From etroll@flash.net Wed May 27 21:30:20 1998
Path: news.isc.org!bounce-back
From: etroll@flash.net (Eric O. Troldahl)
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,rec.autos.sport.nascar,rec.autos.sport.f1,rec.autos.sport.indy,rec.autos.sport.misc,rec.autos.sport.tech,rec.autos.sport.info
Subject: RFD: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated moderated
Followup-To: news.groups
Message-ID: <896328708.21545@isc.org>
Approved: newgroups-request@isc.org
Archive-Name: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 04:11:50 GMT
Lines: 505
Xref: news.isc.org news.announce.newgroups:10117 news.groups:284939 rec.autos.sport.nascar:138331 rec.autos.sport.f1:149618 rec.autos.sport.indy:75447 rec.autos.sport.misc:12288 rec.autos.sport.tech:14169 rec.autos.sport.info:11119

                     REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)
           moderated group rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

Newsgroup line:
rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated	NASCAR and Stockcar Racing. (Moderated)

RATIONALE: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

NASCAR and stockcar racing, as well as other motorsports, have been
the subjects of Usenet discussion for many years.  The existing
rec.autos.sport.nascar newsgroup (RASN) gets a total of well over a
hundred messages a day during the off-season and that number can
increase to two to four times that figure during the season, peaking
at over 1000 a day during speedweeks.  Much of this traffic is
relevant and of high-quality, but there are also significant problems
with spam, advertisements, Driver/Team/Sponsor/Car-Make/Media abuse,
and attacks aimed at other posters to the newsgroup.  Many former
posters to RASN have left because of this situation.

Rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated is intended to be a forum where all
topics related to NASCAR and stockcar racing can be discussed without
these distractions. The primary focus of the group will be NASCAR's
top 3 series: Winston Cup, Busch Grand National, and Craftsman
Trucks.  Questions and answers about this sport will be welcomed and
a FAQ will be maintained.

CHARTER: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

The unmoderated newsgroup rec.autos.sport.nascar has always been
fairly relaxed about what is on-topic. The moderated newsgroup will
be the same way.  Basically anything related to NASCAR or stock car
racing will be considered on-topic.

Posts about other types of motorsports (Indycar, F1, etc.) should be
directed to the appropriate newsgroup, unless they are comparing
stockcar racing to the other motorsport.  For example, a comparison
of the point systems of F1 and Winston Cup, and how using the F1
system would change the Winston Cup championship standings, is
on-topic.

The goal of rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (r.a.s.n.m) is to
provide its participants with a degree of free expression approaching
that found in unmoderated groups while maintaining an environment
free of the spam, commercial and money-making posts, personal
harassment, vulgarity and blatantly off topic material found in most
unmoderated forums.

The philosophy of r.a.s.n.m is that responsible people should be
trusted to post like responsible adults. Therefore, the moderation
effort will focus primarily on dealing with problems as they occur,
not on screening every post.  All posters will be initially trusted
with auto-approve status, which will enable their subsequent articles
to be posted immediately to the newsgroup without the involvement of
a human moderator.  They will retain auto-approve status unless they
demonstrate cause for its revocation.

Appropriate posts will meet one of the following criteria:

1. It would effectively start a new discussion.  Examples:

        - What is the current points system?
        - How do provisionals work?
        - How did Ricky Craven get an 8th provisional?
        - Discussions of actual Race or Qualifying action.
        - Questions about the mechanics of race cars and engines.

2. It adds content to an existing discussion.  Examples:

        - Points breakdown itself.
        - Actual NASCAR policy on provisionals.
        - Web site addresses of teams, drivers, or Fan Clubs.
        - Answers to questions posed by others.
        - Clarification of questions previously asked.

3. It is informative to the r.a.s.n.m community.  Examples:

        - Announcements of r.a.s.n reunions.
        - Announcements of upcoming TV schedules for racing.
        - Testing times.
        - Announcements of NASCAR events or schedules.
        - Announcements of driver appearances.

While examples are given wherever possible, it is impossible to
anticipate every attempt at finding a loophole. Therefore, the spirit
of all the rules should be followed as opposed to looking for leaks
and loopholes. For example, strange spellings or formats of profanity
would still be considered profanity.  Posters will be treated like
responsible adults and expected to act accordingly.

The following are unacceptable:

1) Bashing
2) Flames
3) Trolls
4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts
5) Profanity/Racial Slurs
6) Crossposts
7) Binaries
8) Posts without a respondable email address
9) Quotes of more than a few lines of copyrighted material
10) Posts deemed by the moderators to risk legal action

1) Bashing - defined as posts or portions of posts that verbally
attack others in an insulting or malicious manner to an extent that
would reasonably be considered libelous or slanderous.  In other
words: "Do not post anything that would make the driver or team you
support cringe or be embarrassed to have you as a fan."  This does
NOT mean that negative comments will be moderated out.  The
expression of negative opinions is a legitimate part of any
discussion and the right to express them in a non-malicious fashion
shall not be abridged.

2) Flames - defined as inflammatory posts or portions of posts whose
primary purpose is to induce an intense emotional response.

3) Trolls - Trolls are defined as posts that do not have substance to
their content, primarily meant to incite disruptive threads or
distract posters from the main intent of the newsgroup.

4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts are defined as posts whose
primary purpose is to solicit a benefit for the poster.  This would
include, but is not limited to, advertisements of businesses, direct
advertisements of goods and/or services for sale, posts advertising
the availability of goods and/or services for sale through another
medium, promotion of business opportunities, money-making schemes,
and chain letters.

Simply listing a business name, address, phone number, URL, etc. in
one's signature is not considered commercial use of the newsgroup.
However, signatures that are in fact advertisements, or which solicit
readers to patronize a for-profit venture or visit a commercial web
site fall under the definition of commercial or money-making posts.
Posts bearing such signatures are subject to rejection as such.

Posts promoting newsgroup related activities are not considered
commercial or money-making posts since there is no financial benefit
to any of the individuals involved.  These activities would include
but are not limited to the RASN Sponsorship Fund, raffles, and RASN
reunions.

Posts advising the group of charitable racing-related events or
offering NASCAR event or NASCAR/stockcar race tickets at or below
face value are also permitted.

5) Profanity/Racial Slurs - Posters should view r.a.s.n.m as polite
mixed company and watch their language accordingly.  While only a
short list of swear words and racial/ethnic slurs will be
specifically disallowed, posters are encouraged to write to the same
standards that are applied to the Sunday comics, specifically
changing the letters in profanity to special characters like !@#$% in
both original and quoted material.

6) Crossposts - defined as posts also directed to any other
newsgroup.  Exceptions to this limit are made for Usenet
Administrative purposes (as from news.announce.newgroups) and for
posts from rec.autos.sport.info.

7) Binaries - Binary posts are defined as posts that include
UUencoded, MIME-encoded, or any other form of binary message in the
body or signature other than Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) signatures.
This includes, but is not limited to, pictures, audio files,
executables, and HTML files.  Binaries should be posted to an
appropriate binaries newsgroup or a web page. A brief informative
notice should then be sent to the newsgroup.  The FAQ for this group
will list any web sites that have volunteered to have binaries posted
from r.a.s.n.m readers, and how to get the binary posted.

8) Email Addresses - Since an author's first post to r.a.s.n.m
generates an auto-response detailing the registration procedure, it
is strongly recommended that at least the first submission to the
group carry a valid return e-mail address.  This will avoid a delay
in the registration process that would result if the auto-response
bounces.  A person may register to post under a "munged" address to
defeat spambots, but the altered address must be readily decipherable
into the poster's valid address by a human.  This does not cut off
the use of pseudonymous remailers or munged headers, both of which
are allowable.

9) Copyrighted material - Quoting a line or two of copyrighted
material is not against the law.  However, quoting entire articles is
a copyright violation (unless the poster has permission from the
copyright holder).  If articles are available on the web, a short
summary of the article with a URL is the accepted method of posting.

10) Legal Risk - The moderators reserve the right to reject posts
that, in their view, carry the potential risk of legal action being
taken against any of the parties involved.


The following are discouraged, but will not be rejected outright.

11) Posts in languages other than English
12) Signatures over 6 lines
13) Posts with difficult to read formatting
14) Posts only containing questions answered completely in the FAQ
15) Spoilers (posts revealing the winner of this weeks race without
warning)

11) Non-English - At this time, 100% of the readers of the group know
English, with English being the only language of most readers.
Therefore, english is strongly recommended as the posting language of
choice for r.a.s.n.m.  Posts in languages other than English will be
examined for approval if any of the moderators can read the language
in question. There is no guarantee of approval for posts in any
language other than English.

12) Signatures - USENET netiquette limits signatures to four lines.
=46or r.a.s.n.m, posters are encouraged to keep their signatures to six
lines or less. PGP signature data and additional lines automatically
added by services such as hotmail and Deja News are not included in
the count, but all other text, including boxes around the signature,
is included.

13) Readability - USENET Netiquette says that for everyone's
enjoyment, all posts should have right margins in the 60-70 range.
The range from 60-70 is for unquoted text.  Quoted text may continue
to expand to the right.  Also, over 2/3 text quoted from previous
posters is strongly discouraged.  If a poster regularly fails to meet
these simple rules, a moderator will contact the person to find out
if they can fix the problem.

14) FAQ - Posters asking questions that are covered completely in the
=46AQ will be sent a copy of the FAQ and the post will be accepted.
Other posters are encouraged to welcome the user, respond to the
post, or remain silent.

15) Spoilers - Posts that reveal information about the current week's
race that could 'spoil' another's viewing of the race, such as who
won, who crashed, etc., should include the word SPOILER in the
heading, and should not include the spoiler information itself in the
heading.  Posts that are spoilers will not be rejected, nor should
the posters be harassed because of the post, but it is preferred if
people use the proper SPOILER etiquette.  Newsgroup readers are
encouraged to watch the current race before reading r.a.s.n.m if they
do not want the race discussion to reduce their viewing enjoyment.

Moderation overview:

Moderation procedure - To reduce their workload and expedite the
posting of articles to the group, the moderation team will employ
automated moderation software (robo-moderation). As much of the work
as possible will be turned over to the moderation software.  This
software will scan each incoming article, then either post it
directly to the group without human review, return it to the author
with an appropriate explanation, or forward it to a human moderator.
Posts will either be accepted in whole, or rejected. The moderators
will NEVER modify them at all.

Auto-rejection: binaries, crossposts, profanity, racial slurs, and
articles from authors on the auto-reject list will be automatically
rejected. The moderation team will maintain a list of words that will
cause a post to be automatically rejected.  In the spirit of allowing
as much free expression as possible, the list will be as short as
possible while still insuring a civil environment within the group.

Auto-kickout:  There will be another short list of potentially
offensive words that will cause a post to be kicked out for human
moderation. .  These lists can be modified as needed by a simple
majority vote of the moderators.  Posters may explicitly request
human moderation of an article by placing the special phrase
MOD-HUMAN in the subject line.  This may be desirable if the author
feels there may be something in the article that would cause the
moderation software to automatically reject it. The moderators can
also add this tag to a thread.

Auto-approve:  Provided an article does not trigger an auto-rejection
or auto-kickout, articles from authors on the auto-approve list will
be posted directly to the group without human review.

Moderation sequence:  All incoming articles will be moderated
according to the following sequence with steps 1-4 being performed by
the moderation software

1. Is the author a first time poster?
        Yes - Initiate the registration process (see below)
        No  - Continue

2. Is there an auto-kickout?
        Yes - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)
        No  - Continue

3. Are there grounds for auto-rejection?
        Yes - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.
        No  - Continue

4. Is the author on the auto-approve list?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)

5. Does the article meet the charter guidelines?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.

r.a.s.n.m registration:  When the moderation software detects an
article from a first time poster, an auto-response containing the
charter, FAQ and instructions for completing the registration are
returned to the author.  The article is forwarded to a human
moderator. Should the auto-response bounce back to a moderator and a
valid reply-to address for the author cannot be determined, the
registration cannot be completed and the initial article will not be
posted.  If the moderator can determine a valid address, they will
forward the registration information to the author's valid address.

When the author acknowledges by return e-mail that he/she has read
the material and agrees to abide by the charter, he/she is placed on
the auto-approve list.  If the initial article is on charter, it is
posted at that time.

Human moderation:  Individual moderators will have the authority to
reject articles that are clearly off-charter (commercial or
money-making posts, etc.), and to accept articles that are clearly
on-charter.  Should there be any question about an article being
reviewed, it will be forwarded to another moderator for a second
opinion.  If the first two moderators to review an article agree, it
will be accepted or rejected accordingly.  If the first two
moderators to review an article disagree, the article will be
forwarded to a third moderator for a deciding vote.

Moderators will execute the above procedure as rapidly as possible in
order to minimize the delay in getting human moderated articles
posted.

Key to the moderation philosophy, articles will not be rejected
because of the author's opinion or position on an issue, nor will any
human moderated post be rejected because of the author of the post.
Moderator's opinions will be expressed only within their own posts,
not within their moderation activities. Anyone who is willing to
follow the Charter guidelines is welcome to post to r.a.s.n.m, and
their posts will be accepted un-edited if they have followed the
Charter criteria.  'Posts will never be edited by moderators.

If a moderator discovers off-charter material posted in the group,
he/she has three options:

1) Ignore it if it isn't blatant
2) Send an e-mail reminder of charter guidelines to the poster
3) Temporary removal of the poster's auto-post status

How the off-charter post is handled will be determined by what
response the situation warrants, but the moderator should use
restraint whenever possible and use removal of auto-post status only
as a last resort.  In the event that the moderator feels the
situation is severe enough to warrant temporarily suspending the
author's auto-approve privilege, the moderator must immediately
notify the other moderators and forward a copy of the post to the
rest of the moderation team.  The moderation team must then decide
within one week whether to restore the author to auto-approve or
continue the suspension.  A two-thirds majority is required to
maintain the suspension.  Posters suspended from auto-approve may
continue to post, but all their articles will be subject to human
moderation while the suspension is in effect.  Auto-approve may be
restored at any time by a simple majority vote of the moderators.

A poster who consistently submits off-charter material may be placed
on the auto-reject list by a two-thirds majority vote of the
moderators.  Posters placed on auto-reject for this reason will be
sent a copy of the charter, FAQ and instructions on how to petition
for reinstatement.

Individuals who engage in threatening or abusive behavior toward a
moderator, or who attempt to interfere with the normal operation of
the newsgroup or the internet accounts supporting the newsgroup or
it's members, other than reporting net-abuse, will be placed on
auto-reject for not less than one year.

Moderator administration and changes:  The moderation team will
initially plan to include 5 to 7 moderators.  They will be
responsible for maintaining the moderation software and reviewing
articles that are neither auto-approved nor auto-rejected. New
moderators can be added as deemed appropriate upon the approval of
two-thirds of the existing moderators. Candidates for new moderators
will only be taken from those people who have been on the
auto-approve list continuously for 3 months.  During the first 3
months of the newsgroup, the 3 month requirement will be waived.  A
special call for volunteers can be posted when an existing moderator
steps down or when the workload on the moderators is deemed
sufficient that they feel it is appropriate to increase their number.

There will be an administrative mailing list, on which the moderators
can discuss the enforcement and modification of the guidelines given
here.

A thread may be marked for human attention upon agreement of a
majority of the moderators. This overrides normal auto-approval and
content based auto-rejection, and brings all posts in the thread to
moderator attention so potential problems can be dealt with before
measures as drastic as removal of auto-approval status are called
for.  Notice of thread marking may be posted to the newsgroup, but is
not required.

Appeals: A poster who feels that a rejected post was within the
charter can appeal to the administrative list. If a majority of the
moderators agree that the post should be approved, it will be posted
as usual.  If the poster's auto-approve status was suspended as a
result of an article that is successfully appealed, auto-approve will
be restored.

Complaints or compliments about moderator judgments, and other
matters related to the running of the newsgroup are welcome on the
administrative list, but not on the newsgroup. No post relating to
such discussions will be approved for the newsgroup. Any decision
made about action to take (or not to take) is final. Posters who
persist in pressing the issue will be subject to auto-rejection.

Charter revisions: Any discussion on revision of the charter must
include "CHARTER:" as the beginning of the subject line.  After
discussion in the newsgroup, the moderators will judge the group
consensus and let the group know if any charter changes take place.
Any changes must pass with a 2/3rds majority of the moderators
agreeing on what the group is requesting.  This is not a vote of the
opinions of the moderators, but rather to ensure that the moderators
have a clear understanding of what the members of the newsgroup want.
If the moderators are not sure of the consensus of the group, or if
members of the group challenge the moderators' decision, an actual
vote will be taken.  Votes will require a 2/3 majority to modify the
charter.  The moderators will post all results of charter
modification votes to the group after the voting is completed.  The
subject line will include the phrase "CHARTER:" so that those who
wish to ignore them can skip the threads or set their
killfiles/filters to ignore them.  Changes will also be made to the
=46AQ.

The FAQ will be posted every Friday.

Moderators who are unwilling or unable to uphold the charter in their
personal posts or moderation activities may be removed by a
two-thirds vote of the other moderators.

Third party cancels ('retro-moderation') by anyone, including but not
limited to moderators, is strictly against newsgroup policy.

END CHARTER.

MODERATOR INFO: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

Moderator: Eric O. Troldahl <etroll@flash.net>
Moderator: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@dittosrush.com>
Moderator: Deven Atkinson <deven@Mcs.Net>
Moderator: Lisa A. Carbrey <lcarbrey@hotmail.com>
Moderator: John Martin <jtmartin@spartanburg.net>
Moderator: Chris Watkins <umytbnxt@mindspring.com>
Moderator: Rev. Martin X. Moleski, SJ <TBD>

Administrative contact address: TBA
Article submission address: TBA

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,
rec.autos.sport.nascar, rec.autos.sport.f1,
rec.autos.sport.indy, rec.autos.sport.info,
rec.autos.sport.misc, rec.autos.sport.tech

And the following mailing lists:

Lighter Side of NASCAR (submission address: semh@earthlink.net)
StockCarFans (submission address: racecar3@bellsouth.net)

Proponent: Eric O. Troldahl <etroll@flash.net>
Proponent: Deven Atkinson <deven@Mcs.Net>
Proponent: Rich Bemben <rbemben@eng.micrion.com>
Proponent: Lisa A. Carbrey <lcarbrey@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Tom Duwe <tduwe@primenet.com>
Proponent: Ronnie Hiatt <oldsteel@bellsouth.net>
Proponent: Sue Horan-Phillips <NASCARFun@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Henry Kelley <tinylights@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Nancy Kendrick <daytonatwin125s@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Ken 'Poppy' Kraus <floridapoppy@webtv.net>
Proponent: Jerry 'Tinadog' Kyte <Tinadog@aol.com>
Proponent: John Martin <jtmartin@spartanburg.net>
Proponent: Lynwood Matteson <lcmatteson@ucdavis.edu>
Proponent: Mike McGuigan <mcguigan@mindspring.com>
Proponent: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@dittosrush.com>
Proponent: Chris Watkins <umytbnxt@mindspring.com>
Proponent: John 'DeliveryBoy' Sutphin <wahoo_35@hotmail.com>

-- 
Eric O. Troldahl, etroll@flash.net
Lead Proponent, rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
(sorry for the munged headers, I hate spam)

From etroll@flash.net Fri Jun  5 10:46:37 1998
Path: news.isc.org!bounce-back
From: etroll@flash.net (Eric O. Troldahl)
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,rec.autos.sport.nascar,rec.autos.sport.f1,rec.autos.sport.indy,rec.autos.sport.misc,rec.autos.sport.tech,rec.autos.sport.info
Subject: RFD: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated moderated
Followup-To: news.groups
Message-ID: <897068790.18544@isc.org>
Approved: newgroups-request@isc.org
Archive-Name: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 04:11:50 GMT
Lines: 505
Xref: news.isc.org news.announce.newgroups:10152 news.groups:286805 rec.autos.sport.nascar:140629 rec.autos.sport.f1:152253 rec.autos.sport.indy:77059 rec.autos.sport.misc:12387 rec.autos.sport.tech:14269 rec.autos.sport.info:11390

                     REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)
           moderated group rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

Newsgroup line:
rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated	NASCAR and Stockcar Racing. (Moderated)

RATIONALE: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

NASCAR and stockcar racing, as well as other motorsports, have been
the subjects of Usenet discussion for many years.  The existing
rec.autos.sport.nascar newsgroup (RASN) gets a total of well over a
hundred messages a day during the off-season and that number can
increase to two to four times that figure during the season, peaking
at over 1000 a day during speedweeks.  Much of this traffic is
relevant and of high-quality, but there are also significant problems
with spam, advertisements, Driver/Team/Sponsor/Car-Make/Media abuse,
and attacks aimed at other posters to the newsgroup.  Many former
posters to RASN have left because of this situation.

Rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated is intended to be a forum where all
topics related to NASCAR and stockcar racing can be discussed without
these distractions. The primary focus of the group will be NASCAR's
top 3 series: Winston Cup, Busch Grand National, and Craftsman
Trucks.  Questions and answers about this sport will be welcomed and
a FAQ will be maintained.

CHARTER: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

The unmoderated newsgroup rec.autos.sport.nascar has always been
fairly relaxed about what is on-topic. The moderated newsgroup will
be the same way.  Basically anything related to NASCAR or stock car
racing will be considered on-topic.

Posts about other types of motorsports (Indycar, F1, etc.) should be
directed to the appropriate newsgroup, unless they are comparing
stockcar racing to the other motorsport.  For example, a comparison
of the point systems of F1 and Winston Cup, and how using the F1
system would change the Winston Cup championship standings, is
on-topic.

The goal of rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (r.a.s.n.m) is to
provide its participants with a degree of free expression approaching
that found in unmoderated groups while maintaining an environment
free of the spam, commercial and money-making posts, personal
harassment, vulgarity and blatantly off topic material found in most
unmoderated forums.

The philosophy of r.a.s.n.m is that responsible people should be
trusted to post like responsible adults. Therefore, the moderation
effort will focus primarily on dealing with problems as they occur,
not on screening every post.  All posters will be initially trusted
with auto-approve status, which will enable their subsequent articles
to be posted immediately to the newsgroup without the involvement of
a human moderator.  They will retain auto-approve status unless they
demonstrate cause for its revocation.

Appropriate posts will meet one of the following criteria:

1. It would effectively start a new discussion.  Examples:

        - What is the current points system?
        - How do provisionals work?
        - How did Ricky Craven get an 8th provisional?
        - Discussions of actual Race or Qualifying action.
        - Questions about the mechanics of race cars and engines.

2. It adds content to an existing discussion.  Examples:

        - Points breakdown itself.
        - Actual NASCAR policy on provisionals.
        - Web site addresses of teams, drivers, or Fan Clubs.
        - Answers to questions posed by others.
        - Clarification of questions previously asked.

3. It is informative to the r.a.s.n.m community.  Examples:

        - Announcements of r.a.s.n reunions.
        - Announcements of upcoming TV schedules for racing.
        - Testing times.
        - Announcements of NASCAR events or schedules.
        - Announcements of driver appearances.

While examples are given wherever possible, it is impossible to
anticipate every attempt at finding a loophole. Therefore, the spirit
of all the rules should be followed as opposed to looking for leaks
and loopholes. For example, strange spellings or formats of profanity
would still be considered profanity.  Posters will be treated like
responsible adults and expected to act accordingly.

The following are unacceptable:

1) Bashing
2) Flames
3) Trolls
4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts
5) Profanity/Racial Slurs
6) Crossposts
7) Binaries
8) Posts without a respondable email address
9) Quotes of more than a few lines of copyrighted material
10) Posts deemed by the moderators to risk legal action

1) Bashing - defined as posts or portions of posts that verbally
attack others in an insulting or malicious manner to an extent that
would reasonably be considered libelous or slanderous.  In other
words: "Do not post anything that would make the driver or team you
support cringe or be embarrassed to have you as a fan."  This does
NOT mean that negative comments will be moderated out.  The
expression of negative opinions is a legitimate part of any
discussion and the right to express them in a non-malicious fashion
shall not be abridged.

2) Flames - defined as inflammatory posts or portions of posts whose
primary purpose is to induce an intense emotional response.

3) Trolls - Trolls are defined as posts that do not have substance to
their content, primarily meant to incite disruptive threads or
distract posters from the main intent of the newsgroup.

