to the address being used to collect votes, so most of you should
be able to simply "reply" to this message in order to vote. Jan will
accept votes placed either in the "Subject:" line of your message, or
in the body of the message, whichever is more convenient for you. ]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Call for Votes ("CFV"):
This is a call for votes to create a new unmoderated newsgroup,
soc.culture.native. This post contains information about the
proposed new group and voting instructions. Please read the
entire post before responding. A ballot is included at the end.
NEWSGROUP
soc.culture.native (unmoderated)
CHARTER
Soc.culture.native is for the discussion of issues relating to
native populations throughout the world. For the purposes of
defining this newsgroup, "native" is considered to be roughly
synonymous with "aboriginal" or "indigenous" -- all terms which
designate a populations's having been the first to inhabit a
particular region. This newsgroup is intended to be inclusive,
not exclusive, offering an important vehicle for exchange among
native peoples and between native and non-native peoples.
Besides providing a forum for the discussion of such issues as
sovereignty, religion, education and philosophy, this newsgroup
will also carry news stories and bulletins which pertain to
current events relating to indigenous peoples, and which alert
readers to urgent situations which require immediate responses,
such as human rights cases and imminent encroachment upon
native populations.
We recognize that a number of Usenet newsgroups do exist for
the purpose of exchanging information and ideas about various
peoples and places, and about issues (e.g., environment) which
are relevant to the concerns of the members of indigenous
societies. Soc.culture.native welcomes articles whose content
pertains to topics important to indigenous peoples which are
cross-posted to other newsgroups.
VOTING PERIOD
The poll shall open as soon as this message is posted by the
news.announce.newgroups moderator, David C Lawrence.
The poll shall close on 23:59:59 EST, Monday, 1 March 1993.
HOW TO VOTE
To cast a vote on soc.culture.native, email your vote me. Many
newsreaders will let you do so simply by replying to this post.
Either of these addresses should work, however, the .atl.ga.us
domain one may work better and faster.
jan@bagend.atl.ga.us or bagend.atl.ga.us!jan
jan@bagend.uucp or bagend.uucp!jan
If your mailer does not understand either of those, both emory and
gatech handle mail for me, so you can try some variation of these:
mathcs.emory.edu!bagend!jan or emory!bagend!jan
gatech.edu!bagend!jan or gatech!bagend!jan
If none of these addresses works, talk to someone at your site that
can help you address the mail properly. Posted votes will not count.
The subject header should be one of the following:
I vote YES on creation of soc.culture.native as proposed.
I vote NO on creation of soc.culture.native as proposed.
A ballot is included at the end of this post.
I prefer that you use the subject line, however, whether you use
the subject line or do so in the body of your email, you must make
an explicit statement for or against the newsgroup as proposed.
If your software does not supply your name in email headers, please
provide it in the body of your vote. Please do not mail me a copy
of this message with your vote. I already know what it says. :-)
VOTING RULES
* One vote per person.
If you vote more than once, only the most recent vote will be
counted. It may take days for email each way, so please do not
send multiple votes unless you really think the first one did
not make it. Watch for the vote acknowledgement posts.
* Votes must be mailed to me by the person voting.
No proxy voting, forwarding, etc. Posted votes will not count.
* Do not ask how the vote is going.
It is not appropriate for me to discuss the vote results until
after the poll closes.
AMBIGUOUS VOTE RESOLUTION
If the subject line or message body does not clearly indicate a
yes or no vote, I will make at least two attempts to contact the
voter for clarification. If these attempts fail, the vote will
not be counted and it will be so identified in the mass vote
acknowledgements and in the final vote tally.
VOTE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I will make one attempt to reply to each vote received.
I will make two attempts to reply to each ambiguous vote received.
I will post this Call For Votes two (or more) times before the
poll closes. Along with the repeat posts, I will include a list
of email addresses and names for each vote received. Ambiguous
votes will be identified at that time, yes and no votes will not.
RESULTS
For those of you not familiar with the usenet newsgroup creation
guidelines, here is how the process works:
The final vote tally, a list of names, addresses, and votes,
will be posted soon after the poll closes. There is then a five
day waiting period, during which the net will have a chance to
correct any errors in the voter list or the voting procedure.
After the waiting period, and if there were no serious objections
that might invalidate the vote, and if 100 more valid YES/create
votes are received than NO/don't create AND at least 2/3 of the
total number of valid votes received are in favor of creation, a
newgroup control message may be sent out. If the 100 vote margin
or 2/3 percentage is not met, the group should not be created.
The newgroup message will be sent by the news.announce.newgroups
moderator at the end of the waiting period of a successful vote.
BALLOT
Use one (1) and only (1) of these subject lines to cast your vote.
PLEASE remember to trim included lines in a reply to this post.
Subject: I vote YES on creation of soc.culture.native as proposed.
Subject: I vote NO on creation of soc.culture.native as proposed.
-- Jan Isley * Be a light unto yourself * Siddhartha Gautamajan@bagend.atl.ga.us {emory|gatech}!bagend!jan (404)434-1335