4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts are defined as posts whose
primary purpose is to solicit a benefit for the poster.  This would
include, but is not limited to, advertisements of businesses, direct
advertisements of goods and/or services for sale, posts advertising
the availability of goods and/or services for sale through another
medium, promotion of business opportunities, money-making schemes,
and chain letters.

Simply listing a business name, address, phone number, URL, etc. in
one's signature is not considered commercial use of the newsgroup.
However, signatures that are in fact advertisements, or which solicit
readers to patronize a for-profit venture or visit a commercial web
site fall under the definition of commercial or money-making posts.
Posts bearing such signatures are subject to rejection as such.

Posts promoting newsgroup related activities are not considered
commercial or money-making posts since there is no financial benefit
to any of the individuals involved.  These activities would include
but are not limited to the RASN Sponsorship Fund, raffles, and RASN
reunions.

Posts advising the group of charitable racing-related events or
offering NASCAR event or NASCAR/stockcar race tickets at or below
face value are also permitted.

5) Profanity/Racial Slurs - Posters should view r.a.s.n.m as polite
mixed company and watch their language accordingly.  While only a
short list of swear words and racial/ethnic slurs will be
specifically disallowed, posters are encouraged to write to the same
standards that are applied to the Sunday comics, specifically
changing the letters in profanity to special characters like !@#$% in
both original and quoted material.

6) Crossposts - defined as posts also directed to any other
newsgroup.  Exceptions to this limit are made for Usenet
Administrative purposes (as from news.announce.newgroups) and for
posts from rec.autos.sport.info.

7) Binaries - Binary posts are defined as posts that include
UUencoded, MIME-encoded, or any other form of binary message in the
body or signature other than Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) signatures.
This includes, but is not limited to, pictures, audio files,
executables, and HTML files.  Binaries should be posted to an
appropriate binaries newsgroup or a web page. A brief informative
notice should then be sent to the newsgroup.  The FAQ for this group
will list any web sites that have volunteered to have binaries posted
from r.a.s.n.m readers, and how to get the binary posted.

8) Email Addresses - Since an author's first post to r.a.s.n.m
generates an auto-response detailing the registration procedure, it
is strongly recommended that at least the first submission to the
group carry a valid return e-mail address.  This will avoid a delay
in the registration process that would result if the auto-response
bounces.  A person may register to post under a "munged" address to
defeat spambots, but the altered address must be readily decipherable
into the poster's valid address by a human.  This does not cut off
the use of pseudonymous remailers or munged headers, both of which
are allowable.

9) Copyrighted material - Quoting a line or two of copyrighted
material is not against the law.  However, quoting entire articles is
a copyright violation (unless the poster has permission from the
copyright holder).  If articles are available on the web, a short
summary of the article with a URL is the accepted method of posting.

10) Legal Risk - The moderators reserve the right to reject posts
that, in their view, carry the potential risk of legal action being
taken against any of the parties involved.


The following are discouraged, but will not be rejected outright.

11) Posts in languages other than English
12) Signatures over 6 lines
13) Posts with difficult to read formatting
14) Posts only containing questions answered completely in the FAQ
15) Spoilers (posts revealing the winner of this weeks race without
warning)

11) Non-English - At this time, 100% of the readers of the group know
English, with English being the only language of most readers.
Therefore, english is strongly recommended as the posting language of
choice for r.a.s.n.m.  Posts in languages other than English will be
examined for approval if any of the moderators can read the language
in question. There is no guarantee of approval for posts in any
language other than English.

12) Signatures - USENET netiquette limits signatures to four lines.
=46or r.a.s.n.m, posters are encouraged to keep their signatures to six
lines or less. PGP signature data and additional lines automatically
added by services such as hotmail and Deja News are not included in
the count, but all other text, including boxes around the signature,
is included.

13) Readability - USENET Netiquette says that for everyone's
enjoyment, all posts should have right margins in the 60-70 range.
The range from 60-70 is for unquoted text.  Quoted text may continue
to expand to the right.  Also, over 2/3 text quoted from previous
posters is strongly discouraged.  If a poster regularly fails to meet
these simple rules, a moderator will contact the person to find out
if they can fix the problem.

14) FAQ - Posters asking questions that are covered completely in the
=46AQ will be sent a copy of the FAQ and the post will be accepted.
Other posters are encouraged to welcome the user, respond to the
post, or remain silent.

15) Spoilers - Posts that reveal information about the current week's
race that could 'spoil' another's viewing of the race, such as who
won, who crashed, etc., should include the word SPOILER in the
heading, and should not include the spoiler information itself in the
heading.  Posts that are spoilers will not be rejected, nor should
the posters be harassed because of the post, but it is preferred if
people use the proper SPOILER etiquette.  Newsgroup readers are
encouraged to watch the current race before reading r.a.s.n.m if they
do not want the race discussion to reduce their viewing enjoyment.

Moderation overview:

Moderation procedure - To reduce their workload and expedite the
posting of articles to the group, the moderation team will employ
automated moderation software (robo-moderation). As much of the work
as possible will be turned over to the moderation software.  This
software will scan each incoming article, then either post it
directly to the group without human review, return it to the author
with an appropriate explanation, or forward it to a human moderator.
Posts will either be accepted in whole, or rejected. The moderators
will NEVER modify them at all.

Auto-rejection: binaries, crossposts, profanity, racial slurs, and
articles from authors on the auto-reject list will be automatically
rejected. The moderation team will maintain a list of words that will
cause a post to be automatically rejected.  In the spirit of allowing
as much free expression as possible, the list will be as short as
possible while still insuring a civil environment within the group.

Auto-kickout:  There will be another short list of potentially
offensive words that will cause a post to be kicked out for human
moderation. .  These lists can be modified as needed by a simple
majority vote of the moderators.  Posters may explicitly request
human moderation of an article by placing the special phrase
MOD-HUMAN in the subject line.  This may be desirable if the author
feels there may be something in the article that would cause the
moderation software to automatically reject it. The moderators can
also add this tag to a thread.

Auto-approve:  Provided an article does not trigger an auto-rejection
or auto-kickout, articles from authors on the auto-approve list will
be posted directly to the group without human review.

Moderation sequence:  All incoming articles will be moderated
according to the following sequence with steps 1-4 being performed by
the moderation software

1. Is the author a first time poster?
        Yes - Initiate the registration process (see below)
        No  - Continue

2. Is there an auto-kickout?
        Yes - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)
        No  - Continue

3. Are there grounds for auto-rejection?
        Yes - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.
        No  - Continue

4. Is the author on the auto-approve list?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)

5. Does the article meet the charter guidelines?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.

r.a.s.n.m registration:  When the moderation software detects an
article from a first time poster, an auto-response containing the
charter, FAQ and instructions for completing the registration are
returned to the author.  The article is forwarded to a human
moderator. Should the auto-response bounce back to a moderator and a
valid reply-to address for the author cannot be determined, the
registration cannot be completed and the initial article will not be
posted.  If the moderator can determine a valid address, they will
forward the registration information to the author's valid address.

When the author acknowledges by return e-mail that he/she has read
the material and agrees to abide by the charter, he/she is placed on
the auto-approve list.  If the initial article is on charter, it is
posted at that time.

Human moderation:  Individual moderators will have the authority to
reject articles that are clearly off-charter (commercial or
money-making posts, etc.), and to accept articles that are clearly
on-charter.  Should there be any question about an article being
reviewed, it will be forwarded to another moderator for a second
opinion.  If the first two moderators to review an article agree, it
will be accepted or rejected accordingly.  If the first two
moderators to review an article disagree, the article will be
forwarded to a third moderator for a deciding vote.

Moderators will execute the above procedure as rapidly as possible in
order to minimize the delay in getting human moderated articles
posted.

Key to the moderation philosophy, articles will not be rejected
because of the author's opinion or position on an issue, nor will any
human moderated post be rejected because of the author of the post.
Moderator's opinions will be expressed only within their own posts,
not within their moderation activities. Anyone who is willing to
follow the Charter guidelines is welcome to post to r.a.s.n.m, and
their posts will be accepted un-edited if they have followed the
Charter criteria.  'Posts will never be edited by moderators.

If a moderator discovers off-charter material posted in the group,
he/she has three options:

1) Ignore it if it isn't blatant
2) Send an e-mail reminder of charter guidelines to the poster
3) Temporary removal of the poster's auto-post status

How the off-charter post is handled will be determined by what
response the situation warrants, but the moderator should use
restraint whenever possible and use removal of auto-post status only
as a last resort.  In the event that the moderator feels the
situation is severe enough to warrant temporarily suspending the
author's auto-approve privilege, the moderator must immediately
notify the other moderators and forward a copy of the post to the
rest of the moderation team.  The moderation team must then decide
within one week whether to restore the author to auto-approve or
continue the suspension.  A two-thirds majority is required to
maintain the suspension.  Posters suspended from auto-approve may
continue to post, but all their articles will be subject to human
moderation while the suspension is in effect.  Auto-approve may be
restored at any time by a simple majority vote of the moderators.

A poster who consistently submits off-charter material may be placed
on the auto-reject list by a two-thirds majority vote of the
moderators.  Posters placed on auto-reject for this reason will be
sent a copy of the charter, FAQ and instructions on how to petition
for reinstatement.

Individuals who engage in threatening or abusive behavior toward a
moderator, or who attempt to interfere with the normal operation of
the newsgroup or the internet accounts supporting the newsgroup or
it's members, other than reporting net-abuse, will be placed on
auto-reject for not less than one year.

Moderator administration and changes:  The moderation team will
initially plan to include 5 to 7 moderators.  They will be
responsible for maintaining the moderation software and reviewing
articles that are neither auto-approved nor auto-rejected. New
moderators can be added as deemed appropriate upon the approval of
two-thirds of the existing moderators. Candidates for new moderators
will only be taken from those people who have been on the
auto-approve list continuously for 3 months.  During the first 3
months of the newsgroup, the 3 month requirement will be waived.  A
special call for volunteers can be posted when an existing moderator
steps down or when the workload on the moderators is deemed
sufficient that they feel it is appropriate to increase their number.

There will be an administrative mailing list, on which the moderators
can discuss the enforcement and modification of the guidelines given
here.

A thread may be marked for human attention upon agreement of a
majority of the moderators. This overrides normal auto-approval and
content based auto-rejection, and brings all posts in the thread to
moderator attention so potential problems can be dealt with before
measures as drastic as removal of auto-approval status are called
for.  Notice of thread marking may be posted to the newsgroup, but is
not required.

Appeals: A poster who feels that a rejected post was within the
charter can appeal to the administrative list. If a majority of the
moderators agree that the post should be approved, it will be posted
as usual.  If the poster's auto-approve status was suspended as a
result of an article that is successfully appealed, auto-approve will
be restored.

Complaints or compliments about moderator judgments, and other
matters related to the running of the newsgroup are welcome on the
administrative list, but not on the newsgroup. No post relating to
such discussions will be approved for the newsgroup. Any decision
made about action to take (or not to take) is final. Posters who
persist in pressing the issue will be subject to auto-rejection.

Charter revisions: Any discussion on revision of the charter must
include "CHARTER:" as the beginning of the subject line.  After
discussion in the newsgroup, the moderators will judge the group
consensus and let the group know if any charter changes take place.
Any changes must pass with a 2/3rds majority of the moderators
agreeing on what the group is requesting.  This is not a vote of the
opinions of the moderators, but rather to ensure that the moderators
have a clear understanding of what the members of the newsgroup want.
If the moderators are not sure of the consensus of the group, or if
members of the group challenge the moderators' decision, an actual
vote will be taken.  Votes will require a 2/3 majority to modify the
charter.  The moderators will post all results of charter
modification votes to the group after the voting is completed.  The
subject line will include the phrase "CHARTER:" so that those who
wish to ignore them can skip the threads or set their
killfiles/filters to ignore them.  Changes will also be made to the
=46AQ.

The FAQ will be posted every Friday.

Moderators who are unwilling or unable to uphold the charter in their
personal posts or moderation activities may be removed by a
two-thirds vote of the other moderators.

Third party cancels ('retro-moderation') by anyone, including but not
limited to moderators, is strictly against newsgroup policy.

END CHARTER.

MODERATOR INFO: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

Moderator: Eric O. Troldahl <etroll@flash.net>
Moderator: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@dittosrush.com>
Moderator: Deven Atkinson <deven@Mcs.Net>
Moderator: Lisa A. Carbrey <lcarbrey@hotmail.com>
Moderator: John Martin <jtmartin@spartanburg.net>
Moderator: Chris Watkins <umytbnxt@mindspring.com>
Moderator: Rev. Martin X. Moleski, SJ <TBD>

Administrative contact address: TBA
Article submission address: TBA

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,
rec.autos.sport.nascar, rec.autos.sport.f1,
rec.autos.sport.indy, rec.autos.sport.info,
rec.autos.sport.misc, rec.autos.sport.tech

And the following mailing lists:

Lighter Side of NASCAR (submission address: semh@earthlink.net)
StockCarFans (submission address: racecar3@bellsouth.net)

Proponent: Eric O. Troldahl <etroll@flash.net>
Proponent: Deven Atkinson <deven@Mcs.Net>
Proponent: Rich Bemben <rbemben@eng.micrion.com>
Proponent: Lisa A. Carbrey <lcarbrey@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Tom Duwe <tduwe@primenet.com>
Proponent: Ronnie Hiatt <oldsteel@bellsouth.net>
Proponent: Sue Horan-Phillips <NASCARFun@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Henry Kelley <tinylights@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Nancy Kendrick <daytonatwin125s@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Ken 'Poppy' Kraus <floridapoppy@webtv.net>
Proponent: Jerry 'Tinadog' Kyte <Tinadog@aol.com>
Proponent: John Martin <jtmartin@spartanburg.net>
Proponent: Lynwood Matteson <lcmatteson@ucdavis.edu>
Proponent: Mike McGuigan <mcguigan@mindspring.com>
Proponent: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@dittosrush.com>
Proponent: Chris Watkins <umytbnxt@mindspring.com>
Proponent: John 'DeliveryBoy' Sutphin <wahoo_35@hotmail.com>

-- 
Eric O. Troldahl, etroll@flash.net
Lead Proponent, rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
(sorry for the munged headers, I hate spam)

From etroll@flash.net Sun Jun 14 20:15:09 1998
Path: news.isc.org!bounce-back
From: etroll@flash.net (Eric O. Troldahl)
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,rec.autos.sport.nascar,rec.autos.sport.f1,rec.autos.sport.indy,rec.autos.sport.misc,rec.autos.sport.tech,rec.autos.sport.info
Subject: 2nd RFD: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated moderated
Followup-To: news.groups
Message-ID: <897880198.15596@isc.org>
Approved: newgroups-request@isc.org
Archive-Name: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 03:09:58 GMT
Lines: 567
Xref: news.isc.org news.announce.newgroups:10195 news.groups:287976 rec.autos.sport.nascar:144533 rec.autos.sport.f1:155064 rec.autos.sport.indy:78454 rec.autos.sport.misc:12442 rec.autos.sport.tech:14343 rec.autos.sport.info:11647

                     REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)
           moderated group rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

This is the 2nd formal Request For Discussion (RFD) for the creation
of a world-wide moderated Usenet newsgroup
rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated.  This is not a Call for Votes
(CFV); you cannot vote at this time.  Procedural details are below.

CHANGES from previous RFD:

1. The paragraph relating to discouraging posting spoiler messages
without the word SPOILER has been deleted, and a paragraph warning
that SPOILER messages are likely to be posted without labelling as
such, and people who do not want their tape-delayed races ruined
should refrain from reading the newsgroup.

2. Language was added to clarify that all rejected posts will include
instructions for appealing the rejection.

3. The "Profanity and Racial Slurs" paragraph was modified in order
to clarify how many letters of a word could be used when blanking out
profanity in the style of the Sunday comics.

4.  Deleted the Mailing Lists from distribution.  We decided that
pointers to the RFD would be better than sending to mailing lists
that cannot get the CFV.

5.  The submission and administrative addresses are included.

6.  The moderator email addresses are those intended to be used
officially when the group is created.  Our current email addresses
are still listed in the "Proponents" section.

Newsgroup line:
rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated	NASCAR and Stockcar Racing. (Moderated)

RATIONALE: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

NASCAR and stockcar racing, as well as other motorsports, have been
the subjects of Usenet discussion for many years.  The existing
rec.autos.sport.nascar newsgroup (RASN) gets a total of well over a
hundred messages a day during the off-season and that number can
increase to two to four times that figure during the season, peaking
at over 1000 a day during speedweeks.  Much of this traffic is
relevant and of high-quality, but there are also significant problems
with spam, advertisements, Driver/Team/Sponsor/Car-Make/Media abuse,
and attacks aimed at other posters to the newsgroup.  Many former
posters to RASN have left because of this situation.

Rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated is intended to be a forum where all
topics related to NASCAR and stockcar racing can be discussed without
these distractions. The primary focus of the group will be NASCAR's
top 3 series: Winston Cup, Busch Grand National, and Craftsman
Trucks.  Questions and answers about this sport will be welcomed and
a FAQ will be maintained.

CHARTER: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

The unmoderated newsgroup rec.autos.sport.nascar has always been
fairly relaxed about what is on-topic. The moderated newsgroup will
be the same way.  Basically anything related to NASCAR or stock car
racing will be considered on-topic.

Posts about other types of motorsports (Indycar, F1, etc.) should be
directed to the appropriate newsgroup, unless they are comparing
stockcar racing to the other motorsport.  For example, a comparison
of the point systems of F1 and Winston Cup, and how using the F1
system would change the Winston Cup championship standings, is
on-topic.

The goal of rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (r.a.s.n.m) is to
provide its participants with a degree of free expression approaching
that found in unmoderated groups while maintaining an environment
free of the spam, commercial and money-making posts, personal
harassment, vulgarity and blatantly off topic material found in most
unmoderated forums.

The philosophy of r.a.s.n.m is that responsible people should be
trusted to post like responsible adults. Therefore, the moderation
effort will focus primarily on dealing with problems as they occur,
not on screening every post.  All posters will be initially trusted
with auto-approve status, which will enable their subsequent articles
to be posted immediately to the newsgroup without the involvement of
a human moderator.  They will retain auto-approve status unless they
demonstrate cause for its revocation.

Newsgroup readers are warned that since this is a discussion group
about racing, people here will want to talk about racing, even during
the televised races.  If you want your tape-delayed viewing to be
unspoiled by knowing who won, crashed, etc., it is best to keep
yourself away from all sources of racing information, including
newsgroups, cable TV, racing radio shows, newspapers, coworkers, etc.
It is considered polite to include the word SPOILER in the subject of
posts about races less than 48 hours old, leaving discussion of the
details out of the header, but this WILL NOT be enforced.

Appropriate posts will meet one of the following criteria:

1. It would effectively start a new discussion.  Examples:

        - What is the current points system?
        - How do provisionals work?
        - How did Ricky Craven get an 8th provisional?
        - Discussions of actual Race or Qualifying action.
        - Questions about the mechanics of race cars and engines.

2. It adds content to an existing discussion.  Examples:

        - Points breakdown itself.
        - Actual NASCAR policy on provisionals.
        - Web site addresses of teams, drivers, or Fan Clubs.
        - Answers to questions posed by others.
        - Clarification of questions previously asked.

3. It is informative to the r.a.s.n.m community.  Examples:

        - Announcements of r.a.s.n reunions.
        - Announcements of upcoming TV schedules for racing.
        - Testing times.
        - Announcements of NASCAR events or schedules.
        - Announcements of driver appearances.

While examples are given wherever possible, it is impossible to
anticipate every attempt at finding a loophole. Therefore, the spirit
of all the rules should be followed as opposed to looking for leaks
and loopholes. For example, strange spellings or formats of profanity
would still be considered profanity.  Posters will be treated like
responsible adults and expected to act accordingly.

The following are unacceptable:

1) Bashing
2) Flames
3) Trolls
4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts
5) Profanity/Racial Slurs
6) Crossposts
7) Binaries
8) Posts without a respondable email address
9) Quotes of more than a few lines of copyrighted material
10) Posts deemed by the moderators to risk legal action

1) Bashing - defined as posts or portions of posts that verbally
attack others in an insulting or malicious manner to an extent that
would reasonably be considered libelous or slanderous.  In other
words: "Do not post anything that would make the driver or team you
support cringe or be embarrassed to have you as a fan."  This does
NOT mean that negative comments will be moderated out.  The
expression of negative opinions is a legitimate part of any
discussion and the right to express them in a non-malicious fashion
shall not be abridged.

2) Flames - defined as inflammatory posts or portions of posts whose
primary purpose is to induce an intense emotional response.

3) Trolls - Trolls are defined as posts that do not have substance to
their content, primarily meant to incite disruptive threads or
distract posters from the main intent of the newsgroup.

4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts are defined as posts whose
primary purpose is to solicit a benefit for the poster.  This would
include, but is not limited to, advertisements of businesses, direct
advertisements of goods and/or services for sale, posts advertising
the availability of goods and/or services for sale through another
medium, promotion of business opportunities, money-making schemes,
and chain letters.

Simply listing a business name, address, phone number, URL, etc. in
one's signature is not considered commercial use of the newsgroup.
However, signatures that are in fact advertisements, or which solicit
readers to patronize a for-profit venture or visit a commercial web
site fall under the definition of commercial or money-making posts.
Posts bearing such signatures are subject to rejection as such.

Posts promoting newsgroup related activities are not considered
commercial or money-making posts since there is no financial benefit
to any of the individuals involved.  These activities would include
but are not limited to the RASN Sponsorship Fund, raffles, and RASN
reunions.

Posts advising the group of charitable racing-related events or
offering NASCAR event or NASCAR/stockcar race tickets at or below
face value are also permitted.

5) Profanity/Racial Slurs - Posters should view r.a.s.n.m as polite
mixed company and watch their language accordingly.  Only a short
list of words will be disallowed.  Nevertheless, posters to rasn-m
are advised and encouraged to use the same standards that apply in
the Sunday comics.  Specifically, changing all letters in profanity
to special characters like !@#$% .  However, when quoting material
such as scanner bites, interviews etc.., the first letter of the word
may be left in place so that readers can deduce what was actually
said.

6) Crossposts - defined as posts also directed to any other
newsgroup.  Exceptions to this limit are made for Usenet
Administrative purposes (as from news.announce.newgroups) and for
posts from rec.autos.sport.info.

7) Binaries - Binary posts are defined as posts that include
UUencoded, MIME-encoded, or any other form of binary message in the
body or signature other than Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) signatures.
This includes, but is not limited to, pictures, audio files,
executables, and HTML.  Binaries should be posted to an appropriate
binaries newsgroup or a web page. A brief informative notice should
then be sent to the newsgroup.  The FAQ for this group will list any
web sites that have volunteered to have binaries posted from
r.a.s.n.m readers, and how to get the binary posted.

8) Email Addresses - Since an author's first post to r.a.s.n.m
generates an auto-response detailing the registration procedure, it
is strongly recommended that at least the first submission to the
group carry a valid return e-mail address.  This will avoid a delay
in the registration process that would result if the auto-response
bounces.  A person may register to post under a "munged" address to
defeat spambots, but the altered address must be readily decipherable
into the poster's valid address by a human.  This does not cut off
the use of pseudonymous remailers or munged headers, both of which
are allowable.

9) Copyrighted material - Quoting a line or two of copyrighted
material is not against the law.  However, quoting entire articles is
a copyright violation (unless the poster has permission from the
copyright holder).  If articles are available on the web, a short
summary of the article with a URL is the accepted method of posting.

10) Legal Risk - The moderators reserve the right to reject posts
that, in their view, carry the potential risk of legal action being
taken against any of the parties involved.


The following are discouraged, but will not be rejected outright.

11) Posts in languages other than English
12) Signatures over 6 lines
13) Posts with difficult to read formatting
14) Posts only containing questions answered completely in the FAQ

11) Non-English - At this time, 100% of the readers of the group know
English, with English being the only language of most readers.
Therefore, english is strongly recommended as the posting language of
choice for r.a.s.n.m.  Posts in languages other than English will be
examined for approval if any of the moderators can read the language
in question. There is no guarantee of approval for posts in any
language other than English.

12) Signatures - USENET netiquette limits signatures to four lines.
For r.a.s.n.m, posters are encouraged to keep their signatures to six
lines or less. PGP signature data and additional lines automatically
added by services such as hotmail and Deja News are not included in
the count, but all other text, including boxes around the signature,
is included.

13) Readability - USENET Netiquette says that for everyone's
enjoyment, all posts should have right margins in the 60-70 range.
The range from 60-70 is for unquoted text.  Quoted text may continue
to expand to the right.  Also, over 2/3 text quoted from previous
posters is strongly discouraged.  If a poster regularly fails to meet
these simple rules, a moderator will contact the person to find out
if they can fix the problem.

14) FAQ - Posters asking questions that are covered completely in the
FAQ will be sent a copy of the FAQ and the post will be accepted.
Other posters are encouraged to welcome the user, respond to the
post, or remain silent.

Moderation overview:

Moderation procedure - To reduce their workload and expedite the
posting of articles to the group, the moderation team will employ
automated moderation software (robo-moderation). As much of the work
as possible will be turned over to the moderation software.  This
software will scan each incoming article, then either post it
directly to the group without human review, return it to the author
with an appropriate explanation, or forward it to a human moderator.
Posts will either be accepted in whole, or rejected. The moderators
will NEVER modify them at all.

All rejected posts will be returned to the originator with an
explanation for the rejection and instructions for appealing the
rejection.

Auto-rejection: binaries, crossposts, profanity, racial slurs, and
articles from authors on the auto-reject list will be automatically
rejected. The moderation team will maintain a list of words that will
cause a post to be automatically rejected.  In the spirit of allowing
as much free expression as possible, the list will be as short as
possible while still insuring a civil environment within the group.

Auto-kickout:  There will be another short list of potentially
offensive words that will cause a post to be kicked out for human
moderation. .  These lists can be modified as needed by a simple
majority vote of the moderators.  Posters may explicitly request
human moderation of an article by placing the special phrase
MOD-HUMAN in the subject line.  This may be desirable if the author
feels there may be something in the article that would cause the
moderation software to automatically reject it. The moderators can
also add this tag to a thread.

Auto-approve:  Provided an article does not trigger an auto-rejection
or auto-kickout, articles from authors on the auto-approve list will
be posted directly to the group without human review.

Moderation sequence:  All incoming articles will be moderated
according to the following sequence with steps 1-4 being performed by
the moderation software

1. Is the author a first time poster?
        Yes - Initiate the registration process (see below)
        No  - Continue

2. Is there an auto-kickout?
        Yes - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)
        No  - Continue

3. Are there grounds for auto-rejection?
        Yes - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.
        No  - Continue

4. Is the author on the auto-approve list?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)

5. Does the article meet the charter guidelines?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.

r.a.s.n.m registration:  When the moderation software detects an
article from a first time poster, an auto-response containing the
charter, FAQ and instructions for completing the registration are
returned to the author.  The article is forwarded to a human
moderator. Should the auto-response bounce back to a moderator and a
valid reply-to address for the author cannot be determined, the
registration cannot be completed and the initial article will not be
posted.  If the moderator can determine a valid address, they will
forward the registration information to the author's valid address.

When the author acknowledges by return e-mail that he/she has read
the material and agrees to abide by the charter, he/she is placed on
the auto-approve list.  If the initial article is on charter, it is
posted at that time.

Human moderation:  Individual moderators will have the authority to
reject articles that are clearly off-charter (commercial or
money-making posts, etc.), and to accept articles that are clearly
on-charter.  Should there be any question about an article being
reviewed, it will be forwarded to another moderator for a second
opinion.  If the first two moderators to review an article agree, it
will be accepted or rejected accordingly.  If the first two
moderators to review an article disagree, the article will be
forwarded to a third moderator for a deciding vote.

Moderators will execute the above procedure as rapidly as possible in
order to minimize the delay in getting human moderated articles
posted.

Key to the moderation philosophy, articles will not be rejected
because of the author's opinion or position on an issue, nor will any
human moderated post be rejected because of the author of the post.
Moderator's opinions will be expressed only within their own posts,
not within their moderation activities. Anyone who is willing to
follow the Charter guidelines is welcome to post to r.a.s.n.m, and
their posts will be accepted un-edited if they have followed the
Charter criteria.  'Posts will never be edited by moderators.

If a moderator discovers off-charter material posted in the group,
he/she has three options:

1) Ignore it if it isn't blatant
2) Send an e-mail reminder of charter guidelines to the poster
3) Temporary removal of the poster's auto-post status

How the off-charter post is handled will be determined by what
response the situation warrants, but the moderator should use
restraint whenever possible and use removal of auto-post status only
as a last resort.  In the event that the moderator feels the
situation is severe enough to warrant temporarily suspending the
author's auto-approve privilege, the moderator must immediately
notify the other moderators and forward a copy of the post to the
rest of the moderation team.  The moderation team must then decide
within one week whether to restore the author to auto-approve or
continue the suspension.  A two-thirds majority is required to
maintain the suspension.  Posters suspended from auto-approve may
continue to post, but all their articles will be subject to human
moderation while the suspension is in effect.  Auto-approve may be
restored at any time by a simple majority vote of the moderators.

A poster who consistently submits off-charter material may be placed
on the auto-reject list by a two-thirds majority vote of the
moderators.  Posters placed on auto-reject for this reason will be
sent a copy of the charter, FAQ and instructions on how to petition
for reinstatement.

Individuals who engage in threatening or abusive behavior toward a
moderator, or who attempt to interfere with the normal operation of
the newsgroup or the internet accounts supporting the newsgroup or
it's members, other than reporting net-abuse, will be placed on
auto-reject for not less than one year.

Moderator administration and changes:  The moderation team will
initially plan to include 5 to 7 moderators.  They will be
responsible for maintaining the moderation software and reviewing
articles that are neither auto-approved nor auto-rejected. New
moderators can be added as deemed appropriate upon the approval of
two-thirds of the existing moderators. Candidates for new moderators
will only be taken from those people who have been on the
auto-approve list continuously for 3 months.  During the first 3
months of the newsgroup, the 3 month requirement will be waived.  A
special call for volunteers can be posted when an existing moderator
steps down or when the workload on the moderators is deemed
sufficient that they feel it is appropriate to increase their number.

There will be an administrative mailing list, on which the moderators
can discuss the enforcement and modification of the guidelines given
here.

A thread may be marked for human attention upon agreement of a
majority of the moderators. This overrides normal auto-approval and
content based auto-rejection, and brings all posts in the thread to
moderator attention so potential problems can be dealt with before
measures as drastic as removal of auto-approval status are called
for.  Notice of thread marking may be posted to the newsgroup, but is
not required.

Appeals: A poster who feels that a rejected post was within the
charter can appeal to the administrative list. If a majority of the
moderators agree that the post should be approved, it will be posted
as usual.  If the poster's auto-approve status was suspended as a
result of an article that is successfully appealed, auto-approve will
be restored.

Complaints or compliments about moderator judgments, and other
matters related to the running of the newsgroup are welcome on the
administrative list, but not on the newsgroup. No post relating to
such discussions will be approved for the newsgroup. Any decision
made about action to take (or not to take) is final. Posters who
persist in pressing the issue will be subject to auto-rejection.

Charter revisions: Any discussion on revision of the charter must
include "CHARTER:" as the beginning of the subject line.  After
discussion in the newsgroup, the moderators will judge the group
consensus and let the group know if any charter changes take place.
Any changes must pass with a 2/3rds majority of the moderators
agreeing on what the group is requesting.  This is not a vote of the
opinions of the moderators, but rather to ensure that the moderators
have a clear understanding of what the members of the newsgroup want.
If the moderators are not sure of the consensus of the group, or if
members of the group challenge the moderators' decision, an actual
vote will be taken.  Votes will require a 2/3 majority to modify the
charter.  The moderators will post all results of charter
modification votes to the group after the voting is completed.  The
subject line will include the phrase "CHARTER:" so that those who
wish to ignore them can skip the threads or set their
killfiles/filters to ignore them.  Changes will also be made to the
FAQ.

The FAQ will be posted every Friday.

Moderators who are unwilling or unable to uphold the charter in their
personal posts or moderation activities may be removed by a
two-thirds vote of the other moderators.

Third party cancels ('retro-moderation') by anyone, including but not
limited to moderators, is strictly against newsgroup policy.

END CHARTER.

MODERATOR INFO: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

Moderator: "Eric O. Troldahl" <etroll@carracing.com>
Moderator: "Bob Paxton" <bpaxton@carracing.com>
Moderator: "Deven Atkinson" <deven@carracing.com>
Moderator: "Lisa A. Carbrey" <lcarbrey@carracing.com>
Moderator: "John Martin" <jtmartin@carracing.com>
Moderator: "Martin Moleski" <moleski@canisius.edu>
Moderator: "Chris Watkins" <C_Watkins@carracing.com>

Article submission address: rasnm @carracing.com
Administrative contact address: rasnm-admin @carracing.com

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.  Since the first RFD was
posted over 11 days ago, the discussion period will continue for a
minimum of 10 additional days (starting from when the last 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,
rec.autos.sport.nascar, rec.autos.sport.f1,
rec.autos.sport.indy,   rec.autos.sport.info,
rec.autos.sport.misc,   rec.autos.sport.tech

Proponent: "Eric O. Troldahl" <etroll@flash.net>
Proponent: "Deven Atkinson" <deven@Mcs.Net>
Proponent: "Rich Bemben" <rbemben@eng.micrion.com>
Proponent: "Lisa A. Carbrey" <lcarbrey@hotmail.com>
Proponent: "Tom Duwe" <tduwe@primenet.com>
Proponent: "Ronnie Hiatt" <oldsteel@bellsouth.net>
Proponent: "Sue Horan-Phillips" <semh@earthlink.net>
Proponent: "Karen Jensen" <kjinsk@shell1.shore.net>
Proponent: "Henry Kelley" <tinylights@hotmail.com>
Proponent: "Nancy Kendrick" <daytonatwin125s@hotmail.com>
Proponent: "Ken 'Poppy' Kraus" <floridapoppy@webtv.net>
Proponent: "Jerry 'Tinadog' Kyte" <Tinadog@aol.com>
Proponent: "John Martin" <jtmartin@spartanburg.net>
Proponent: "Lynwood Matteson" <lcmatteson@ucdavis.edu>
Proponent: "Mike McGuigan" <mcguigan@mindspring.com>
Proponent: "Martin Moleski" <moleski@canisius.edu>
Proponent: "Bob Paxton" <bpaxton@dittosrush.com>
Proponent: "John 'DeliveryBoy' Sutphin" <wahoo_35@hotmail.com>
Proponent: "Chris Watkins" <umytbnxt@mindspring.com>

Proponent: "Rob Batina" <rbatina@infinet.com>
Proponent: "Jim Bragg" <robocop@aug.com>
Proponent: "Anne 'Belldandy' Bulin" <ah918@osfn.org>
Proponent: "Susan Bowlin" <bowlins@baylor.edu>
Proponent: "Tim Bulin" <ah919@osfn.org>
Proponent: "Angela Campbell" <acampbel@sas.upenn.edu>
Proponent: "George Cayro" <rusty2@magicnet.net>
Proponent: "Dave Champagne" <falcon77777@yahoo.com>
Proponent: "Joyce N. Church" <jochurch@norwich.net>
Proponent: "Alan J. Claffie" <aclaffie@bgnn.com>
Proponent: "David L. Cook" <dlcook@mediaone.net>
Proponent: "Tom Dixon" <twdix@mcione.com>
Proponent: "Greg Eglinton" <gjeglint@ix.netcom.com>
Proponent: "H.B. Elkins" <hbelkins@mis.net>
Proponent: "Philip Flanagan" <twohams@infoave.net>
Proponent: "Jim Gable" <v8blzr@sprynet.com>
Proponent: "Al Griffy" <alg@io.com>
Proponent: "Sam L. Howell" <slhowell@cs1.presby.edu>
Proponent: "Harry Krabbe" <desert_rat@ridgecrest.ca.us>
Proponent: "Lou Lauer" <lauer@qis.net>
Proponent: "Shaun Lippy" <slippy@inso.com>
Proponent: "Richard P. Ludwig" <DUTCH@jerseycape.com>
Proponent: "John McManus" <429tjet@exis.net>
Proponent: "Scott Moore" <smoore@dnsonline.net>
Proponent: "Greg Nadeau" <gregory@bcn.net>
Proponent: "Mark and Beth Nielsen" <mnielsen@worldramp.net>
Proponent: "Don Pettyjohn" <donpettyjohn@sprintmail.com>
Proponent: "Dennis P. Rose" <Dennis.P.Rose@digital.com>
Proponent: "Anthony Shambaugh" <angie@intrepid.net>
Proponent: "Paul M. Spegal" <Pspegal@mindspring.com>
Proponent: "Kathy Ward" <kward01@ibm.net>
Proponent: "Craig Witkowski"

Mentor: "Jonathan Grobe" <grobe@worf.netins.net>

From etroll@flash.net Sun Jun 21 21:45:15 1998
Path: news.isc.org!bounce-back
From: etroll@flash.net (Eric O. Troldahl)
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,rec.autos.sport.nascar,rec.autos.sport.f1,rec.autos.sport.indy,rec.autos.sport.misc,rec.autos.sport.tech,rec.autos.sport.info
Subject: 3rd RFD: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated moderated
Followup-To: news.groups
Message-ID: <898490393.18097@isc.org>
Approved: newgroups-request@isc.org
Archive-Name: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 04:39:53 GMT
Lines: 602
Xref: news.isc.org news.announce.newgroups:10217 news.groups:288399 rec.autos.sport.nascar:146502 rec.autos.sport.f1:156200 rec.autos.sport.indy:79064 rec.autos.sport.misc:12463 rec.autos.sport.tech:14400 rec.autos.sport.info:11831

                     REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)
           moderated group rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

This is the 3rd formal Request For Discussion (RFD) for the creation
of a world-wide moderated Usenet newsgroup
rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated.  This is not a Call for Votes
(CFV); you cannot vote at this time.  Procedural details are below.

CHANGES from 2nd RFD:

1. Deleted the paragraph about rejecting posts that carry the
potential risk of legal action.  The moderators are not lawyers and
won't try to act like they are.

2. Added "Proper credit must be given to all copyrighted material."
to the paragraph talking about fair use of copyrighted material.

3. In the second paragraph of the moderation overview, clarified that
rejected posts will be returned, but we cannot guarantee that the
email will get through.

4. Added a disclaimer at the end of the charter similar to the ones
used by some other recent USENET group proposals.

5. Separated the numbering sequence of the two sections:
"The following are unacceptable:" and
"The following are discouraged..."

CHANGES from 1st RFD:

1. The paragraph relating to discouraging posting spoiler messages
without the word SPOILER has been deleted, and a paragraph warning
that SPOILER messages are likely to be posted without labeling as
such, and people who do not want their tape-delayed races ruined
should refrain from reading the newsgroup.

2. Language was added to clarify that all rejected posts will include
instructions for appealing the rejection.

3. The "Profanity and Racial Slurs" paragraph was modified in order
to clarify how many letters of a word could be used when blanking out
profanity in the style of the Sunday comics.

4.  Deleted the Mailing Lists from distribution.  We decided that
pointers to the RFD would be better than sending to mailing lists
that cannot get the CFV.

5.  The submission and administrative addresses are included.

6.  The moderator email addresses are those intended to be used
officially when the group is created.  Our current email addresses
are still listed in the "Proponents" section.

Newsgroup line(s):
rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated        NASCAR and Stockcar Racing. (Moderated)

RATIONALE: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

NASCAR and stockcar racing, as well as other motorsports, have been
the subjects of Usenet discussion for many years.  The existing
rec.autos.sport.nascar newsgroup (RASN) gets a total of well over a
hundred messages a day during the off-season and that number can
increase to two to four times that figure during the season, peaking
at over 1000 a day during speedweeks.  Much of this traffic is
relevant and of high-quality, but there are also significant problems
with spam, advertisements, Driver/Team/Sponsor/Car-Make/Media abuse,
and attacks aimed at other posters to the newsgroup.  Many former
posters to RASN have left because of this situation.

Rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated is intended to be a forum where all
topics related to NASCAR and stockcar racing can be discussed without
these distractions. The primary focus of the group will be NASCAR's
top 3 series: Winston Cup, Busch Grand National, and Craftsman
Trucks.  Questions and answers about this sport will be welcomed and
a FAQ will be maintained.

CHARTER: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

The unmoderated newsgroup rec.autos.sport.nascar has always been
fairly relaxed about what is on-topic. The moderated newsgroup will
be the same way.  Basically anything related to NASCAR or stock car
racing will be considered on-topic.

Posts about other types of motorsports (Indycar, F1, etc.) should be
directed to the appropriate newsgroup, unless they are comparing
stockcar racing to the other motorsport.  For example, a comparison
of the point systems of F1 and Winston Cup, and how using the F1
system would change the Winston Cup championship standings, is
on-topic.

The goal of rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (r.a.s.n.m) is to
provide its participants with a degree of free expression approaching
that found in unmoderated groups while maintaining an environment
free of the spam, commercial and money-making posts, personal
harassment, vulgarity and blatantly off topic material found in most
unmoderated forums.

The philosophy of r.a.s.n.m is that responsible people should be
trusted to post like responsible adults. Therefore, the moderation
effort will focus primarily on dealing with problems as they occur,
not on screening every post.  All posters will be initially trusted
with auto-approve status, which will enable their subsequent articles
to be posted immediately to the newsgroup without the involvement of
a human moderator.  They will retain auto-approve status unless they
demonstrate cause for its revocation.

Newsgroup readers are warned that since this is a discussion group
about racing, people here will want to talk about racing, even during
the televised races.  If you want your tape-delayed viewing to be
unspoiled by knowing who won, crashed, etc., it is best to keep
yourself away from all sources of racing information, including
newsgroups, cable TV, racing radio shows, newspapers, coworkers, etc.
It is considered polite to include the word SPOILER in the subject of
posts about races less than 48 hours old, leaving discussion of the
details out of the header, but this WILL NOT be enforced.

Appropriate posts will meet one of the following criteria:

1. It would effectively start a new discussion.  Examples:

        - What is the current points system?
        - How do provisionals work?
        - How did Ricky Craven get an 8th provisional?
        - Discussions of actual Race or Qualifying action.
        - Questions about the mechanics of race cars and engines.

2. It adds content to an existing discussion.  Examples:

        - Points breakdown itself.
        - Actual NASCAR policy on provisionals.
        - Web site addresses of teams, drivers, or Fan Clubs.
        - Answers to questions posed by others.
        - Clarification of questions previously asked.

3. It is informative to the r.a.s.n.m community.  Examples:

        - Announcements of r.a.s.n reunions.
        - Announcements of upcoming TV schedules for racing.
        - Testing times.
        - Announcements of NASCAR events or schedules.
        - Announcements of driver appearances.

While examples are given wherever possible, it is impossible to
anticipate every attempt at finding a loophole. Therefore, the spirit
of all the rules should be followed as opposed to looking for leaks
and loopholes. For example, strange spellings or formats of profanity
would still be considered profanity.  Posters will be treated like
responsible adults and expected to act accordingly.

The following are unacceptable:

1) Bashing
2) Flames
3) Trolls
4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts
5) Profanity/Racial Slurs
6) Crossposts
7) Binaries
8) Posts without a respondable email address
9) Quotes of more than a few lines of copyrighted material

1) Bashing - defined as posts or portions of posts that verbally
attack others in an insulting or malicious manner to an extent that
would reasonably be considered libelous or slanderous.  In other
words: "Do not post anything that would make the driver or team you
support cringe or be embarrassed to have you as a fan."  This does
NOT mean that negative comments will be moderated out.  The
expression of negative opinions is a legitimate part of any
discussion and the right to express them in a non-malicious fashion
shall not be abridged.

2) Flames - defined as inflammatory posts or portions of posts whose
primary purpose is to induce an intense emotional response.

3) Trolls - Trolls are defined as posts that do not have substance to
their content, primarily meant to incite disruptive threads or
distract posters from the main intent of the newsgroup.

4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts are defined as posts whose
primary purpose is to solicit a benefit for the poster.  This would
include, but is not limited to, advertisements of businesses, direct
advertisements of goods and/or services for sale, posts advertising
the availability of goods and/or services for sale through another
medium, promotion of business opportunities, money-making schemes,
and chain letters.

Simply listing a business name, address, phone number, URL, etc. in
one's signature is not considered commercial use of the newsgroup.
However, signatures that are in fact advertisements, or which solicit
readers to patronize a for-profit venture or visit a commercial web
site fall under the definition of commercial or money-making posts.
Posts bearing such signatures are subject to rejection as such.

Posts promoting newsgroup related activities are not considered
commercial or money-making posts since there is no financial benefit
to any of the individuals involved.  These activities would include
but are not limited to the RASN Sponsorship Fund, raffles, and RASN
reunions.

Posts advising the group of charitable racing-related events or
offering NASCAR event or NASCAR/stockcar race tickets at or below
face value are also permitted.

5) Profanity/Racial Slurs - Posters should view r.a.s.n.m as polite
mixed company and watch their language accordingly.  Only a short
list of words will be disallowed.  Nevertheless, posters to rasn-m
are advised and encouraged to use the same standards that apply in
the Sunday comics.  Specifically, changing all letters in profanity
to special characters like !@#$% .  However, when quoting material
such as scanner bites, interviews etc.., the first letter of the word
may be left in place so that readers can deduce what was actually
said.

6) Crossposts - defined as posts also directed to any other
newsgroup.  Exceptions to this limit are made for Usenet
Administrative purposes (as from news.announce.newgroups) and for
posts from rec.autos.sport.info.

7) Binaries - Binary posts are defined as posts that include
UUencoded, MIME-encoded, or any other form of binary message in the
body or signature other than Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) signatures.
This includes, but is not limited to, pictures, audio files,
executables, and HTML.  Binaries should be posted to an appropriate
binaries newsgroup or a web page. A brief informative notice should
then be sent to the newsgroup.  The FAQ for this group will list any
web sites that have volunteered to have binaries posted from
r.a.s.n.m readers, and how to get the binary posted.

8) Email Addresses - Since an author's first post to r.a.s.n.m
generates an auto-response detailing the registration procedure, it
is strongly recommended that at least the first submission to the
group carry a valid return e-mail address.  This will avoid a delay
in the registration process that would result if the auto-response
bounces.  A person may register to post under a "munged" address to
defeat spambots, but the altered address must be readily decipherable
into the poster's valid address by a human.  This does not cut off
the use of pseudonymous remailers or munged headers, both of which
are allowable.

9) Copyrighted material - Quoting a line or two of copyrighted
material is not against the law.  However, quoting entire articles is
a copyright violation (unless the poster has permission from the
copyright holder).  If articles are available on the web, a short
summary of the article with a URL is the accepted method of posting.
Proper credit must be given to all copyrighted material.


The following are discouraged, but will not be rejected outright.

1) Posts in languages other than English
2) Signatures over 6 lines
3) Posts with difficult to read formatting
4) Posts only containing questions answered completely in the FAQ

1) Non-English - At this time, 100% of the readers of the group know
English, with English being the only language of most readers.
Therefore, English is strongly recommended as the posting language of
choice for r.a.s.n.m.  Posts in languages other than English will be
examined for approval if any of the moderators can read the language
in question. There is no guarantee of approval for posts in any
language other than English.

2) Signatures - USENET netiquette limits signatures to four lines.
For r.a.s.n.m, posters are encouraged to keep their signatures to six
lines or less. PGP signature data and additional lines automatically
added by services such as hotmail and Deja News are not included in
the count, but all other text, including boxes around the signature,
is included.

3) Readability - USENET Netiquette says that for everyone's
enjoyment, all posts should have right margins in the 60-70 range.
The range from 60-70 is for unquoted text.  Quoted text may continue
to expand to the right.  Also, over 2/3 text quoted from previous
posters is strongly discouraged.  If a poster regularly fails to meet
these simple rules, a moderator will contact the person to find out
if they can fix the problem.

4) FAQ - Posters asking questions that are covered completely in the
FAQ will be sent a copy of the FAQ and the post will be accepted.
Other posters are encouraged to welcome the user, respond to the
post, or remain silent.

Moderation overview:

Moderation procedure - To reduce their workload and expedite the
posting of articles to the group, the moderation team will employ
automated moderation software (robo-moderation). As much of the work
as possible will be turned over to the moderation software.  This
software will scan each incoming article, then either post it
directly to the group without human review, return it to the author
with an appropriate explanation, or forward it to a human moderator.
Posts will either be accepted in whole, or rejected. The moderators
will NEVER modify them at all.

All rejected posts will be returned to the originating email address
with an explanation for the rejection and instructions for appealing
the rejection.  The moderators cannot be held accountable for
internet failures or undeliverable email.

Auto-rejection: binaries, crossposts, profanity, racial slurs, and
articles from authors on the auto-reject list will be automatically
rejected. The moderation team will maintain a list of words that will
cause a post to be automatically rejected.  In the spirit of allowing
as much free expression as possible, the list will be as short as
possible while still insuring a civil environment within the group.

Auto-kickout:  There will be another short list of potentially
offensive words that will cause a post to be kicked out for human
moderation. .  These lists can be modified as needed by a simple
majority vote of the moderators.  Posters may explicitly request
human moderation of an article by placing the special phrase
MOD-HUMAN in the subject line.  This may be desirable if the author
feels there may be something in the article that would cause the
moderation software to automatically reject it. The moderators can
also add this tag to a thread.

Auto-approve:  Provided an article does not trigger an auto-rejection
or auto-kickout, articles from authors on the auto-approve list will
be posted directly to the group without human review.

Moderation sequence:  All incoming articles will be moderated
according to the following sequence with steps 1-4 being performed by
the moderation software

1. Is the author a first time poster?
        Yes - Initiate the registration process (see below)
        No  - Continue

2. Is there an auto-kickout?
        Yes - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)
        No  - Continue

3. Are there grounds for auto-rejection?
        Yes - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.
        No  - Continue

4. Is the author on the auto-approve list?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)

5. Does the article meet the charter guidelines?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.

r.a.s.n.m registration:  When the moderation software detects an
article from a first time poster, an auto-response containing the
charter, FAQ and instructions for completing the registration are
returned to the author.  The article is forwarded to a human
moderator. Should the auto-response bounce back to a moderator and a
valid reply-to address for the author cannot be determined, the
registration cannot be completed and the initial article will not be
posted.  If the moderator can determine a valid address, they will
forward the registration information to the author's valid address.

When the author acknowledges by return e-mail that he/she has read
the material and agrees to abide by the charter, he/she is placed on
the auto-approve list.  If the initial article is on charter, it is
posted at that time.

Human moderation:  Individual moderators will have the authority to
reject articles that are clearly off-charter (commercial or
money-making posts, etc.), and to accept articles that are clearly
on-charter.  Should there be any question about an article being
reviewed, it will be forwarded to another moderator for a second
opinion.  If the first two moderators to review an article agree, it
will be accepted or rejected accordingly.  If the first two
moderators to review an article disagree, the article will be
forwarded to a third moderator for a deciding vote.

Moderators will execute the above procedure as rapidly as possible in
order to minimize the delay in getting human moderated articles
posted.

Key to the moderation philosophy, articles will not be rejected
because of the author's opinion or position on an issue, nor will any
human moderated post be rejected because of the author of the post.
Moderator's opinions will be expressed only within their own posts,
not within their moderation activities. Anyone who is willing to
follow the Charter guidelines is welcome to post to r.a.s.n.m, and
their posts will be accepted unedited if they have followed the
Charter criteria.  'Posts will never be edited by moderators.

If a moderator discovers off-charter material posted in the group,
he/she has three options:

1) Ignore it if it isn't blatant
2) Send an e-mail reminder of charter guidelines to the poster
3) Temporary removal of the poster's auto-post status

How the off-charter post is handled will be determined by what
response the situation warrants, but the moderator should use
restraint whenever possible and use removal of auto-post status only
as a last resort.  In the event that the moderator feels the
situation is severe enough to warrant temporarily suspending the
author's auto-approve privilege, the moderator must immediately
notify the other moderators and forward a copy of the post to the
rest of the moderation team.  The moderation team must then decide
within one week whether to restore the author to auto-approve or
continue the suspension.  A two-thirds majority is required to
maintain the suspension.  Posters suspended from auto-approve may
continue to post, but all their articles will be subject to human
moderation while the suspension is in effect.  Auto-approve may be
restored at any time by a simple majority vote of the moderators.

A poster who consistently submits off-charter material may be placed
on the auto-reject list by a two-thirds majority vote of the
moderators.  Posters placed on auto-reject for this reason will be
sent a copy of the charter, FAQ and instructions on how to petition
for reinstatement.

Individuals who engage in threatening or abusive behavior toward a
moderator, or who attempt to interfere with the normal operation of
the newsgroup or the internet accounts supporting the newsgroup or
it's members, other than reporting net-abuse, will be placed on
auto-reject for not less than one year.

Moderator administration and changes:  The moderation team will
initially plan to include 5 to 7 moderators.  They will be
responsible for maintaining the moderation software and reviewing
articles that are neither auto-approved nor auto-rejected. New
moderators can be added as deemed appropriate upon the approval of
two-thirds of the existing moderators. Candidates for new moderators
will only be taken from those people who have been on the
auto-approve list continuously for 3 months.  During the first 3
months of the newsgroup, the 3 month requirement will be waived.  A
special call for volunteers can be posted when an existing moderator
steps down or when the workload on the moderators is deemed
sufficient that they feel it is appropriate to increase their number.

There will be an administrative mailing list, on which the moderators
can discuss the enforcement and modification of the guidelines given
here.

A thread may be marked for human attention upon agreement of a
majority of the moderators. This overrides normal auto-approval and
content based auto-rejection, and brings all posts in the thread to
moderator attention so potential problems can be dealt with before
measures as drastic as removal of auto-approval status are called
for.  Notice of thread marking may be posted to the newsgroup, but is
not required.

Appeals: A poster who feels that a rejected post was within the
charter can appeal to the administrative list. If a majority of the
moderators agree that the post should be approved, it will be posted
as usual.  If the poster's auto-approve status was suspended as a
result of an article that is successfully appealed, auto-approve will
be restored.

Complaints or compliments about moderator judgments, and other
matters related to the running of the newsgroup are welcome on the
administrative list, but not on the newsgroup. No post relating to
such discussions will be approved for the newsgroup. Any decision
made about action to take (or not to take) is final. Posters who
persist in pressing the issue will be subject to auto-rejection.

Charter revisions: Any discussion on revision of the charter must
include "CHARTER:" as the beginning of the subject line.  After
discussion in the newsgroup, the moderators will judge the group
consensus and let the group know if any charter changes take place.
Any changes must pass with a 2/3rds majority of the moderators
agreeing on what the group is requesting.  This is not a vote of the
opinions of the moderators, but rather to ensure that the moderators
have a clear understanding of what the members of the newsgroup want.
If the moderators are not sure of the consensus of the group, or if
members of the group challenge the moderators' decision, an actual
vote will be taken.  Votes will require a 2/3 majority to modify the
charter.  The moderators will post all results of charter
modification votes to the group after the voting is completed.  The
subject line will include the phrase "CHARTER:" so that those who
wish to ignore them can skip the threads or set their
killfiles/filters to ignore them.  Changes will also be made to the
FAQ.

The FAQ will be posted every Friday.

Moderators who are unwilling or unable to uphold the charter in their
personal posts or moderation activities may be removed by a
two-thirds vote of the other moderators.

Third party cancels ('retro-moderation') by anyone, including but not
limited to moderators, is strictly against newsgroup policy.

Disclaimer:
- The moderators of this newsgroup are not responsible for
  truthfulness or legality of any of the posts.
- The approval of a post by a moderator is NOT an endorsement by the
  moderator or moderation team.
- Posters assume full responsibility for the content of their posts.
- Readers using information that appears in the newsgroup do so at
  their own risk.
- Posters agree that by posting items to this newsgroup they
  indemnify and hold harmless the moderation team and service
  providers.

END CHARTER.

MODERATOR INFO: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

Moderator: "Eric O. Troldahl" <etroll@carracing.com>
Moderator: "Bob Paxton" <bpaxton@carracing.com>
Moderator: "Deven Atkinson" <deven@carracing.com>
Moderator: "Lisa A. Carbrey" <lcarbrey@carracing.com>
Moderator: "John Martin" <jtmartin@carracing.com>
Moderator: "Martin Moleski" <moleski@canisius.edu>
Moderator: "Chris Watkins" <C_Watkins@carracing.com>

Article submission address: rasnm@carracing.com
Administrative contact address: rasnm-admin@carracing.com

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.  Since the first RFD was
posted over 11 days ago, the discussion period will continue for a
minimum of 10 additional days (starting from when the last 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,
rec.autos.sport.nascar, rec.autos.sport.f1,
rec.autos.sport.indy,   rec.autos.sport.info,
rec.autos.sport.misc,   rec.autos.sport.tech

Proponent: "Eric O. Troldahl" <etroll@flash.net>
Proponent: "Deven Atkinson" <deven@Mcs.Net>
Proponent: "Rich Bemben" <rbemben@eng.micrion.com>
Proponent: "Lisa A. Carbrey" <lcarbrey@hotmail.com>
Proponent: "Tom Duwe" <tduwe@primenet.com>
Proponent: "Ronnie Hiatt" <oldsteel@bellsouth.net>
Proponent: "Sue Horan-Phillips" <semh@earthlink.net>
Proponent: "Karen Jensen" <kjinsk@shell1.shore.net>
Proponent: "Henry Kelley" <tinylights@hotmail.com>
Proponent: "Nancy Kendrick" <daytonatwin125s@hotmail.com>
Proponent: "Ken 'Poppy' Kraus" <floridapoppy@webtv.net>
Proponent: "Jerry 'Tinadog' Kyte" <Tinadog@aol.com>
Proponent: "John Martin" <jtmartin@spartanburg.net>
Proponent: "Lynwood Matteson" <lcmatteson@ucdavis.edu>
Proponent: "Mike McGuigan" <mcguigan@mindspring.com>
Proponent: "Martin Moleski" <moleski@canisius.edu>
Proponent: "Bob Paxton" <bpaxton@dittosrush.com>
Proponent: "John 'DeliveryBoy' Sutphin" <wahoo_35@hotmail.com>
Proponent: "Chris Watkins" <umytbnxt@mindspring.com>

Proponent: "Rob Batina" <rbatina@infinet.com>
Proponent: "Jim Bragg" <robocop@aug.com>
Proponent: "Anne 'Belldandy' Bulin" <ah918@osfn.org>
Proponent: "Susan Bowlin" <bowlins@baylor.edu>
Proponent: "Tim Bulin" <ah919@osfn.org>
Proponent: "Angela Campbell" <acampbel@sas.upenn.edu>
Proponent: "George Cayro" <rusty2@magicnet.net>
Proponent: "Dave Champagne" <falcon77777@yahoo.com>
Proponent: "Joyce N. Church" <jochurch@norwich.net>
Proponent: "Alan J. Claffie" <aclaffie@bgnn.com>
Proponent: "David L. Cook" <dlcook@mediaone.net>
Proponent: "Tom Dixon" <twdix@mcione.com>
Proponent: "Greg Eglinton" <gjeglint@ix.netcom.com>
Proponent: "H.B. Elkins" <hbelkins@mis.net>
Proponent: "Philip Flanagan" <twohams@infoave.net>
Proponent: "Jim Gable" <v8blzr@sprynet.com>
Proponent: "Al Griffy" <alg@io.com>
Proponent: "Sam L. Howell" <slhowell@cs1.presby.edu>
Proponent: "Harry Krabbe" <desert_rat@ridgecrest.ca.us>
Proponent: "Lou Lauer" <lauer@qis.net>
Proponent: "Shaun Lippy" <slippy@inso.com>
Proponent: "Richard P. Ludwig" <DUTCH@jerseycape.com>
Proponent: "John McManus" <429tjet@exis.net>
Proponent: "Brian J. Merriman" <merriman@earthlink.net>
Proponent: "Scott Moore" <smoore@dnsonline.net>
Proponent: "Jason Moreci" <ziggy@juno.com>
Proponent: "Greg Nadeau" <gregory@bcn.net>
Proponent: "Mark and Beth Nielsen" <mnielsen@worldramp.net>
Proponent: "Don Pettyjohn" <donpettyjohn@sprintmail.com>
Proponent: "Dennis P. Rose" <Dennis.P.Rose@digital.com>
Proponent: "Anthony Shambaugh" <angie@intrepid.net>
Proponent: "Paul M. Spegal" <Pspegal@mindspring.com>
Proponent: "Kathy Ward" <kward01@ibm.net>
Proponent: "Craig Witkowski"

Mentor: "Jonathan Grobe" <grobe@worf.netins.net>

Eric O. Troldahl, etroll@flash.net
Lead Proponent, rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
http://www.flash.net/~etroll/rasnm.txt

From neilc@stanford.edu Fri Jul 17 01:15:13 1998
Path: news.isc.org!bounce-back
From: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>
Reply-To: voting@uvv.stanford.edu
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,rec.autos.sport.f1,rec.autos.sport.indy,rec.autos.sport.misc,rec.autos.sport.nascar,rec.autos.sport.tech,rec.autos.sport.info
Subject: CFV: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated moderated
Followup-To: poster
Message-ID: <900663269.2407@isc.org>
References: <896328708.21545@isc.org> <897880198.15596@isc.org> <898490393.18097@isc.org>
Organization: Usenet Volunteer Votetakers
Approved: newgroups-request@isc.org
Expires: 8 Aug 1998 00:00:00 GMT
Archive-Name: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 08:14:29 GMT
Lines: 542
Xref: news.isc.org news.announce.newgroups:10408 news.groups:291169 rec.autos.sport.f1:162939 rec.autos.sport.indy:81604 rec.autos.sport.misc:12645 rec.autos.sport.nascar:154275 rec.autos.sport.tech:14631 rec.autos.sport.info:12802

                     FIRST CALL FOR VOTES (of 2)
           moderated group rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

This CFV is to be distributed only by the votetaker.  It is not to be
posted to newsgroups, or mailed to mailing lists or individuals, except by
the votetaker.  Ballots or CFVs provided by anyone else will be invalid.

Newsgroups line:
rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated	NASCAR and Stockcar Racing. (Moderated)

Votes must be received by 23:59:59 UTC, 7 Aug 1998.

This vote is being conducted by a neutral third party.  Questions
about the proposed group should be directed to the proponent.

Proponent: Eric O. Troldahl <etroll@flash.net>
Proponent: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@dittosrush.com>
Proponent: Deven Atkinson <deven@Mcs.Net>
Proponent: Rich Bemben <rbemben@eng.micrion.com>
Proponent: Lisa A. Carbrey <lcarbrey@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Tom Duwe <tduwe@primenet.com>
Proponent: Ronnie Hiatt <oldsteel@bellsouth.net>
Proponent: Sue Horan-Phillips <semh@earthlink.net>
Proponent: Karen Jensen <kjinsk@shell1.shore.net>
Proponent: Henry Kelley <tinylights@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Nancy Kendrick <daytonatwin125s@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Ken (Poppy) Kraus <floridapoppy@webtv.net>
Proponent: Jerry (Tinadog) Kyte <Tinadog@aol.com>
Proponent: John Martin <jtmartin@spartanburg.net>
Proponent: Lynwood Matteson <lcmatteson@ucdavis.edu>
Proponent: Mike McGuigan <mcguigan@mindspring.com>
Proponent: Martin Moleski <moleski@canisius.edu>
Proponent: John (DeliveryBoy) Sutphin <wahoo_35@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Chris Watkins <umytbnxt@mindspring.com>
Mentor: Jonathan Grobe <grobe@worf.netins.net>
Votetaker: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>

RATIONALE: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

NASCAR and stockcar racing, as well as other motorsports, have been the
subjects of Usenet discussion for many years.  The existing
rec.autos.sport.nascar newsgroup (RASN) gets a total of well over a
hundred messages a day during the off-season and that number can increase
to two to four times that figure during the season, peaking at over 1000
a day during speedweeks.  Much of this traffic is relevant and of high-
quality, but there are also significant problems with spam, advertisements,
Driver/Team/Sponsor/Car-Make/Media abuse, and attacks aimed at other
posters to the newsgroup.  Many former posters to RASN have left because of
this situation.

Rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated is intended to be a forum where all
topics related to NASCAR and stockcar racing can be discussed without these
distractions. The primary focus of the group will be NASCAR's top 3 series:
Winston Cup, Busch Grand National, and Craftsman Trucks.  Questions and
answers about this sport will be welcomed and a FAQ will be maintained.

CHARTER: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

The unmoderated newsgroup rec.autos.sport.nascar has always been fairly
relaxed about what is on-topic. The moderated newsgroup will be the same
way.  Basically anything related to NASCAR or stock car racing will be
considered on-topic.

Posts about other types of motorsports (Indycar, F1, etc.) should be
directed to the appropriate newsgroup, unless they are comparing stockcar
racing to the other motorsport.  For example, a comparison of the point
systems of F1 and Winston Cup, and how using the F1 system would change
the Winston Cup championship standings, is on-topic.

The goal of rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (r.a.s.n.m) is to provide its
participants with a degree of free expression approaching that found in
unmoderated groups while maintaining an environment free of the spam,
commercial and money-making posts, personal harassment, vulgarity and
blatantly off topic material found in most unmoderated forums.

The philosophy of r.a.s.n.m is that responsible people should be trusted
to post like responsible adults. Therefore, the moderation effort will focus
primarily on dealing with problems as they occur, not on screening every
post.  All posters will be initially trusted with auto-approve status, which
will enable their subsequent articles to be posted immediately to the
newsgroup without the involvement of a human moderator.  They will retain
auto-approve status unless they demonstrate cause for its revocation.

Newsgroup readers are warned that since this is a discussion group about
racing, people here will want to talk about racing, even during the
televised races.  If you want your tape-delayed viewing to be unspoiled by
knowing who won, crashed, etc., it is best to keep yourself away from all
sources of racing information, including newsgroups, cable TV, racing radio
shows, newspapers, coworkers, etc.  It is considered polite to include the
word SPOILER in the subject of posts about races less than 48 hours old,
leaving discussion of the details out of the header, but this WILL NOT be
enforced.

Appropriate posts will meet one of the following criteria:

1. It would effectively start a new discussion.  Examples:

        - What is the current points system?
        - How do provisionals work?
        - How did Ricky Craven get an 8th provisional?
        - Discussions of actual Race or Qualifying action.
        - Questions about the mechanics of race cars and engines.

2. It adds content to an existing discussion.  Examples:

        - Points breakdown itself.
        - Actual NASCAR policy on provisionals.
        - Web site addresses of teams, drivers, or Fan Clubs.
        - Answers to questions posed by others.
        - Clarification of questions previously asked.

3. It is informative to the r.a.s.n.m community.  Examples:

        - Announcements of r.a.s.n reunions.
        - Announcements of upcoming TV schedules for racing.
        - Testing times.
        - Announcements of NASCAR events or schedules.
        - Announcements of driver appearances.

While examples are given wherever possible, it is impossible to anticipate
every attempt at finding a loophole. Therefore, the spirit of all the rules
should be followed as opposed to looking for leaks and loopholes. For
example, strange spellings or formats of profanity would still be considered
profanity.  Posters will be treated like responsible adults and expected to
act accordingly.

The following are unacceptable:

1) Bashing
2) Flames
3) Trolls
4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts
5) Profanity/Racial Slurs
6) Crossposts
7) Binaries
8) Posts without a respondable email address
9) Quotes of more than a few lines of copyrighted material

1) Bashing - defined as posts or portions of posts that verbally attack
others in an insulting or malicious manner to an extent that would reasonably
be considered libelous or slanderous.  In other words: "Do not post anything
that would make the driver or team you support cringe or be embarrassed to
have you as a fan."  This does NOT mean that negative comments will be
moderated out.  The expression of negative opinions is a legitimate part of
any discussion and the right to express them in a non-malicious fashion shall
not be abridged.

2) Flames - defined as inflammatory posts or portions of posts whose
primary purpose is to induce an intense emotional response.

3) Trolls - Trolls are defined as posts that do not have substance to
their content, primarily meant to incite disruptive threads or distract
posters from the main intent of the newsgroup.

4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts are defined as posts whose primary
purpose is to solicit a benefit for the poster.  This would include, but is
not limited to, advertisements of businesses, direct advertisements of goods
and/or services for sale, posts advertising the availability of goods and/or
services for sale through another medium, promotion of business opportunities,
money-making schemes, and chain letters.

Simply listing a business name, address, phone number, URL, etc. in one's
signature is not considered commercial use of the newsgroup.  However,
signatures that are in fact advertisements, or which solicit readers to
patronize a for-profit venture or visit a commercial web site fall under
the definition of commercial or money-making posts.  Posts bearing such
signatures are subject to rejection as such.

Posts promoting newsgroup related activities are not considered commercial
or money-making posts since there is no financial benefit to any of the
individuals involved.  These activities would include but are not limited
to the RASN Sponsorship Fund, raffles, and RASN reunions.

Posts advising the group of charitable racing-related events or offering
NASCAR event or NASCAR/stockcar race tickets at or below face value are also
permitted.

5) Profanity/Racial Slurs - Posters should view r.a.s.n.m as polite mixed
company and watch their language accordingly.  Only a short list of words
will be disallowed.  Nevertheless, posters to RASNM are advised and encouraged
to use the same standards that apply in the Sunday comics.  Specifically,
changing all letters in profanity to special characters like !@#$% .  However,
when quoting material such as scanner bites, interviews etc.., the first
letter of the word may be left in place so that readers can deduce what was
actually said.

6) Crossposts - defined as posts also directed to any other newsgroup.
Exceptions to this limit are made for Usenet Administrative purposes (as
from news.announce.newgroups) and for posts from rec.autos.sport.info.

7) Binaries - Binary posts are defined as posts that include UUencoded,
MIME-encoded, or any other form of binary message in the body or signature
other than Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) signatures.  This includes, but is
not limited to, pictures, audio files, executables, and HTML.  Binaries
should be posted to an appropriate binaries newsgroup or a web page. A brief
informative notice should then be sent to the newsgroup.  The FAQ for this
group will list any web sites that have volunteered to have binaries posted
from r.a.s.n.m readers, and how to get the binary posted.

8) Email Addresses - Since an author's first post to r.a.s.n.m generates
an auto-response detailing the registration procedure, it is strongly
recommended that at least the first submission to the group carry a valid
return e-mail address.  This will avoid a delay in the registration process
that would result if the auto-response bounces.  A person may register to
post under a "munged" address to defeat spambots, but the altered address
must be readily decipherable into the poster's valid address by a human.
This does not cut off the use of pseudonymous remailers or munged headers,
both of which are allowable.

9) Copyrighted material - Quoting a line or two of copyrighted material
is not against the law.  However, quoting entire articles is a copyright
violation (unless the poster has permission from the copyright holder).  If
articles are available on the web, a short summary of the article with a URL
is the accepted method of posting.  Proper credit must be given to all
copyrighted material.

The following are discouraged, but will not be rejected outright.

1) Posts in languages other than English
2) Signatures over 6 lines
3) Posts with difficult to read formatting
4) Posts only containing questions answered completely in the FAQ

1) Non-English - At this time, 100% of the readers of the group know English,
with English being the only language of most readers.  Therefore, English is
strongly recommended as the posting language of choice for r.a.s.n.m.
Posts in languages other than English will be examined for approval if any
of the moderators can read the language in question. There is no guarantee of
approval for posts in any language other than English.

2) Signatures - USENET netiquette limits signatures to four lines.  For
r.a.s.n.m, posters are encouraged to keep their signatures to six lines
or less. PGP signature data and additional lines automatically added by
services such as hotmail and Deja News are not included in the count, but
all other text, including boxes around the signature, is included.

3) Readability - USENET Netiquette says that for everyone's enjoyment,
all posts should have right margins in the 60-70 range. The range from 60-70
is for unquoted text.  Quoted text may continue to expand to the right.  Also,
over 2/3 text quoted from previous posters is strongly discouraged.  If a
poster regularly fails to meet these simple rules, a moderator will contact
the person to find out if they can fix the problem.

4) FAQ - Posters asking questions that are covered completely in the FAQ will
be sent a copy of the FAQ and the post will be accepted.  Other posters are
encouraged to welcome the user, respond to the post, or remain silent.

Moderation overview:

Moderation procedure - To reduce their workload and expedite the posting of
articles to the group, the moderation team will employ automated moderation
software (robo-moderation). As much of the work as possible will be turned
over to the moderation software.  This software will scan each incoming
article, then either post it directly to the group without human review,
return it to the author with an appropriate explanation, or forward it to a
human moderator.  Posts will either be accepted in whole, or rejected. The
moderators will NEVER modify them at all.

All rejected posts will be returned to the originating email address with an
explanation for the rejection and instructions for appealing the rejection.
The moderators cannot be held accountable for internet failures or
undeliverable email.

Auto-rejection: binaries, crossposts, profanity, racial slurs, and articles
from authors on the auto-reject list will be automatically rejected. The
moderation team will maintain a list of words that will cause a post to be
automatically rejected.  In the spirit of allowing as much free expression
as possible, the list will be as short as possible while still insuring a
civil environment within the group.

Auto-kickout:  There will be another short list of potentially offensive
words that will cause a post to be kicked out for human moderation.  These
lists can be modified as needed by a simple majority vote of the moderators.
Posters may explicitly request human moderation of an article by placing the
special phrase MOD-HUMAN in the subject line.  This may be desirable if the
author feels there may be something in the article that would cause the
moderation software to automatically reject it. The moderators can also add
this tag to a thread.

Auto-approve:  Provided an article does not trigger an auto-rejection or
auto-kickout, articles from authors on the auto-approve list will be posted
directly to the group without human review.

Moderation sequence:  All incoming articles will be moderated according
to the following sequence with steps 1-4 being performed by the moderation
software.

1. Is the author a first time poster?
        Yes - Initiate the registration process (see below)
        No  - Continue

2. Is there an auto-kickout?
        Yes - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)
        No  - Continue

3. Are there grounds for auto-rejection?
        Yes - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.
        No  - Continue

4. Is the author on the auto-approve list?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)

5. Does the article meet the charter guidelines?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.

r.a.s.n.m registration:  When the moderation software detects an article
from a first time poster, an auto-response containing the charter, FAQ and
instructions for completing the registration are returned to the author.
The article is forwarded to a human moderator. Should the auto-response
bounce back to a moderator and a valid reply-to address for the author
cannot be determined, the registration cannot be completed and the initial
article will not be posted.  If the moderator can determine a valid address,
they will forward the registration information to the author's valid address.

When the author acknowledges by return e-mail that he/she has read the
material and agrees to abide by the charter, he/she is placed on the auto-
approve list.  If the initial article is on charter, it is posted at that
time.

Human moderation:  Individual moderators will have the authority to
reject articles that are clearly off-charter (commercial or money-making
posts, etc.), and to accept articles that are clearly on-charter.  Should
there be any question about an article being reviewed, it will be forwarded
to another moderator for a second opinion.  If the first two moderators to
review an article agree, it will be accepted or rejected accordingly.  If
the first two moderators to review an article disagree, the article will be
forwarded to a third moderator for a deciding vote.

Moderators will execute the above procedure as rapidly as possible in
order to minimize the delay in getting human moderated articles posted.

Key to the moderation philosophy, articles will not be rejected because
of the author's opinion or position on an issue, nor will any human moderated
post be rejected because of the author of the post.  Moderator's opinions will
be expressed only within their own posts, not within their moderation
activities.  Anyone who is willing to follow the Charter guidelines is welcome
to post to r.a.s.n.m, and their posts will be accepted unedited if they have
followed the Charter criteria.  Posts will never be edited by moderators.

If a moderator discovers off-charter material posted in the group, he/she
has three options:

1) Ignore it if it isn't blatant
2) Send an e-mail reminder of charter guidelines to the poster
3) Temporary removal of the poster's auto-post status

How the off-charter post is handled will be determined by what response the
situation warrants, but the moderator should use restraint whenever possible
and use removal of auto-post status only as a last resort.  In the event
that the moderator feels the situation is severe enough to warrant temporarily
suspending the author's auto-approve privilege, the moderator must immediately
notify the other moderators and forward a copy of the post to the rest of the
moderation team.  The moderation team must then decide within one week
whether to restore the author to auto-approve or continue the suspension.  A
two-thirds majority is required to maintain the suspension.  Posters suspended
from auto-approve may continue to post, but all their articles will be subject
to human moderation while the suspension is in effect.  Auto-approve may be
restored at any time by a simple majority vote of the moderators.

A poster who consistently submits off-charter material may be placed on the
auto-reject list by a two-thirds majority vote of the moderators.
Posters placed on auto-reject for this reason will be sent a copy of the
charter, FAQ and instructions on how to petition for reinstatement.

Individuals who engage in threatening or abusive behavior toward a moderator,
or who attempt to interfere with the normal operation of the newsgroup or the
internet accounts supporting the newsgroup or it's members, other than
reporting net-abuse, will be placed on auto-reject for not less than one
year.

Moderator administration and changes:  The moderation team will initially plan
to include 5 to 7 moderators.  They will be responsible for maintaining the
moderation software and reviewing articles that are neither auto-approved nor
auto-rejected. New moderators can be added as deemed appropriate upon the
approval of two-thirds of the existing moderators. Candidates for new
moderators will only be taken from those people who have been on the
auto-approve list continuously for 3 months.  During the first 3 months of the
newsgroup, the 3 month requirement will be waived.  A special call for
volunteers can be posted when an existing moderator steps down or when
the workload on the moderators is deemed sufficient that they feel it is
appropriate to increase their number.

There will be an administrative mailing list, on which the moderators can
discuss the enforcement and modification of the guidelines given here.

A thread may be marked for human attention upon agreement of a majority of
the moderators. This overrides normal auto-approval and content based
auto-rejection, and brings all posts in the thread to moderator attention so
potential problems can be dealt with before measures as drastic as
removal of auto-approval status are called for.  Notice of thread marking
may be posted to the newsgroup, but is not required.

Appeals: A poster who feels that a rejected post was within the charter
can appeal to the administrative list. If a majority of the moderators agree
that the post should be approved, it will be posted as usual.  If the poster's
auto-approve status was suspended as a result of an article that is
successfully appealed, auto-approve will be restored.

Complaints or compliments about moderator judgments, and other matters related
to the running of the newsgroup are welcome on the administrative list, but
not on the newsgroup. No post relating to such discussions will be approved
for the newsgroup. Any decision made about action to take (or not to take) is
final.  Posters who persist in pressing the issue will be subject to
auto-rejection.

Charter revisions: Any discussion on revision of the charter must include
"CHARTER:" as the beginning of the subject line.  After discussion in the
newsgroup, the moderators will judge the group consensus and let the group
know if any charter changes take place. Any changes must pass with a 2/3rds
majority of the moderators agreeing on what the group is requesting.  This
is not a vote of the opinions of the moderators, but rather to ensure that
the moderators have a clear understanding of what the members of the newsgroup
want.  If the moderators are not sure of the consensus of the group, or if
members of the group challenge the moderators' decision, an actual vote will
be taken. Votes will require a 2/3 majority to modify the charter.  The
moderators will post all results of charter modification votes to the group
after the voting is completed.  The subject line will include the phrase
"CHARTER:" so that those who wish to ignore them can skip the threads or set
their killfiles/filters to ignore them.  Changes will also be made to the FAQ.

The FAQ will be posted every Friday.

Moderators who are unwilling or unable to uphold the charter in their personal
posts or moderation activities may be removed by a two-thirds vote of the
other moderators.

Third party cancels ('retro-moderation') by anyone, including but not limited
to moderators, is strictly against newsgroup policy.

Disclaimer:
- The moderators of this newsgroup are not responsible for
  truthfulness or legality of any of the posts.
- The approval of a post by a moderator is NOT an endorsement by the
  moderator or moderation team.
- Posters assume full responsibility for the content of their posts.
- Readers using information that appears in the newsgroup do so at
  their own risk.
- Posters agree that by posting items to this newsgroup they
  indemnify and hold harmless the moderation team and service
  providers.

END CHARTER.

MODERATOR INFO: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

Moderator: "Eric O. Troldahl" <etroll@carracing.com>
Moderator: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@carracing.com>
Moderator: Deven Atkinson <deven@carracing.com>
Moderator: "Lisa A. Carbrey" <lcarbrey@carracing.com>
Moderator: John Martin <jtmartin@carracing.com>
Moderator: Martin Moleski <moleski@canisius.edu>
Moderator: Chris Watkins <C_Watkins@carracing.com>

Article submission address: rasnm@carracing.com
Administrative contact address: rasnm-admin@carracing.com

END MODERATOR INFO.

IMPORTANT VOTING PROCEDURE NOTES: READ THIS BEFORE VOTING

The purpose of a Usenet vote is to determine the genuine interest in
reading the proposed newsgroup, and soliciting votes from uninterested
parties defeats this purpose.  Do *not* distribute this CFV;  intead,
direct people to the official CFV as posted to news.announce.newgroups.
Distributing specific voting instructions or pre-marked copies of
this CFV is considered vote fraud.

This is a public vote:  All email addresses, names and votes will be
listed in the final RESULT post.  The name used may be either a real
name or an established Usenet handle.

At most one vote is allowed per person or per account.  Duplicate
votes will be resolved in favor of the most recent valid vote.

Voters must mail their ballots directly to the votetaker.  Anonymous,
forwarded, or proxy votes are not valid, nor are votes mailed from
WWW/HTML/CGI forms (which should not exist).  Votes from nonexistent
accounts are also invalid, and the votetaker will reject any "munged"
address he cannot decipher immediately.

Please direct any questions to the votetaker at <neilc@stanford.edu>.

HOW TO VOTE:

Extract the ballot from the CFV by deleting everything before and after
the "BEGINNING OF BALLOT" and "END OF BALLOT" lines.  Don't worry about
the spacing of the columns or any quote characters (">") that your
reply inserts.  Please, DO NOT send the entire CFV back to me!

Fill in the ballot as shown below.  Please provide your REAL NAME and
indicate your desired vote in the appropriate locations inside the ballot.

Examples of how to properly indicate your vote:

  [ YES     ]  example.yes.vote
  [ NO      ]  example.no.vote
  [ ABSTAIN ]  example.abstention
  [ CANCEL  ]  example.cancellation

DO NOT modify, alter or delete any information in this ballot!
If you do, the voting software will probably reject your ballot.

When finished, MAIL the ballot to: < voting@uvv.stanford.edu >
Just "replying" to this message should work, but check the "To:" line.

If you do not receive an acknowledgment of your vote within three
days contact the votetaker about the problem.  You are responsible
for reading your ack and making sure your vote is registered correctly.

If these instructions are unclear, please consult the Introduction to
Usenet Voting or the Usenet Voting FAQ at http://www.stanford.edu/~neilc/uvv.

======== BEGINNING OF BALLOT: Delete everything before this line =======
.-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 1ST CALL FOR VOTES: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
| Official Usenet Voting Ballot <RASNM-0001> (Do not remove this line!)
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Please provide your real name, or your vote may be rejected.  Place
| ONLY your name (ie. do NOT include your e-mail address or any other
| information; ONLY your name) after the colon on the following line:

Voter name:

| Insert YES, NO, ABSTAIN, or CANCEL inside the brackets for each
| newsgroup listed below (do not delete the newsgroup name):

 Your Vote   Newsgroup
 ---------   -----------------------------------------------------------
[         ]  rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (moderated)

======== END OF BALLOT: Delete everything after this line ==============


This CFV was created with uvpq 1.0 (Aug 14 1997).
PQ datestamp: 980322

-- 
Voting address: voting@uvv.stanford.edu

From neilc@stanford.edu Fri Jul 17 04:24:41 1998
Path: news.isc.org!bounce-back
From: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>
Reply-To: voting@uvv.stanford.edu
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,rec.autos.sport.f1,rec.autos.sport.indy,rec.autos.sport.misc,rec.autos.sport.nascar,rec.autos.sport.tech,rec.autos.sport.info
Subject: CFV: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated moderated
Followup-To: poster
Message-ID: <900674663.22405@isc.org>
References: <896328708.21545@isc.org> <897880198.15596@isc.org> <898490393.18097@isc.org>
Organization: Usenet Volunteer Votetakers
Approved: newgroups-request@isc.org
Expires: 8 Aug 1998 00:00:00 GMT
Archive-Name: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 08:14:29 GMT
Lines: 542
Xref: news.isc.org news.announce.newgroups:10414 news.groups:291189 rec.autos.sport.f1:162940 rec.autos.sport.indy:81605 rec.autos.sport.misc:12646 rec.autos.sport.nascar:154276 rec.autos.sport.tech:14632 rec.autos.sport.info:12803

                     FIRST CALL FOR VOTES (of 2)
           moderated group rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

This CFV is to be distributed only by the votetaker.  It is not to be
posted to newsgroups, or mailed to mailing lists or individuals, except by
the votetaker.  Ballots or CFVs provided by anyone else will be invalid.

Newsgroups line:
rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated	NASCAR and Stockcar Racing. (Moderated)

Votes must be received by 23:59:59 UTC, 7 Aug 1998.

This vote is being conducted by a neutral third party.  Questions
about the proposed group should be directed to the proponent.

Proponent: Eric O. Troldahl <etroll@flash.net>
Proponent: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@dittosrush.com>
Proponent: Deven Atkinson <deven@Mcs.Net>
Proponent: Rich Bemben <rbemben@eng.micrion.com>
Proponent: Lisa A. Carbrey <lcarbrey@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Tom Duwe <tduwe@primenet.com>
Proponent: Ronnie Hiatt <oldsteel@bellsouth.net>
Proponent: Sue Horan-Phillips <semh@earthlink.net>
Proponent: Karen Jensen <kjinsk@shell1.shore.net>
Proponent: Henry Kelley <tinylights@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Nancy Kendrick <daytonatwin125s@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Ken (Poppy) Kraus <floridapoppy@webtv.net>
Proponent: Jerry (Tinadog) Kyte <Tinadog@aol.com>
Proponent: John Martin <jtmartin@spartanburg.net>
Proponent: Lynwood Matteson <lcmatteson@ucdavis.edu>
Proponent: Mike McGuigan <mcguigan@mindspring.com>
Proponent: Martin Moleski <moleski@canisius.edu>
Proponent: John (DeliveryBoy) Sutphin <wahoo_35@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Chris Watkins <umytbnxt@mindspring.com>
Mentor: Jonathan Grobe <grobe@worf.netins.net>
Votetaker: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>

RATIONALE: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

NASCAR and stockcar racing, as well as other motorsports, have been the
subjects of Usenet discussion for many years.  The existing
rec.autos.sport.nascar newsgroup (RASN) gets a total of well over a
hundred messages a day during the off-season and that number can increase
to two to four times that figure during the season, peaking at over 1000
a day during speedweeks.  Much of this traffic is relevant and of high-
quality, but there are also significant problems with spam, advertisements,
Driver/Team/Sponsor/Car-Make/Media abuse, and attacks aimed at other
posters to the newsgroup.  Many former posters to RASN have left because of
this situation.

Rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated is intended to be a forum where all
topics related to NASCAR and stockcar racing can be discussed without these
distractions. The primary focus of the group will be NASCAR's top 3 series:
Winston Cup, Busch Grand National, and Craftsman Trucks.  Questions and
answers about this sport will be welcomed and a FAQ will be maintained.

CHARTER: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

The unmoderated newsgroup rec.autos.sport.nascar has always been fairly
relaxed about what is on-topic. The moderated newsgroup will be the same
way.  Basically anything related to NASCAR or stock car racing will be
considered on-topic.

Posts about other types of motorsports (Indycar, F1, etc.) should be
directed to the appropriate newsgroup, unless they are comparing stockcar
racing to the other motorsport.  For example, a comparison of the point
systems of F1 and Winston Cup, and how using the F1 system would change
the Winston Cup championship standings, is on-topic.

The goal of rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (r.a.s.n.m) is to provide its
participants with a degree of free expression approaching that found in
unmoderated groups while maintaining an environment free of the spam,
commercial and money-making posts, personal harassment, vulgarity and
blatantly off topic material found in most unmoderated forums.

The philosophy of r.a.s.n.m is that responsible people should be trusted
to post like responsible adults. Therefore, the moderation effort will focus
primarily on dealing with problems as they occur, not on screening every
post.  All posters will be initially trusted with auto-approve status, which
will enable their subsequent articles to be posted immediately to the
newsgroup without the involvement of a human moderator.  They will retain
auto-approve status unless they demonstrate cause for its revocation.

Newsgroup readers are warned that since this is a discussion group about
racing, people here will want to talk about racing, even during the
televised races.  If you want your tape-delayed viewing to be unspoiled by
knowing who won, crashed, etc., it is best to keep yourself away from all
sources of racing information, including newsgroups, cable TV, racing radio
shows, newspapers, coworkers, etc.  It is considered polite to include the
word SPOILER in the subject of posts about races less than 48 hours old,
leaving discussion of the details out of the header, but this WILL NOT be
enforced.

Appropriate posts will meet one of the following criteria:

1. It would effectively start a new discussion.  Examples:

        - What is the current points system?
        - How do provisionals work?
        - How did Ricky Craven get an 8th provisional?
        - Discussions of actual Race or Qualifying action.
        - Questions about the mechanics of race cars and engines.

2. It adds content to an existing discussion.  Examples:

        - Points breakdown itself.
        - Actual NASCAR policy on provisionals.
        - Web site addresses of teams, drivers, or Fan Clubs.
        - Answers to questions posed by others.
        - Clarification of questions previously asked.

3. It is informative to the r.a.s.n.m community.  Examples:

        - Announcements of r.a.s.n reunions.
        - Announcements of upcoming TV schedules for racing.
        - Testing times.
        - Announcements of NASCAR events or schedules.
        - Announcements of driver appearances.

While examples are given wherever possible, it is impossible to anticipate
every attempt at finding a loophole. Therefore, the spirit of all the rules
should be followed as opposed to looking for leaks and loopholes. For
example, strange spellings or formats of profanity would still be considered
profanity.  Posters will be treated like responsible adults and expected to
act accordingly.

The following are unacceptable:

1) Bashing
2) Flames
3) Trolls
4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts
5) Profanity/Racial Slurs
6) Crossposts
7) Binaries
8) Posts without a respondable email address
9) Quotes of more than a few lines of copyrighted material

1) Bashing - defined as posts or portions of posts that verbally attack
others in an insulting or malicious manner to an extent that would reasonably
be considered libelous or slanderous.  In other words: "Do not post anything
that would make the driver or team you support cringe or be embarrassed to
have you as a fan."  This does NOT mean that negative comments will be
moderated out.  The expression of negative opinions is a legitimate part of
any discussion and the right to express them in a non-malicious fashion shall
not be abridged.

2) Flames - defined as inflammatory posts or portions of posts whose
primary purpose is to induce an intense emotional response.

3) Trolls - Trolls are defined as posts that do not have substance to
their content, primarily meant to incite disruptive threads or distract
posters from the main intent of the newsgroup.

4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts are defined as posts whose primary
purpose is to solicit a benefit for the poster.  This would include, but is
not limited to, advertisements of businesses, direct advertisements of goods
and/or services for sale, posts advertising the availability of goods and/or
services for sale through another medium, promotion of business opportunities,
money-making schemes, and chain letters.

Simply listing a business name, address, phone number, URL, etc. in one's
signature is not considered commercial use of the newsgroup.  However,
signatures that are in fact advertisements, or which solicit readers to
patronize a for-profit venture or visit a commercial web site fall under
the definition of commercial or money-making posts.  Posts bearing such
signatures are subject to rejection as such.

Posts promoting newsgroup related activities are not considered commercial
or money-making posts since there is no financial benefit to any of the
individuals involved.  These activities would include but are not limited
to the RASN Sponsorship Fund, raffles, and RASN reunions.

Posts advising the group of charitable racing-related events or offering
NASCAR event or NASCAR/stockcar race tickets at or below face value are also
permitted.

5) Profanity/Racial Slurs - Posters should view r.a.s.n.m as polite mixed
company and watch their language accordingly.  Only a short list of words
will be disallowed.  Nevertheless, posters to RASNM are advised and encouraged
to use the same standards that apply in the Sunday comics.  Specifically,
changing all letters in profanity to special characters like !@#$% .  However,
when quoting material such as scanner bites, interviews etc.., the first
letter of the word may be left in place so that readers can deduce what was
actually said.

6) Crossposts - defined as posts also directed to any other newsgroup.
Exceptions to this limit are made for Usenet Administrative purposes (as
from news.announce.newgroups) and for posts from rec.autos.sport.info.

7) Binaries - Binary posts are defined as posts that include UUencoded,
MIME-encoded, or any other form of binary message in the body or signature
other than Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) signatures.  This includes, but is
not limited to, pictures, audio files, executables, and HTML.  Binaries
should be posted to an appropriate binaries newsgroup or a web page. A brief
informative notice should then be sent to the newsgroup.  The FAQ for this
group will list any web sites that have volunteered to have binaries posted
from r.a.s.n.m readers, and how to get the binary posted.

8) Email Addresses - Since an author's first post to r.a.s.n.m generates
an auto-response detailing the registration procedure, it is strongly
recommended that at least the first submission to the group carry a valid
return e-mail address.  This will avoid a delay in the registration process
that would result if the auto-response bounces.  A person may register to
post under a "munged" address to defeat spambots, but the altered address
must be readily decipherable into the poster's valid address by a human.
This does not cut off the use of pseudonymous remailers or munged headers,
both of which are allowable.

9) Copyrighted material - Quoting a line or two of copyrighted material
is not against the law.  However, quoting entire articles is a copyright
violation (unless the poster has permission from the copyright holder).  If
articles are available on the web, a short summary of the article with a URL
is the accepted method of posting.  Proper credit must be given to all
copyrighted material.

The following are discouraged, but will not be rejected outright.

1) Posts in languages other than English
2) Signatures over 6 lines
3) Posts with difficult to read formatting
4) Posts only containing questions answered completely in the FAQ

1) Non-English - At this time, 100% of the readers of the group know English,
with English being the only language of most readers.  Therefore, English is
strongly recommended as the posting language of choice for r.a.s.n.m.
Posts in languages other than English will be examined for approval if any
of the moderators can read the language in question. There is no guarantee of
approval for posts in any language other than English.

2) Signatures - USENET netiquette limits signatures to four lines.  For
r.a.s.n.m, posters are encouraged to keep their signatures to six lines
or less. PGP signature data and additional lines automatically added by
services such as hotmail and Deja News are not included in the count, but
all other text, including boxes around the signature, is included.

3) Readability - USENET Netiquette says that for everyone's enjoyment,
all posts should have right margins in the 60-70 range. The range from 60-70
is for unquoted text.  Quoted text may continue to expand to the right.  Also,
over 2/3 text quoted from previous posters is strongly discouraged.  If a
poster regularly fails to meet these simple rules, a moderator will contact
the person to find out if they can fix the problem.

4) FAQ - Posters asking questions that are covered completely in the FAQ will
be sent a copy of the FAQ and the post will be accepted.  Other posters are
encouraged to welcome the user, respond to the post, or remain silent.

Moderation overview:

Moderation procedure - To reduce their workload and expedite the posting of
articles to the group, the moderation team will employ automated moderation
software (robo-moderation). As much of the work as possible will be turned
over to the moderation software.  This software will scan each incoming
article, then either post it directly to the group without human review,
return it to the author with an appropriate explanation, or forward it to a
human moderator.  Posts will either be accepted in whole, or rejected. The
moderators will NEVER modify them at all.

All rejected posts will be returned to the originating email address with an
explanation for the rejection and instructions for appealing the rejection.
The moderators cannot be held accountable for internet failures or
undeliverable email.

Auto-rejection: binaries, crossposts, profanity, racial slurs, and articles
from authors on the auto-reject list will be automatically rejected. The
moderation team will maintain a list of words that will cause a post to be
automatically rejected.  In the spirit of allowing as much free expression
as possible, the list will be as short as possible while still insuring a
civil environment within the group.

Auto-kickout:  There will be another short list of potentially offensive
words that will cause a post to be kicked out for human moderation.  These
lists can be modified as needed by a simple majority vote of the moderators.
Posters may explicitly request human moderation of an article by placing the
special phrase MOD-HUMAN in the subject line.  This may be desirable if the
author feels there may be something in the article that would cause the
moderation software to automatically reject it. The moderators can also add
this tag to a thread.

Auto-approve:  Provided an article does not trigger an auto-rejection or
auto-kickout, articles from authors on the auto-approve list will be posted
directly to the group without human review.

Moderation sequence:  All incoming articles will be moderated according
to the following sequence with steps 1-4 being performed by the moderation
software.

1. Is the author a first time poster?
        Yes - Initiate the registration process (see below)
        No  - Continue

2. Is there an auto-kickout?
        Yes - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)
        No  - Continue

3. Are there grounds for auto-rejection?
        Yes - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.
        No  - Continue

4. Is the author on the auto-approve list?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)

5. Does the article meet the charter guidelines?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.

r.a.s.n.m registration:  When the moderation software detects an article
from a first time poster, an auto-response containing the charter, FAQ and
instructions for completing the registration are returned to the author.
The article is forwarded to a human moderator. Should the auto-response
bounce back to a moderator and a valid reply-to address for the author
cannot be determined, the registration cannot be completed and the initial
article will not be posted.  If the moderator can determine a valid address,
they will forward the registration information to the author's valid address.

When the author acknowledges by return e-mail that he/she has read the
material and agrees to abide by the charter, he/she is placed on the auto-
approve list.  If the initial article is on charter, it is posted at that
time.

Human moderation:  Individual moderators will have the authority to
reject articles that are clearly off-charter (commercial or money-making
posts, etc.), and to accept articles that are clearly on-charter.  Should
there be any question about an article being reviewed, it will be forwarded
to another moderator for a second opinion.  If the first two moderators to
review an article agree, it will be accepted or rejected accordingly.  If
the first two moderators to review an article disagree, the article will be
forwarded to a third moderator for a deciding vote.

Moderators will execute the above procedure as rapidly as possible in
order to minimize the delay in getting human moderated articles posted.

Key to the moderation philosophy, articles will not be rejected because
of the author's opinion or position on an issue, nor will any human moderated
post be rejected because of the author of the post.  Moderator's opinions will
be expressed only within their own posts, not within their moderation
activities.  Anyone who is willing to follow the Charter guidelines is welcome
to post to r.a.s.n.m, and their posts will be accepted unedited if they have
followed the Charter criteria.  Posts will never be edited by moderators.

If a moderator discovers off-charter material posted in the group, he/she
has three options:

1) Ignore it if it isn't blatant
2) Send an e-mail reminder of charter guidelines to the poster
3) Temporary removal of the poster's auto-post status

How the off-charter post is handled will be determined by what response the
situation warrants, but the moderator should use restraint whenever possible
and use removal of auto-post status only as a last resort.  In the event
that the moderator feels the situation is severe enough to warrant temporarily
suspending the author's auto-approve privilege, the moderator must immediately
notify the other moderators and forward a copy of the post to the rest of the
moderation team.  The moderation team must then decide within one week
whether to restore the author to auto-approve or continue the suspension.  A
two-thirds majority is required to maintain the suspension.  Posters suspended
from auto-approve may continue to post, but all their articles will be subject
to human moderation while the suspension is in effect.  Auto-approve may be
restored at any time by a simple majority vote of the moderators.

A poster who consistently submits off-charter material may be placed on the
auto-reject list by a two-thirds majority vote of the moderators.
Posters placed on auto-reject for this reason will be sent a copy of the
charter, FAQ and instructions on how to petition for reinstatement.

Individuals who engage in threatening or abusive behavior toward a moderator,
or who attempt to interfere with the normal operation of the newsgroup or the
internet accounts supporting the newsgroup or it's members, other than
reporting net-abuse, will be placed on auto-reject for not less than one
year.

Moderator administration and changes:  The moderation team will initially plan
to include 5 to 7 moderators.  They will be responsible for maintaining the
moderation software and reviewing articles that are neither auto-approved nor
auto-rejected. New moderators can be added as deemed appropriate upon the
approval of two-thirds of the existing moderators. Candidates for new
moderators will only be taken from those people who have been on the
auto-approve list continuously for 3 months.  During the first 3 months of the
newsgroup, the 3 month requirement will be waived.  A special call for
volunteers can be posted when an existing moderator steps down or when
the workload on the moderators is deemed sufficient that they feel it is
appropriate to increase their number.

There will be an administrative mailing list, on which the moderators can
discuss the enforcement and modification of the guidelines given here.

A thread may be marked for human attention upon agreement of a majority of
the moderators. This overrides normal auto-approval and content based
auto-rejection, and brings all posts in the thread to moderator attention so
potential problems can be dealt with before measures as drastic as
removal of auto-approval status are called for.  Notice of thread marking
may be posted to the newsgroup, but is not required.

Appeals: A poster who feels that a rejected post was within the charter
can appeal to the administrative list. If a majority of the moderators agree
that the post should be approved, it will be posted as usual.  If the poster's
auto-approve status was suspended as a result of an article that is
successfully appealed, auto-approve will be restored.

Complaints or compliments about moderator judgments, and other matters related
to the running of the newsgroup are welcome on the administrative list, but
not on the newsgroup. No post relating to such discussions will be approved
for the newsgroup. Any decision made about action to take (or not to take) is
final.  Posters who persist in pressing the issue will be subject to
auto-rejection.

Charter revisions: Any discussion on revision of the charter must include
"CHARTER:" as the beginning of the subject line.  After discussion in the
newsgroup, the moderators will judge the group consensus and let the group
know if any charter changes take place. Any changes must pass with a 2/3rds
majority of the moderators agreeing on what the group is requesting.  This
is not a vote of the opinions of the moderators, but rather to ensure that
the moderators have a clear understanding of what the members of the newsgroup
want.  If the moderators are not sure of the consensus of the group, or if
members of the group challenge the moderators' decision, an actual vote will
be taken. Votes will require a 2/3 majority to modify the charter.  The
moderators will post all results of charter modification votes to the group
after the voting is completed.  The subject line will include the phrase
"CHARTER:" so that those who wish to ignore them can skip the threads or set
their killfiles/filters to ignore them.  Changes will also be made to the FAQ.

The FAQ will be posted every Friday.

Moderators who are unwilling or unable to uphold the charter in their personal
posts or moderation activities may be removed by a two-thirds vote of the
other moderators.

Third party cancels ('retro-moderation') by anyone, including but not limited
to moderators, is strictly against newsgroup policy.

Disclaimer:
- The moderators of this newsgroup are not responsible for
  truthfulness or legality of any of the posts.
- The approval of a post by a moderator is NOT an endorsement by the
  moderator or moderation team.
- Posters assume full responsibility for the content of their posts.
- Readers using information that appears in the newsgroup do so at
  their own risk.
- Posters agree that by posting items to this newsgroup they
  indemnify and hold harmless the moderation team and service
  providers.

END CHARTER.

MODERATOR INFO: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

Moderator: "Eric O. Troldahl" <etroll@carracing.com>
Moderator: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@carracing.com>
Moderator: Deven Atkinson <deven@carracing.com>
Moderator: "Lisa A. Carbrey" <lcarbrey@carracing.com>
Moderator: John Martin <jtmartin@carracing.com>
Moderator: Martin Moleski <moleski@canisius.edu>
Moderator: Chris Watkins <C_Watkins@carracing.com>

Article submission address: rasnm@carracing.com
Administrative contact address: rasnm-admin@carracing.com

END MODERATOR INFO.

IMPORTANT VOTING PROCEDURE NOTES: READ THIS BEFORE VOTING

The purpose of a Usenet vote is to determine the genuine interest in
reading the proposed newsgroup, and soliciting votes from uninterested
parties defeats this purpose.  Do *not* distribute this CFV;  intead,
direct people to the official CFV as posted to news.announce.newgroups.
Distributing specific voting instructions or pre-marked copies of
this CFV is considered vote fraud.

This is a public vote:  All email addresses, names and votes will be
listed in the final RESULT post.  The name used may be either a real
name or an established Usenet handle.

At most one vote is allowed per person or per account.  Duplicate
votes will be resolved in favor of the most recent valid vote.

Voters must mail their ballots directly to the votetaker.  Anonymous,
forwarded, or proxy votes are not valid, nor are votes mailed from
WWW/HTML/CGI forms (which should not exist).  Votes from nonexistent
accounts are also invalid, and the votetaker will reject any "munged"
address he cannot decipher immediately.

Please direct any questions to the votetaker at <neilc@stanford.edu>.

HOW TO VOTE:

Extract the ballot from the CFV by deleting everything before and after
the "BEGINNING OF BALLOT" and "END OF BALLOT" lines.  Don't worry about
the spacing of the columns or any quote characters (">") that your
reply inserts.  Please, DO NOT send the entire CFV back to me!

Fill in the ballot as shown below.  Please provide your REAL NAME and
indicate your desired vote in the appropriate locations inside the ballot.

Examples of how to properly indicate your vote:

  [ YES     ]  example.yes.vote
  [ NO      ]  example.no.vote
  [ ABSTAIN ]  example.abstention
  [ CANCEL  ]  example.cancellation

DO NOT modify, alter or delete any information in this ballot!
If you do, the voting software will probably reject your ballot.

When finished, MAIL the ballot to: < voting@uvv.stanford.edu >
Just "replying" to this message should work, but check the "To:" line.

If you do not receive an acknowledgment of your vote within three
days contact the votetaker about the problem.  You are responsible
for reading your ack and making sure your vote is registered correctly.

If these instructions are unclear, please consult the Introduction to
Usenet Voting or the Usenet Voting FAQ at http://www.stanford.edu/~neilc/uvv.

======== BEGINNING OF BALLOT: Delete everything before this line =======
.-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 1ST CALL FOR VOTES: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
| Official Usenet Voting Ballot <RASNM-0001> (Do not remove this line!)
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Please provide your real name, or your vote may be rejected.  Place
| ONLY your name (ie. do NOT include your e-mail address or any other
| information; ONLY your name) after the colon on the following line:

Voter name:

| Insert YES, NO, ABSTAIN, or CANCEL inside the brackets for each
| newsgroup listed below (do not delete the newsgroup name):

 Your Vote   Newsgroup
 ---------   -----------------------------------------------------------
[         ]  rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (moderated)

======== END OF BALLOT: Delete everything after this line ==============


This CFV was created with uvpq 1.0 (Aug 14 1997).
PQ datestamp: 980322

-- 
Voting address: voting@uvv.stanford.edu

From neilc@stanford.edu Fri Jul 17 06:33:06 1998
Path: news.isc.org!data.pa.vix.com!sonysjc!sanjose-news-feed1.bbnplanet.com!su-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!news1.bellglobal.com!news.uunet.ca!news1.ottawa.cyberus.ca!news.cyberus.ca!news-jammys.net!news.flora.ottawa.on.ca!nntp.igs.net!nott!bcarh189.bnr.ca!nrchh45.us.nortel.com!hipcancel!despams.ocunix.on.ca!resurrector!not-for-mail
Message-ID: <REPOST-8664.73556518555.900674663.22405@isc.org>
X-Reposted-By: dave@ferret.ocunix.on.ca
X-Original-Path: ...!news3.bellglobal.com!news1.bellglobal.com!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!news2.ais.net!jamie!ais.net!uunet!in4.uu.net!news.isc.org!bounce-back
From: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>
Reply-To: voting@uvv.stanford.edu
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,rec.autos.sport.f1,rec.autos.sport.indy,rec.autos.sport.misc,rec.autos.sport.nascar,rec.autos.sport.tech,rec.autos.sport.info
Subject: REPOST: CFV: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated moderated
Followup-To: poster
X-Original-Message-ID: <900674663.22405@isc.org>
References: <896328708.21545@isc.org> <897880198.15596@isc.org> <898490393.18097@isc.org>
Organization: Usenet Volunteer Votetakers
Approved: newgroups-request@isc.org
Expires: 8 Aug 1998 00:00:00 GMT
Archive-Name: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 08:14:29 GMT
X-Comments: DtR Repost: The following Usenet article was cancelled,
X-Comments: more than likely by someone other than the original poster.
X-Comments: Please see the end of this posting for a copy of the cancel.
X-Comments: Dave the Resurrector can be contacted at dave@ferret.ocunix.on.ca
Lines: 559
Xref: news.isc.org news.announce.newgroups:10416 news.groups:291207 rec.autos.sport.f1:162984 rec.autos.sport.indy:81624 rec.autos.sport.misc:12647 rec.autos.sport.nascar:154301 rec.autos.sport.tech:14637 rec.autos.sport.info:12809

                     FIRST CALL FOR VOTES (of 2)
           moderated group rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

This CFV is to be distributed only by the votetaker.  It is not to be
posted to newsgroups, or mailed to mailing lists or individuals, except by
the votetaker.  Ballots or CFVs provided by anyone else will be invalid.

Newsgroups line:
rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated	NASCAR and Stockcar Racing. (Moderated)

Votes must be received by 23:59:59 UTC, 7 Aug 1998.

This vote is being conducted by a neutral third party.  Questions
about the proposed group should be directed to the proponent.

Proponent: Eric O. Troldahl <etroll@flash.net>
Proponent: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@dittosrush.com>
Proponent: Deven Atkinson <deven@Mcs.Net>
Proponent: Rich Bemben <rbemben@eng.micrion.com>
Proponent: Lisa A. Carbrey <lcarbrey@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Tom Duwe <tduwe@primenet.com>
Proponent: Ronnie Hiatt <oldsteel@bellsouth.net>
Proponent: Sue Horan-Phillips <semh@earthlink.net>
Proponent: Karen Jensen <kjinsk@shell1.shore.net>
Proponent: Henry Kelley <tinylights@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Nancy Kendrick <daytonatwin125s@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Ken (Poppy) Kraus <floridapoppy@webtv.net>
Proponent: Jerry (Tinadog) Kyte <Tinadog@aol.com>
Proponent: John Martin <jtmartin@spartanburg.net>
Proponent: Lynwood Matteson <lcmatteson@ucdavis.edu>
Proponent: Mike McGuigan <mcguigan@mindspring.com>
Proponent: Martin Moleski <moleski@canisius.edu>
Proponent: John (DeliveryBoy) Sutphin <wahoo_35@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Chris Watkins <umytbnxt@mindspring.com>
Mentor: Jonathan Grobe <grobe@worf.netins.net>
Votetaker: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>

RATIONALE: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

NASCAR and stockcar racing, as well as other motorsports, have been the
subjects of Usenet discussion for many years.  The existing
rec.autos.sport.nascar newsgroup (RASN) gets a total of well over a
hundred messages a day during the off-season and that number can increase
to two to four times that figure during the season, peaking at over 1000
a day during speedweeks.  Much of this traffic is relevant and of high-
quality, but there are also significant problems with spam, advertisements,
Driver/Team/Sponsor/Car-Make/Media abuse, and attacks aimed at other
posters to the newsgroup.  Many former posters to RASN have left because of
this situation.

Rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated is intended to be a forum where all
topics related to NASCAR and stockcar racing can be discussed without these
distractions. The primary focus of the group will be NASCAR's top 3 series:
Winston Cup, Busch Grand National, and Craftsman Trucks.  Questions and
answers about this sport will be welcomed and a FAQ will be maintained.

CHARTER: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

The unmoderated newsgroup rec.autos.sport.nascar has always been fairly
relaxed about what is on-topic. The moderated newsgroup will be the same
way.  Basically anything related to NASCAR or stock car racing will be
considered on-topic.

Posts about other types of motorsports (Indycar, F1, etc.) should be
directed to the appropriate newsgroup, unless they are comparing stockcar
racing to the other motorsport.  For example, a comparison of the point
systems of F1 and Winston Cup, and how using the F1 system would change
the Winston Cup championship standings, is on-topic.

The goal of rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (r.a.s.n.m) is to provide its
participants with a degree of free expression approaching that found in
unmoderated groups while maintaining an environment free of the spam,
commercial and money-making posts, personal harassment, vulgarity and
blatantly off topic material found in most unmoderated forums.

The philosophy of r.a.s.n.m is that responsible people should be trusted
to post like responsible adults. Therefore, the moderation effort will focus
primarily on dealing with problems as they occur, not on screening every
post.  All posters will be initially trusted with auto-approve status, which
will enable their subsequent articles to be posted immediately to the
newsgroup without the involvement of a human moderator.  They will retain
auto-approve status unless they demonstrate cause for its revocation.

Newsgroup readers are warned that since this is a discussion group about
racing, people here will want to talk about racing, even during the
televised races.  If you want your tape-delayed viewing to be unspoiled by
knowing who won, crashed, etc., it is best to keep yourself away from all
sources of racing information, including newsgroups, cable TV, racing radio
shows, newspapers, coworkers, etc.  It is considered polite to include the
word SPOILER in the subject of posts about races less than 48 hours old,
leaving discussion of the details out of the header, but this WILL NOT be
enforced.

Appropriate posts will meet one of the following criteria:

1. It would effectively start a new discussion.  Examples:

        - What is the current points system?
        - How do provisionals work?
        - How did Ricky Craven get an 8th provisional?
        - Discussions of actual Race or Qualifying action.
        - Questions about the mechanics of race cars and engines.

2. It adds content to an existing discussion.  Examples:

        - Points breakdown itself.
        - Actual NASCAR policy on provisionals.
        - Web site addresses of teams, drivers, or Fan Clubs.
        - Answers to questions posed by others.
        - Clarification of questions previously asked.

3. It is informative to the r.a.s.n.m community.  Examples:

        - Announcements of r.a.s.n reunions.
        - Announcements of upcoming TV schedules for racing.
        - Testing times.
        - Announcements of NASCAR events or schedules.
        - Announcements of driver appearances.

While examples are given wherever possible, it is impossible to anticipate
every attempt at finding a loophole. Therefore, the spirit of all the rules
should be followed as opposed to looking for leaks and loopholes. For
example, strange spellings or formats of profanity would still be considered
profanity.  Posters will be treated like responsible adults and expected to
act accordingly.

The following are unacceptable:

1) Bashing
2) Flames
3) Trolls
4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts
5) Profanity/Racial Slurs
6) Crossposts
7) Binaries
8) Posts without a respondable email address
9) Quotes of more than a few lines of copyrighted material

1) Bashing - defined as posts or portions of posts that verbally attack
others in an insulting or malicious manner to an extent that would reasonably
be considered libelous or slanderous.  In other words: "Do not post anything
that would make the driver or team you support cringe or be embarrassed to
have you as a fan."  This does NOT mean that negative comments will be
moderated out.  The expression of negative opinions is a legitimate part of
any discussion and the right to express them in a non-malicious fashion shall
not be abridged.

2) Flames - defined as inflammatory posts or portions of posts whose
primary purpose is to induce an intense emotional response.

3) Trolls - Trolls are defined as posts that do not have substance to
their content, primarily meant to incite disruptive threads or distract
posters from the main intent of the newsgroup.

4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts are defined as posts whose primary
purpose is to solicit a benefit for the poster.  This would include, but is
not limited to, advertisements of businesses, direct advertisements of goods
and/or services for sale, posts advertising the availability of goods and/or
services for sale through another medium, promotion of business opportunities,
money-making schemes, and chain letters.

Simply listing a business name, address, phone number, URL, etc. in one's
signature is not considered commercial use of the newsgroup.  However,
signatures that are in fact advertisements, or which solicit readers to
patronize a for-profit venture or visit a commercial web site fall under
the definition of commercial or money-making posts.  Posts bearing such
signatures are subject to rejection as such.

Posts promoting newsgroup related activities are not considered commercial
or money-making posts since there is no financial benefit to any of the
individuals involved.  These activities would include but are not limited
to the RASN Sponsorship Fund, raffles, and RASN reunions.

Posts advising the group of charitable racing-related events or offering
NASCAR event or NASCAR/stockcar race tickets at or below face value are also
permitted.

5) Profanity/Racial Slurs - Posters should view r.a.s.n.m as polite mixed
company and watch their language accordingly.  Only a short list of words
will be disallowed.  Nevertheless, posters to RASNM are advised and encouraged
to use the same standards that apply in the Sunday comics.  Specifically,
changing all letters in profanity to special characters like !@#$% .  However,
when quoting material such as scanner bites, interviews etc.., the first
letter of the word may be left in place so that readers can deduce what was
actually said.

6) Crossposts - defined as posts also directed to any other newsgroup.
Exceptions to this limit are made for Usenet Administrative purposes (as
from news.announce.newgroups) and for posts from rec.autos.sport.info.

7) Binaries - Binary posts are defined as posts that include UUencoded,
MIME-encoded, or any other form of binary message in the body or signature
other than Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) signatures.  This includes, but is
not limited to, pictures, audio files, executables, and HTML.  Binaries
should be posted to an appropriate binaries newsgroup or a web page. A brief
informative notice should then be sent to the newsgroup.  The FAQ for this
group will list any web sites that have volunteered to have binaries posted
from r.a.s.n.m readers, and how to get the binary posted.

8) Email Addresses - Since an author's first post to r.a.s.n.m generates
an auto-response detailing the registration procedure, it is strongly
recommended that at least the first submission to the group carry a valid
return e-mail address.  This will avoid a delay in the registration process
that would result if the auto-response bounces.  A person may register to
post under a "munged" address to defeat spambots, but the altered address
must be readily decipherable into the poster's valid address by a human.
This does not cut off the use of pseudonymous remailers or munged headers,
both of which are allowable.

9) Copyrighted material - Quoting a line or two of copyrighted material
is not against the law.  However, quoting entire articles is a copyright
violation (unless the poster has permission from the copyright holder).  If
articles are available on the web, a short summary of the article with a URL
is the accepted method of posting.  Proper credit must be given to all
copyrighted material.

The following are discouraged, but will not be rejected outright.

1) Posts in languages other than English
2) Signatures over 6 lines
3) Posts with difficult to read formatting
4) Posts only containing questions answered completely in the FAQ

1) Non-English - At this time, 100% of the readers of the group know English,
with English being the only language of most readers.  Therefore, English is
strongly recommended as the posting language of choice for r.a.s.n.m.
Posts in languages other than English will be examined for approval if any
of the moderators can read the language in question. There is no guarantee of
approval for posts in any language other than English.

2) Signatures - USENET netiquette limits signatures to four lines.  For
r.a.s.n.m, posters are encouraged to keep their signatures to six lines
or less. PGP signature data and additional lines automatically added by
services such as hotmail and Deja News are not included in the count, but
all other text, including boxes around the signature, is included.

3) Readability - USENET Netiquette says that for everyone's enjoyment,
all posts should have right margins in the 60-70 range. The range from 60-70
is for unquoted text.  Quoted text may continue to expand to the right.  Also,
over 2/3 text quoted from previous posters is strongly discouraged.  If a
poster regularly fails to meet these simple rules, a moderator will contact
the person to find out if they can fix the problem.

4) FAQ - Posters asking questions that are covered completely in the FAQ will
be sent a copy of the FAQ and the post will be accepted.  Other posters are
encouraged to welcome the user, respond to the post, or remain silent.

Moderation overview:

Moderation procedure - To reduce their workload and expedite the posting of
articles to the group, the moderation team will employ automated moderation
software (robo-moderation). As much of the work as possible will be turned
over to the moderation software.  This software will scan each incoming
article, then either post it directly to the group without human review,
return it to the author with an appropriate explanation, or forward it to a
human moderator.  Posts will either be accepted in whole, or rejected. The
moderators will NEVER modify them at all.

All rejected posts will be returned to the originating email address with an
explanation for the rejection and instructions for appealing the rejection.
The moderators cannot be held accountable for internet failures or
undeliverable email.

Auto-rejection: binaries, crossposts, profanity, racial slurs, and articles
from authors on the auto-reject list will be automatically rejected. The
moderation team will maintain a list of words that will cause a post to be
automatically rejected.  In the spirit of allowing as much free expression
as possible, the list will be as short as possible while still insuring a
civil environment within the group.

Auto-kickout:  There will be another short list of potentially offensive
words that will cause a post to be kicked out for human moderation.  These
lists can be modified as needed by a simple majority vote of the moderators.
Posters may explicitly request human moderation of an article by placing the
special phrase MOD-HUMAN in the subject line.  This may be desirable if the
author feels there may be something in the article that would cause the
moderation software to automatically reject it. The moderators can also add
this tag to a thread.

Auto-approve:  Provided an article does not trigger an auto-rejection or
auto-kickout, articles from authors on the auto-approve list will be posted
directly to the group without human review.

Moderation sequence:  All incoming articles will be moderated according
to the following sequence with steps 1-4 being performed by the moderation
software.

1. Is the author a first time poster?
        Yes - Initiate the registration process (see below)
        No  - Continue

2. Is there an auto-kickout?
        Yes - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)
        No  - Continue

3. Are there grounds for auto-rejection?
        Yes - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.
        No  - Continue

4. Is the author on the auto-approve list?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)

5. Does the article meet the charter guidelines?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.

r.a.s.n.m registration:  When the moderation software detects an article
from a first time poster, an auto-response containing the charter, FAQ and
instructions for completing the registration are returned to the author.
The article is forwarded to a human moderator. Should the auto-response
bounce back to a moderator and a valid reply-to address for the author
cannot be determined, the registration cannot be completed and the initial
article will not be posted.  If the moderator can determine a valid address,
they will forward the registration information to the author's valid address.

When the author acknowledges by return e-mail that he/she has read the
material and agrees to abide by the charter, he/she is placed on the auto-
approve list.  If the initial article is on charter, it is posted at that
time.

Human moderation:  Individual moderators will have the authority to
reject articles that are clearly off-charter (commercial or money-making
posts, etc.), and to accept articles that are clearly on-charter.  Should
there be any question about an article being reviewed, it will be forwarded
to another moderator for a second opinion.  If the first two moderators to
review an article agree, it will be accepted or rejected accordingly.  If
the first two moderators to review an article disagree, the article will be
forwarded to a third moderator for a deciding vote.

Moderators will execute the above procedure as rapidly as possible in
order to minimize the delay in getting human moderated articles posted.

Key to the moderation philosophy, articles will not be rejected because
of the author's opinion or position on an issue, nor will any human moderated
post be rejected because of the author of the post.  Moderator's opinions will
be expressed only within their own posts, not within their moderation
activities.  Anyone who is willing to follow the Charter guidelines is welcome
to post to r.a.s.n.m, and their posts will be accepted unedited if they have
followed the Charter criteria.  Posts will never be edited by moderators.

If a moderator discovers off-charter material posted in the group, he/she
has three options:

1) Ignore it if it isn't blatant
2) Send an e-mail reminder of charter guidelines to the poster
3) Temporary removal of the poster's auto-post status

How the off-charter post is handled will be determined by what response the
situation warrants, but the moderator should use restraint whenever possible
and use removal of auto-post status only as a last resort.  In the event
that the moderator feels the situation is severe enough to warrant temporarily
suspending the author's auto-approve privilege, the moderator must immediately
notify the other moderators and forward a copy of the post to the rest of the
moderation team.  The moderation team must then decide within one week
whether to restore the author to auto-approve or continue the suspension.  A
two-thirds majority is required to maintain the suspension.  Posters suspended
from auto-approve may continue to post, but all their articles will be subject
to human moderation while the suspension is in effect.  Auto-approve may be
restored at any time by a simple majority vote of the moderators.

A poster who consistently submits off-charter material may be placed on the
auto-reject list by a two-thirds majority vote of the moderators.
Posters placed on auto-reject for this reason will be sent a copy of the
charter, FAQ and instructions on how to petition for reinstatement.

Individuals who engage in threatening or abusive behavior toward a moderator,
or who attempt to interfere with the normal operation of the newsgroup or the
internet accounts supporting the newsgroup or it's members, other than
reporting net-abuse, will be placed on auto-reject for not less than one
year.

Moderator administration and changes:  The moderation team will initially plan
to include 5 to 7 moderators.  They will be responsible for maintaining the
moderation software and reviewing articles that are neither auto-approved nor
auto-rejected. New moderators can be added as deemed appropriate upon the
approval of two-thirds of the existing moderators. Candidates for new
moderators will only be taken from those people who have been on the
auto-approve list continuously for 3 months.  During the first 3 months of the
newsgroup, the 3 month requirement will be waived.  A special call for
volunteers can be posted when an existing moderator steps down or when
the workload on the moderators is deemed sufficient that they feel it is
appropriate to increase their number.

There will be an administrative mailing list, on which the moderators can
discuss the enforcement and modification of the guidelines given here.

A thread may be marked for human attention upon agreement of a majority of
the moderators. This overrides normal auto-approval and content based
auto-rejection, and brings all posts in the thread to moderator attention so
potential problems can be dealt with before measures as drastic as
removal of auto-approval status are called for.  Notice of thread marking
may be posted to the newsgroup, but is not required.

Appeals: A poster who feels that a rejected post was within the charter
can appeal to the administrative list. If a majority of the moderators agree
that the post should be approved, it will be posted as usual.  If the poster's
auto-approve status was suspended as a result of an article that is
successfully appealed, auto-approve will be restored.

Complaints or compliments about moderator judgments, and other matters related
to the running of the newsgroup are welcome on the administrative list, but
not on the newsgroup. No post relating to such discussions will be approved
for the newsgroup. Any decision made about action to take (or not to take) is
final.  Posters who persist in pressing the issue will be subject to
auto-rejection.

Charter revisions: Any discussion on revision of the charter must include
"CHARTER:" as the beginning of the subject line.  After discussion in the
newsgroup, the moderators will judge the group consensus and let the group
know if any charter changes take place. Any changes must pass with a 2/3rds
majority of the moderators agreeing on what the group is requesting.  This
is not a vote of the opinions of the moderators, but rather to ensure that
the moderators have a clear understanding of what the members of the newsgroup
want.  If the moderators are not sure of the consensus of the group, or if
members of the group challenge the moderators' decision, an actual vote will
be taken. Votes will require a 2/3 majority to modify the charter.  The
moderators will post all results of charter modification votes to the group
after the voting is completed.  The subject line will include the phrase
"CHARTER:" so that those who wish to ignore them can skip the threads or set
their killfiles/filters to ignore them.  Changes will also be made to the FAQ.

The FAQ will be posted every Friday.

Moderators who are unwilling or unable to uphold the charter in their personal
posts or moderation activities may be removed by a two-thirds vote of the
other moderators.

Third party cancels ('retro-moderation') by anyone, including but not limited
to moderators, is strictly against newsgroup policy.

Disclaimer:
- The moderators of this newsgroup are not responsible for
  truthfulness or legality of any of the posts.
- The approval of a post by a moderator is NOT an endorsement by the
  moderator or moderation team.
- Posters assume full responsibility for the content of their posts.
- Readers using information that appears in the newsgroup do so at
  their own risk.
- Posters agree that by posting items to this newsgroup they
  indemnify and hold harmless the moderation team and service
  providers.

END CHARTER.

MODERATOR INFO: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

Moderator: "Eric O. Troldahl" <etroll@carracing.com>
Moderator: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@carracing.com>
Moderator: Deven Atkinson <deven@carracing.com>
Moderator: "Lisa A. Carbrey" <lcarbrey@carracing.com>
Moderator: John Martin <jtmartin@carracing.com>
Moderator: Martin Moleski <moleski@canisius.edu>
Moderator: Chris Watkins <C_Watkins@carracing.com>

Article submission address: rasnm@carracing.com
Administrative contact address: rasnm-admin@carracing.com

END MODERATOR INFO.

IMPORTANT VOTING PROCEDURE NOTES: READ THIS BEFORE VOTING

The purpose of a Usenet vote is to determine the genuine interest in
reading the proposed newsgroup, and soliciting votes from uninterested
parties defeats this purpose.  Do *not* distribute this CFV;  intead,
direct people to the official CFV as posted to news.announce.newgroups.
Distributing specific voting instructions or pre-marked copies of
this CFV is considered vote fraud.

This is a public vote:  All email addresses, names and votes will be
listed in the final RESULT post.  The name used may be either a real
name or an established Usenet handle.

At most one vote is allowed per person or per account.  Duplicate
votes will be resolved in favor of the most recent valid vote.

Voters must mail their ballots directly to the votetaker.  Anonymous,
forwarded, or proxy votes are not valid, nor are votes mailed from
WWW/HTML/CGI forms (which should not exist).  Votes from nonexistent
accounts are also invalid, and the votetaker will reject any "munged"
address he cannot decipher immediately.

Please direct any questions to the votetaker at <neilc@stanford.edu>.

HOW TO VOTE:

Extract the ballot from the CFV by deleting everything before and after
the "BEGINNING OF BALLOT" and "END OF BALLOT" lines.  Don't worry about
the spacing of the columns or any quote characters (">") that your
reply inserts.  Please, DO NOT send the entire CFV back to me!

Fill in the ballot as shown below.  Please provide your REAL NAME and
indicate your desired vote in the appropriate locations inside the ballot.

Examples of how to properly indicate your vote:

  [ YES     ]  example.yes.vote
  [ NO      ]  example.no.vote
  [ ABSTAIN ]  example.abstention
  [ CANCEL  ]  example.cancellation

DO NOT modify, alter or delete any information in this ballot!
If you do, the voting software will probably reject your ballot.

When finished, MAIL the ballot to: < voting@uvv.stanford.edu >
Just "replying" to this message should work, but check the "To:" line.

If you do not receive an acknowledgment of your vote within three
days contact the votetaker about the problem.  You are responsible
for reading your ack and making sure your vote is registered correctly.

If these instructions are unclear, please consult the Introduction to
Usenet Voting or the Usenet Voting FAQ at http://www.stanford.edu/~neilc/uvv.

======== BEGINNING OF BALLOT: Delete everything before this line =======
.-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 1ST CALL FOR VOTES: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
| Official Usenet Voting Ballot <RASNM-0001> (Do not remove this line!)
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Please provide your real name, or your vote may be rejected.  Place
| ONLY your name (ie. do NOT include your e-mail address or any other
| information; ONLY your name) after the colon on the following line:

Voter name:

| Insert YES, NO, ABSTAIN, or CANCEL inside the brackets for each
| newsgroup listed below (do not delete the newsgroup name):

 Your Vote   Newsgroup
 ---------   -----------------------------------------------------------
[         ]  rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (moderated)

======== END OF BALLOT: Delete everything after this line ==============


This CFV was created with uvpq 1.0 (Aug 14 1997).
PQ datestamp: 980322

-- 
Voting address: voting@uvv.stanford.edu
========= WAS CANCELLED BY =======:
Control: cancel <900674663.22405@isc.org>
Subject: cmsg cancel <900674663.22405@isc.org>
Message-ID: <cancel.900674663.22405@isc.org>
From: HipCrime@jlnif.gov
Sender: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>
Approved: HipCrime@jlnif.gov
Newsgroups: news.groups
Date: 17 Jul 1998 12:47:34 GMT
X-No-Archive: Yes
Organization: HipCrime International, unLtd.
NNTP-Posting-Host: 204.237.253.7
Lines: 2
Path: ...!news-peer.gip.net!news-raspail.gip.net!news.gsl.net!gip.net!rain.fr!194.250.238.3!nntp.HipCrime.new!cyberspam!hipcancel!usenet

Cancelled by HipCrime's NewsAgent.


From neilc@stanford.edu Fri Jul 17 06:33:08 1998
Control: cancel <REPOST-8664.73556518555.900674663.22405@isc.org>
Path: news.isc.org!bounce-back
Message-ID: <c810-REPOST-8664.73556518555.900674663.22405@isc.org>
From: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>
Reply-To: voting@uvv.stanford.edu
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,rec.autos.sport.f1,rec.autos.sport.indy,rec.autos.sport.misc,rec.autos.sport.nascar,rec.autos.sport.tech,rec.autos.sport.info
Subject: cmsg cancel <REPOST-8664.73556518555.900674663.22405@isc.org>
Followup-To: poster
References: <896328708.21545@isc.org> <897880198.15596@isc.org> <898490393.18097@isc.org>
Approved: newgroups-request@isc.org
Expires: 8 Aug 1998 00:00:00 GMT
Archive-Name: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
Date: 17 Jul 98 13:33:07 GMT
Lines: 2
Xref: news.isc.org control.cancel:2613777

Unapproved article for news.announce.newgroups auto-cancelled
by daemon on behalf of moderator.

From neilc@stanford.edu Sat Jul 18 16:05:32 1998
Path: news.isc.org!data.pa.vix.com!sonysjc!sanjose-news-feed1.bbnplanet.com!su-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!la-news-feed1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!newsfeed1.earthlink.net!news.idt.net!newshub.northeast.verio.net!btnet-peer!btnet-feed2!btnet!bmdhh222.bnr.ca!bhars12c.bnr.co.uk!bcarh8ac.ca.nortel.com!bcarh189.bnr.ca!nrchh45.us.nortel.com!hipcancel!despams.ocunix.on.ca!resurrector!not-for-mail
Message-ID: <REPOST-4128.87399291992.73556518555.900674663.22405@isc.org>
X-Reposted-By: dave@ferret.ocunix.on.ca
X-Original-Path: zcarh46f.bnr.ca!nrchh45.us.nortel.com!hipcancel!despams.ocunix.on.ca!resurrector!not-for-mail
X-Original-Message-ID: <REPOST-8664.73556518555.900674663.22405@isc.org>
X-Reposted-By: dave@ferret.ocunix.on.ca
X-Original-Path: ...!news3.bellglobal.com!news1.bellglobal.com!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!news2.ais.net!jamie!ais.net!uunet!in4.uu.net!news.isc.org!bounce-back
From: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>
Reply-To: voting@uvv.stanford.edu
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,rec.autos.sport.f1,rec.autos.sport.indy,rec.autos.sport.misc,rec.autos.sport.nascar,rec.autos.sport.tech,rec.autos.sport.info
Subject: REPOST: CFV: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated moderated
Followup-To: poster
X-Original-Message-ID: <900674663.22405@isc.org>
References: <896328708.21545@isc.org> <897880198.15596@isc.org> <898490393.18097@isc.org>
Organization: Usenet Volunteer Votetakers
Approved: newgroups-request@isc.org
Expires: 8 Aug 1998 00:00:00 GMT
Archive-Name: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 08:14:29 GMT
X-Comments: DtR Repost: The following Usenet article was cancelled,
X-Comments: more than likely by someone other than the original poster.
X-Comments: Please see the end of this posting for a copy of the cancel.
X-Comments: Dave the Resurrector can be contacted at dave@ferret.ocunix.on.ca
Lines: 577
Xref: news.isc.org news.announce.newgroups:10436 news.groups:291507 rec.autos.sport.f1:163530 rec.autos.sport.indy:81887 rec.autos.sport.misc:12660 rec.autos.sport.nascar:154779 rec.autos.sport.tech:14659 rec.autos.sport.info:12877

                     FIRST CALL FOR VOTES (of 2)
           moderated group rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

This CFV is to be distributed only by the votetaker.  It is not to be
posted to newsgroups, or mailed to mailing lists or individuals, except by
the votetaker.  Ballots or CFVs provided by anyone else will be invalid.

Newsgroups line:
rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated	NASCAR and Stockcar Racing. (Moderated)

Votes must be received by 23:59:59 UTC, 7 Aug 1998.

This vote is being conducted by a neutral third party.  Questions
about the proposed group should be directed to the proponent.

Proponent: Eric O. Troldahl <etroll@flash.net>
Proponent: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@dittosrush.com>
Proponent: Deven Atkinson <deven@Mcs.Net>
Proponent: Rich Bemben <rbemben@eng.micrion.com>
Proponent: Lisa A. Carbrey <lcarbrey@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Tom Duwe <tduwe@primenet.com>
Proponent: Ronnie Hiatt <oldsteel@bellsouth.net>
Proponent: Sue Horan-Phillips <semh@earthlink.net>
Proponent: Karen Jensen <kjinsk@shell1.shore.net>
Proponent: Henry Kelley <tinylights@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Nancy Kendrick <daytonatwin125s@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Ken (Poppy) Kraus <floridapoppy@webtv.net>
Proponent: Jerry (Tinadog) Kyte <Tinadog@aol.com>
Proponent: John Martin <jtmartin@spartanburg.net>
Proponent: Lynwood Matteson <lcmatteson@ucdavis.edu>
Proponent: Mike McGuigan <mcguigan@mindspring.com>
Proponent: Martin Moleski <moleski@canisius.edu>
Proponent: John (DeliveryBoy) Sutphin <wahoo_35@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Chris Watkins <umytbnxt@mindspring.com>
Mentor: Jonathan Grobe <grobe@worf.netins.net>
Votetaker: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>

RATIONALE: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

NASCAR and stockcar racing, as well as other motorsports, have been the
subjects of Usenet discussion for many years.  The existing
rec.autos.sport.nascar newsgroup (RASN) gets a total of well over a
hundred messages a day during the off-season and that number can increase
to two to four times that figure during the season, peaking at over 1000
a day during speedweeks.  Much of this traffic is relevant and of high-
quality, but there are also significant problems with spam, advertisements,
Driver/Team/Sponsor/Car-Make/Media abuse, and attacks aimed at other
posters to the newsgroup.  Many former posters to RASN have left because of
this situation.

Rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated is intended to be a forum where all
topics related to NASCAR and stockcar racing can be discussed without these
distractions. The primary focus of the group will be NASCAR's top 3 series:
Winston Cup, Busch Grand National, and Craftsman Trucks.  Questions and
answers about this sport will be welcomed and a FAQ will be maintained.

CHARTER: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

The unmoderated newsgroup rec.autos.sport.nascar has always been fairly
relaxed about what is on-topic. The moderated newsgroup will be the same
way.  Basically anything related to NASCAR or stock car racing will be
considered on-topic.

Posts about other types of motorsports (Indycar, F1, etc.) should be
directed to the appropriate newsgroup, unless they are comparing stockcar
racing to the other motorsport.  For example, a comparison of the point
systems of F1 and Winston Cup, and how using the F1 system would change
the Winston Cup championship standings, is on-topic.

The goal of rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (r.a.s.n.m) is to provide its
participants with a degree of free expression approaching that found in
unmoderated groups while maintaining an environment free of the spam,
commercial and money-making posts, personal harassment, vulgarity and
blatantly off topic material found in most unmoderated forums.

The philosophy of r.a.s.n.m is that responsible people should be trusted
to post like responsible adults. Therefore, the moderation effort will focus
primarily on dealing with problems as they occur, not on screening every
post.  All posters will be initially trusted with auto-approve status, which
will enable their subsequent articles to be posted immediately to the
newsgroup without the involvement of a human moderator.  They will retain
auto-approve status unless they demonstrate cause for its revocation.

Newsgroup readers are warned that since this is a discussion group about
racing, people here will want to talk about racing, even during the
televised races.  If you want your tape-delayed viewing to be unspoiled by
knowing who won, crashed, etc., it is best to keep yourself away from all
sources of racing information, including newsgroups, cable TV, racing radio
shows, newspapers, coworkers, etc.  It is considered polite to include the
word SPOILER in the subject of posts about races less than 48 hours old,
leaving discussion of the details out of the header, but this WILL NOT be
enforced.

Appropriate posts will meet one of the following criteria:

1. It would effectively start a new discussion.  Examples:

        - What is the current points system?
        - How do provisionals work?
        - How did Ricky Craven get an 8th provisional?
        - Discussions of actual Race or Qualifying action.
        - Questions about the mechanics of race cars and engines.

2. It adds content to an existing discussion.  Examples:

        - Points breakdown itself.
        - Actual NASCAR policy on provisionals.
        - Web site addresses of teams, drivers, or Fan Clubs.
        - Answers to questions posed by others.
        - Clarification of questions previously asked.

3. It is informative to the r.a.s.n.m community.  Examples:

        - Announcements of r.a.s.n reunions.
        - Announcements of upcoming TV schedules for racing.
        - Testing times.
        - Announcements of NASCAR events or schedules.
        - Announcements of driver appearances.

While examples are given wherever possible, it is impossible to anticipate
every attempt at finding a loophole. Therefore, the spirit of all the rules
should be followed as opposed to looking for leaks and loopholes. For
example, strange spellings or formats of profanity would still be considered
profanity.  Posters will be treated like responsible adults and expected to
act accordingly.

The following are unacceptable:

1) Bashing
2) Flames
3) Trolls
4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts
5) Profanity/Racial Slurs
6) Crossposts
7) Binaries
8) Posts without a respondable email address
9) Quotes of more than a few lines of copyrighted material

1) Bashing - defined as posts or portions of posts that verbally attack
others in an insulting or malicious manner to an extent that would reasonably
be considered libelous or slanderous.  In other words: "Do not post anything
that would make the driver or team you support cringe or be embarrassed to
have you as a fan."  This does NOT mean that negative comments will be
moderated out.  The expression of negative opinions is a legitimate part of
any discussion and the right to express them in a non-malicious fashion shall
not be abridged.

2) Flames - defined as inflammatory posts or portions of posts whose
primary purpose is to induce an intense emotional response.

3) Trolls - Trolls are defined as posts that do not have substance to
their content, primarily meant to incite disruptive threads or distract
posters from the main intent of the newsgroup.

4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts are defined as posts whose primary
purpose is to solicit a benefit for the poster.  This would include, but is
not limited to, advertisements of businesses, direct advertisements of goods
and/or services for sale, posts advertising the availability of goods and/or
services for sale through another medium, promotion of business opportunities,
money-making schemes, and chain letters.

Simply listing a business name, address, phone number, URL, etc. in one's
signature is not considered commercial use of the newsgroup.  However,
signatures that are in fact advertisements, or which solicit readers to
patronize a for-profit venture or visit a commercial web site fall under
the definition of commercial or money-making posts.  Posts bearing such
signatures are subject to rejection as such.

Posts promoting newsgroup related activities are not considered commercial
or money-making posts since there is no financial benefit to any of the
individuals involved.  These activities would include but are not limited
to the RASN Sponsorship Fund, raffles, and RASN reunions.

Posts advising the group of charitable racing-related events or offering
NASCAR event or NASCAR/stockcar race tickets at or below face value are also
permitted.

5) Profanity/Racial Slurs - Posters should view r.a.s.n.m as polite mixed
company and watch their language accordingly.  Only a short list of words
will be disallowed.  Nevertheless, posters to RASNM are advised and encouraged
to use the same standards that apply in the Sunday comics.  Specifically,
changing all letters in profanity to special characters like !@#$% .  However,
when quoting material such as scanner bites, interviews etc.., the first
letter of the word may be left in place so that readers can deduce what was
actually said.

6) Crossposts - defined as posts also directed to any other newsgroup.
Exceptions to this limit are made for Usenet Administrative purposes (as
from news.announce.newgroups) and for posts from rec.autos.sport.info.

7) Binaries - Binary posts are defined as posts that include UUencoded,
MIME-encoded, or any other form of binary message in the body or signature
other than Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) signatures.  This includes, but is
not limited to, pictures, audio files, executables, and HTML.  Binaries
should be posted to an appropriate binaries newsgroup or a web page. A brief
informative notice should then be sent to the newsgroup.  The FAQ for this
group will list any web sites that have volunteered to have binaries posted
from r.a.s.n.m readers, and how to get the binary posted.

8) Email Addresses - Since an author's first post to r.a.s.n.m generates
an auto-response detailing the registration procedure, it is strongly
recommended that at least the first submission to the group carry a valid
return e-mail address.  This will avoid a delay in the registration process
that would result if the auto-response bounces.  A person may register to
post under a "munged" address to defeat spambots, but the altered address
must be readily decipherable into the poster's valid address by a human.
This does not cut off the use of pseudonymous remailers or munged headers,
both of which are allowable.

9) Copyrighted material - Quoting a line or two of copyrighted material
is not against the law.  However, quoting entire articles is a copyright
violation (unless the poster has permission from the copyright holder).  If
articles are available on the web, a short summary of the article with a URL
is the accepted method of posting.  Proper credit must be given to all
copyrighted material.

The following are discouraged, but will not be rejected outright.

1) Posts in languages other than English
2) Signatures over 6 lines
3) Posts with difficult to read formatting
4) Posts only containing questions answered completely in the FAQ

1) Non-English - At this time, 100% of the readers of the group know English,
with English being the only language of most readers.  Therefore, English is
strongly recommended as the posting language of choice for r.a.s.n.m.
Posts in languages other than English will be examined for approval if any
of the moderators can read the language in question. There is no guarantee of
approval for posts in any language other than English.

2) Signatures - USENET netiquette limits signatures to four lines.  For
r.a.s.n.m, posters are encouraged to keep their signatures to six lines
or less. PGP signature data and additional lines automatically added by
services such as hotmail and Deja News are not included in the count, but
all other text, including boxes around the signature, is included.

3) Readability - USENET Netiquette says that for everyone's enjoyment,
all posts should have right margins in the 60-70 range. The range from 60-70
is for unquoted text.  Quoted text may continue to expand to the right.  Also,
over 2/3 text quoted from previous posters is strongly discouraged.  If a
poster regularly fails to meet these simple rules, a moderator will contact
the person to find out if they can fix the problem.

4) FAQ - Posters asking questions that are covered completely in the FAQ will
be sent a copy of the FAQ and the post will be accepted.  Other posters are
encouraged to welcome the user, respond to the post, or remain silent.

Moderation overview:

Moderation procedure - To reduce their workload and expedite the posting of
articles to the group, the moderation team will employ automated moderation
software (robo-moderation). As much of the work as possible will be turned
over to the moderation software.  This software will scan each incoming
article, then either post it directly to the group without human review,
return it to the author with an appropriate explanation, or forward it to a
human moderator.  Posts will either be accepted in whole, or rejected. The
moderators will NEVER modify them at all.

All rejected posts will be returned to the originating email address with an
explanation for the rejection and instructions for appealing the rejection.
The moderators cannot be held accountable for internet failures or
undeliverable email.

Auto-rejection: binaries, crossposts, profanity, racial slurs, and articles
from authors on the auto-reject list will be automatically rejected. The
moderation team will maintain a list of words that will cause a post to be
automatically rejected.  In the spirit of allowing as much free expression
as possible, the list will be as short as possible while still insuring a
civil environment within the group.

Auto-kickout:  There will be another short list of potentially offensive
words that will cause a post to be kicked out for human moderation.  These
lists can be modified as needed by a simple majority vote of the moderators.
Posters may explicitly request human moderation of an article by placing the
special phrase MOD-HUMAN in the subject line.  This may be desirable if the
author feels there may be something in the article that would cause the
moderation software to automatically reject it. The moderators can also add
this tag to a thread.

Auto-approve:  Provided an article does not trigger an auto-rejection or
auto-kickout, articles from authors on the auto-approve list will be posted
directly to the group without human review.

Moderation sequence:  All incoming articles will be moderated according
to the following sequence with steps 1-4 being performed by the moderation
software.

1. Is the author a first time poster?
        Yes - Initiate the registration process (see below)
        No  - Continue

2. Is there an auto-kickout?
        Yes - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)
        No  - Continue

3. Are there grounds for auto-rejection?
        Yes - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.
        No  - Continue

4. Is the author on the auto-approve list?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)

5. Does the article meet the charter guidelines?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.

r.a.s.n.m registration:  When the moderation software detects an article
from a first time poster, an auto-response containing the charter, FAQ and
instructions for completing the registration are returned to the author.
The article is forwarded to a human moderator. Should the auto-response
bounce back to a moderator and a valid reply-to address for the author
cannot be determined, the registration cannot be completed and the initial
article will not be posted.  If the moderator can determine a valid address,
they will forward the registration information to the author's valid address.

When the author acknowledges by return e-mail that he/she has read the
material and agrees to abide by the charter, he/she is placed on the auto-
approve list.  If the initial article is on charter, it is posted at that
time.

Human moderation:  Individual moderators will have the authority to
reject articles that are clearly off-charter (commercial or money-making
posts, etc.), and to accept articles that are clearly on-charter.  Should
there be any question about an article being reviewed, it will be forwarded
to another moderator for a second opinion.  If the first two moderators to
review an article agree, it will be accepted or rejected accordingly.  If
the first two moderators to review an article disagree, the article will be
forwarded to a third moderator for a deciding vote.

Moderators will execute the above procedure as rapidly as possible in
order to minimize the delay in getting human moderated articles posted.

Key to the moderation philosophy, articles will not be rejected because
of the author's opinion or position on an issue, nor will any human moderated
post be rejected because of the author of the post.  Moderator's opinions will
be expressed only within their own posts, not within their moderation
activities.  Anyone who is willing to follow the Charter guidelines is welcome
to post to r.a.s.n.m, and their posts will be accepted unedited if they have
followed the Charter criteria.  Posts will never be edited by moderators.

If a moderator discovers off-charter material posted in the group, he/she
has three options:

1) Ignore it if it isn't blatant
2) Send an e-mail reminder of charter guidelines to the poster
3) Temporary removal of the poster's auto-post status

How the off-charter post is handled will be determined by what response the
situation warrants, but the moderator should use restraint whenever possible
and use removal of auto-post status only as a last resort.  In the event
that the moderator feels the situation is severe enough to warrant temporarily
suspending the author's auto-approve privilege, the moderator must immediately
notify the other moderators and forward a copy of the post to the rest of the
moderation team.  The moderation team must then decide within one week
whether to restore the author to auto-approve or continue the suspension.  A
two-thirds majority is required to maintain the suspension.  Posters suspended
from auto-approve may continue to post, but all their articles will be subject
to human moderation while the suspension is in effect.  Auto-approve may be
restored at any time by a simple majority vote of the moderators.

A poster who consistently submits off-charter material may be placed on the
auto-reject list by a two-thirds majority vote of the moderators.
Posters placed on auto-reject for this reason will be sent a copy of the
charter, FAQ and instructions on how to petition for reinstatement.

Individuals who engage in threatening or abusive behavior toward a moderator,
or who attempt to interfere with the normal operation of the newsgroup or the
internet accounts supporting the newsgroup or it's members, other than
reporting net-abuse, will be placed on auto-reject for not less than one
year.

Moderator administration and changes:  The moderation team will initially plan
to include 5 to 7 moderators.  They will be responsible for maintaining the
moderation software and reviewing articles that are neither auto-approved nor
auto-rejected. New moderators can be added as deemed appropriate upon the
approval of two-thirds of the existing moderators. Candidates for new
moderators will only be taken from those people who have been on the
auto-approve list continuously for 3 months.  During the first 3 months of the
newsgroup, the 3 month requirement will be waived.  A special call for
volunteers can be posted when an existing moderator steps down or when
the workload on the moderators is deemed sufficient that they feel it is
appropriate to increase their number.

There will be an administrative mailing list, on which the moderators can
discuss the enforcement and modification of the guidelines given here.

A thread may be marked for human attention upon agreement of a majority of
the moderators. This overrides normal auto-approval and content based
auto-rejection, and brings all posts in the thread to moderator attention so
potential problems can be dealt with before measures as drastic as
removal of auto-approval status are called for.  Notice of thread marking
may be posted to the newsgroup, but is not required.

Appeals: A poster who feels that a rejected post was within the charter
can appeal to the administrative list. If a majority of the moderators agree
that the post should be approved, it will be posted as usual.  If the poster's
auto-approve status was suspended as a result of an article that is
successfully appealed, auto-approve will be restored.

Complaints or compliments about moderator judgments, and other matters related
to the running of the newsgroup are welcome on the administrative list, but
not on the newsgroup. No post relating to such discussions will be approved
for the newsgroup. Any decision made about action to take (or not to take) is
final.  Posters who persist in pressing the issue will be subject to
auto-rejection.

Charter revisions: Any discussion on revision of the charter must include
"CHARTER:" as the beginning of the subject line.  After discussion in the
newsgroup, the moderators will judge the group consensus and let the group
know if any charter changes take place. Any changes must pass with a 2/3rds
majority of the moderators agreeing on what the group is requesting.  This
is not a vote of the opinions of the moderators, but rather to ensure that
the moderators have a clear understanding of what the members of the newsgroup
want.  If the moderators are not sure of the consensus of the group, or if
members of the group challenge the moderators' decision, an actual vote will
be taken. Votes will require a 2/3 majority to modify the charter.  The
moderators will post all results of charter modification votes to the group
after the voting is completed.  The subject line will include the phrase
"CHARTER:" so that those who wish to ignore them can skip the threads or set
their killfiles/filters to ignore them.  Changes will also be made to the FAQ.

The FAQ will be posted every Friday.

Moderators who are unwilling or unable to uphold the charter in their personal
posts or moderation activities may be removed by a two-thirds vote of the
other moderators.

Third party cancels ('retro-moderation') by anyone, including but not limited
to moderators, is strictly against newsgroup policy.

Disclaimer:
- The moderators of this newsgroup are not responsible for
  truthfulness or legality of any of the posts.
- The approval of a post by a moderator is NOT an endorsement by the
  moderator or moderation team.
- Posters assume full responsibility for the content of their posts.
- Readers using information that appears in the newsgroup do so at
  their own risk.
- Posters agree that by posting items to this newsgroup they
  indemnify and hold harmless the moderation team and service
  providers.

END CHARTER.

MODERATOR INFO: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

Moderator: "Eric O. Troldahl" <etroll@carracing.com>
Moderator: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@carracing.com>
Moderator: Deven Atkinson <deven@carracing.com>
Moderator: "Lisa A. Carbrey" <lcarbrey@carracing.com>
Moderator: John Martin <jtmartin@carracing.com>
Moderator: Martin Moleski <moleski@canisius.edu>
Moderator: Chris Watkins <C_Watkins@carracing.com>

Article submission address: rasnm@carracing.com
Administrative contact address: rasnm-admin@carracing.com

END MODERATOR INFO.

IMPORTANT VOTING PROCEDURE NOTES: READ THIS BEFORE VOTING

The purpose of a Usenet vote is to determine the genuine interest in
reading the proposed newsgroup, and soliciting votes from uninterested
parties defeats this purpose.  Do *not* distribute this CFV;  intead,
direct people to the official CFV as posted to news.announce.newgroups.
Distributing specific voting instructions or pre-marked copies of
this CFV is considered vote fraud.

This is a public vote:  All email addresses, names and votes will be
listed in the final RESULT post.  The name used may be either a real
name or an established Usenet handle.

At most one vote is allowed per person or per account.  Duplicate
votes will be resolved in favor of the most recent valid vote.

Voters must mail their ballots directly to the votetaker.  Anonymous,
forwarded, or proxy votes are not valid, nor are votes mailed from
WWW/HTML/CGI forms (which should not exist).  Votes from nonexistent
accounts are also invalid, and the votetaker will reject any "munged"
address he cannot decipher immediately.

Please direct any questions to the votetaker at <neilc@stanford.edu>.

HOW TO VOTE:

Extract the ballot from the CFV by deleting everything before and after
the "BEGINNING OF BALLOT" and "END OF BALLOT" lines.  Don't worry about
the spacing of the columns or any quote characters (">") that your
reply inserts.  Please, DO NOT send the entire CFV back to me!

Fill in the ballot as shown below.  Please provide your REAL NAME and
indicate your desired vote in the appropriate locations inside the ballot.

Examples of how to properly indicate your vote:

  [ YES     ]  example.yes.vote
  [ NO      ]  example.no.vote
  [ ABSTAIN ]  example.abstention
  [ CANCEL  ]  example.cancellation

DO NOT modify, alter or delete any information in this ballot!
If you do, the voting software will probably reject your ballot.

When finished, MAIL the ballot to: < voting@uvv.stanford.edu >
Just "replying" to this message should work, but check the "To:" line.

If you do not receive an acknowledgment of your vote within three
days contact the votetaker about the problem.  You are responsible
for reading your ack and making sure your vote is registered correctly.

If these instructions are unclear, please consult the Introduction to
Usenet Voting or the Usenet Voting FAQ at http://www.stanford.edu/~neilc/uvv.

======== BEGINNING OF BALLOT: Delete everything before this line =======
.-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 1ST CALL FOR VOTES: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
| Official Usenet Voting Ballot <RASNM-0001> (Do not remove this line!)
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Please provide your real name, or your vote may be rejected.  Place
| ONLY your name (ie. do NOT include your e-mail address or any other
| information; ONLY your name) after the colon on the following line:

Voter name:

| Insert YES, NO, ABSTAIN, or CANCEL inside the brackets for each
| newsgroup listed below (do not delete the newsgroup name):

 Your Vote   Newsgroup
 ---------   -----------------------------------------------------------
[         ]  rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (moderated)

======== END OF BALLOT: Delete everything after this line ==============


This CFV was created with uvpq 1.0 (Aug 14 1997).
PQ datestamp: 980322

-- 
Voting address: voting@uvv.stanford.edu
========= WAS CANCELLED BY =======:
Control: cancel <900674663.22405@isc.org>
Subject: cmsg cancel <900674663.22405@isc.org>
Message-ID: <cancel.900674663.22405@isc.org>
From: HipCrime@jlnif.gov
Sender: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>
Approved: HipCrime@jlnif.gov
Newsgroups: news.groups
Date: 17 Jul 1998 12:47:34 GMT
X-No-Archive: Yes
Organization: HipCrime International, unLtd.
NNTP-Posting-Host: 204.237.253.7
Lines: 2
Path: ...!news-peer.gip.net!news-raspail.gip.net!news.gsl.net!gip.net!rain.fr!194.250.238.3!nntp.HipCrime.new!cyberspam!hipcancel!usenet

Cancelled by HipCrime's NewsAgent.

========= WAS CANCELLED BY =======:
Path: ...!wn4feed!worldnet.att.net!208.134.241.18!newsfeed.internetmci.com!194.67.2.106!newsfeed.sovam.com!sovam!mtu.ru!Pollux.Teleglobe.net!orion.cst.tpsa.pl!news.tpnet.pl!not-for-mail
Control: cancel <REPOST-8664.73556518555.900674663.22405@isc.org>
Subject: cmsg cancel <REPOST-8664.73556518555.900674663.22405@isc.org>
Message-ID: <cancel.REPOST-8664.73556518555.900674663.22405@isc.org>
From: HipCrime@qqjiniytivh.com
Sender: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>
Approved: HipCrime@qqjiniytivh.com
Newsgroups: news.groups
X-No-Archive: Yes
Organization: HipCrime International, unLtd.
Lines: 2
Date: Sat, 18 Jul 1998 19:19:34 GMT
NNTP-Posting-Host: 204.237.253.133
NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 18 Jul 1998 21:19:34 MET DST

Cancelled by HipCrime's NewsAgent.


From neilc@stanford.edu Sat Jul 18 16:05:37 1998
Control: cancel <REPOST-4128.87399291992.73556518555.900674663.22405@isc.org>
Path: news.isc.org!bounce-back
Message-ID: <c3697-REPOST-4128.87399291992.73556518555.900674663.22405@isc.org>
From: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>
Reply-To: voting@uvv.stanford.edu
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,rec.autos.sport.f1,rec.autos.sport.indy,rec.autos.sport.misc,rec.autos.sport.nascar,rec.autos.sport.tech,rec.autos.sport.info
Subject: cmsg cancel <REPOST-4128.87399291992.73556518555.900674663.22405@isc.org>
Followup-To: poster
References: <896328708.21545@isc.org> <897880198.15596@isc.org> <898490393.18097@isc.org>
Approved: newgroups-request@isc.org
Expires: 8 Aug 1998 00:00:00 GMT
Archive-Name: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
Date: 18 Jul 98 23:05:32 GMT
Lines: 2
Xref: news.isc.org control.cancel:2624591

Unapproved article for news.announce.newgroups auto-cancelled
by daemon on behalf of moderator.

From neilc@stanford.edu Sat Jul 18 16:20:48 1998
Path: news.isc.org!data.pa.vix.com!sonysjc!sanjose-news-feed1.bbnplanet.com!su-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!195.99.66.215!news-feed1.eu.concert.net!btnet-peer!btnet-feed2!btnet!bmdhh222.bnr.ca!bhars12c.bnr.co.uk!bcarh8ac.ca.nortel.com!bcarh189.bnr.ca!nrchh45.us.nortel.com!hipcancel!despams.ocunix.on.ca!resurrector!not-for-mail
Message-ID: <REPOST-17406.4687805176.900663269.2407@isc.org>
X-Reposted-By: dave@ferret.ocunix.on.ca
X-Original-Path: ...!news3.bellglobal.com!news1.bellglobal.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!news.idt.net!mr.net!data.pa.vix.com!news.isc.org!bounce-back
From: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>
Reply-To: voting@uvv.stanford.edu
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,rec.autos.sport.f1,rec.autos.sport.indy,rec.autos.sport.misc,rec.autos.sport.nascar,rec.autos.sport.tech,rec.autos.sport.info
Subject: REPOST: CFV: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated moderated
Followup-To: poster
X-Original-Message-ID: <900663269.2407@isc.org>
References: <896328708.21545@isc.org> <897880198.15596@isc.org> <898490393.18097@isc.org>
Organization: Usenet Volunteer Votetakers
Approved: newgroups-request@isc.org
Expires: 8 Aug 1998 00:00:00 GMT
Archive-Name: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 08:14:29 GMT
X-Comments: DtR Repost: The following Usenet article was cancelled,
X-Comments: more than likely by someone other than the original poster.
X-Comments: Please see the end of this posting for a copy of the cancel.
X-Comments: Dave the Resurrector can be contacted at dave@ferret.ocunix.on.ca
Lines: 560
Xref: news.isc.org news.announce.newgroups:10438 news.groups:291527 rec.autos.sport.f1:163535 rec.autos.sport.indy:81888 rec.autos.sport.misc:12661 rec.autos.sport.nascar:154781 rec.autos.sport.tech:14660 rec.autos.sport.info:12878

                     FIRST CALL FOR VOTES (of 2)
           moderated group rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

This CFV is to be distributed only by the votetaker.  It is not to be
posted to newsgroups, or mailed to mailing lists or individuals, except by
the votetaker.  Ballots or CFVs provided by anyone else will be invalid.

Newsgroups line:
rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated	NASCAR and Stockcar Racing. (Moderated)

Votes must be received by 23:59:59 UTC, 7 Aug 1998.

This vote is being conducted by a neutral third party.  Questions
about the proposed group should be directed to the proponent.

Proponent: Eric O. Troldahl <etroll@flash.net>
Proponent: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@dittosrush.com>
Proponent: Deven Atkinson <deven@Mcs.Net>
Proponent: Rich Bemben <rbemben@eng.micrion.com>
Proponent: Lisa A. Carbrey <lcarbrey@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Tom Duwe <tduwe@primenet.com>
Proponent: Ronnie Hiatt <oldsteel@bellsouth.net>
Proponent: Sue Horan-Phillips <semh@earthlink.net>
Proponent: Karen Jensen <kjinsk@shell1.shore.net>
Proponent: Henry Kelley <tinylights@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Nancy Kendrick <daytonatwin125s@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Ken (Poppy) Kraus <floridapoppy@webtv.net>
Proponent: Jerry (Tinadog) Kyte <Tinadog@aol.com>
Proponent: John Martin <jtmartin@spartanburg.net>
Proponent: Lynwood Matteson <lcmatteson@ucdavis.edu>
Proponent: Mike McGuigan <mcguigan@mindspring.com>
Proponent: Martin Moleski <moleski@canisius.edu>
Proponent: John (DeliveryBoy) Sutphin <wahoo_35@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Chris Watkins <umytbnxt@mindspring.com>
Mentor: Jonathan Grobe <grobe@worf.netins.net>
Votetaker: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>

RATIONALE: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

NASCAR and stockcar racing, as well as other motorsports, have been the
subjects of Usenet discussion for many years.  The existing
rec.autos.sport.nascar newsgroup (RASN) gets a total of well over a
hundred messages a day during the off-season and that number can increase
to two to four times that figure during the season, peaking at over 1000
a day during speedweeks.  Much of this traffic is relevant and of high-
quality, but there are also significant problems with spam, advertisements,
Driver/Team/Sponsor/Car-Make/Media abuse, and attacks aimed at other
posters to the newsgroup.  Many former posters to RASN have left because of
this situation.

Rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated is intended to be a forum where all
topics related to NASCAR and stockcar racing can be discussed without these
distractions. The primary focus of the group will be NASCAR's top 3 series:
Winston Cup, Busch Grand National, and Craftsman Trucks.  Questions and
answers about this sport will be welcomed and a FAQ will be maintained.

CHARTER: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

The unmoderated newsgroup rec.autos.sport.nascar has always been fairly
relaxed about what is on-topic. The moderated newsgroup will be the same
way.  Basically anything related to NASCAR or stock car racing will be
considered on-topic.

Posts about other types of motorsports (Indycar, F1, etc.) should be
directed to the appropriate newsgroup, unless they are comparing stockcar
racing to the other motorsport.  For example, a comparison of the point
systems of F1 and Winston Cup, and how using the F1 system would change
the Winston Cup championship standings, is on-topic.

The goal of rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (r.a.s.n.m) is to provide its
participants with a degree of free expression approaching that found in
unmoderated groups while maintaining an environment free of the spam,
commercial and money-making posts, personal harassment, vulgarity and
blatantly off topic material found in most unmoderated forums.

The philosophy of r.a.s.n.m is that responsible people should be trusted
to post like responsible adults. Therefore, the moderation effort will focus
primarily on dealing with problems as they occur, not on screening every
post.  All posters will be initially trusted with auto-approve status, which
will enable their subsequent articles to be posted immediately to the
newsgroup without the involvement of a human moderator.  They will retain
auto-approve status unless they demonstrate cause for its revocation.

Newsgroup readers are warned that since this is a discussion group about
racing, people here will want to talk about racing, even during the
televised races.  If you want your tape-delayed viewing to be unspoiled by
knowing who won, crashed, etc., it is best to keep yourself away from all
sources of racing information, including newsgroups, cable TV, racing radio
shows, newspapers, coworkers, etc.  It is considered polite to include the
word SPOILER in the subject of posts about races less than 48 hours old,
leaving discussion of the details out of the header, but this WILL NOT be
enforced.

Appropriate posts will meet one of the following criteria:

1. It would effectively start a new discussion.  Examples:

        - What is the current points system?
        - How do provisionals work?
        - How did Ricky Craven get an 8th provisional?
        - Discussions of actual Race or Qualifying action.
        - Questions about the mechanics of race cars and engines.

2. It adds content to an existing discussion.  Examples:

        - Points breakdown itself.
        - Actual NASCAR policy on provisionals.
        - Web site addresses of teams, drivers, or Fan Clubs.
        - Answers to questions posed by others.
        - Clarification of questions previously asked.

3. It is informative to the r.a.s.n.m community.  Examples:

        - Announcements of r.a.s.n reunions.
        - Announcements of upcoming TV schedules for racing.
        - Testing times.
        - Announcements of NASCAR events or schedules.
        - Announcements of driver appearances.

While examples are given wherever possible, it is impossible to anticipate
every attempt at finding a loophole. Therefore, the spirit of all the rules
should be followed as opposed to looking for leaks and loopholes. For
example, strange spellings or formats of profanity would still be considered
profanity.  Posters will be treated like responsible adults and expected to
act accordingly.

The following are unacceptable:

1) Bashing
2) Flames
3) Trolls
4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts
5) Profanity/Racial Slurs
6) Crossposts
7) Binaries
8) Posts without a respondable email address
9) Quotes of more than a few lines of copyrighted material

1) Bashing - defined as posts or portions of posts that verbally attack
others in an insulting or malicious manner to an extent that would reasonably
be considered libelous or slanderous.  In other words: "Do not post anything
that would make the driver or team you support cringe or be embarrassed to
have you as a fan."  This does NOT mean that negative comments will be
moderated out.  The expression of negative opinions is a legitimate part of
any discussion and the right to express them in a non-malicious fashion shall
not be abridged.

2) Flames - defined as inflammatory posts or portions of posts whose
primary purpose is to induce an intense emotional response.

3) Trolls - Trolls are defined as posts that do not have substance to
their content, primarily meant to incite disruptive threads or distract
posters from the main intent of the newsgroup.

4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts are defined as posts whose primary
purpose is to solicit a benefit for the poster.  This would include, but is
not limited to, advertisements of businesses, direct advertisements of goods
and/or services for sale, posts advertising the availability of goods and/or
services for sale through another medium, promotion of business opportunities,
money-making schemes, and chain letters.

Simply listing a business name, address, phone number, URL, etc. in one's
signature is not considered commercial use of the newsgroup.  However,
signatures that are in fact advertisements, or which solicit readers to
patronize a for-profit venture or visit a commercial web site fall under
the definition of commercial or money-making posts.  Posts bearing such
signatures are subject to rejection as such.

Posts promoting newsgroup related activities are not considered commercial
or money-making posts since there is no financial benefit to any of the
individuals involved.  These activities would include but are not limited
to the RASN Sponsorship Fund, raffles, and RASN reunions.

Posts advising the group of charitable racing-related events or offering
NASCAR event or NASCAR/stockcar race tickets at or below face value are also
permitted.

5) Profanity/Racial Slurs - Posters should view r.a.s.n.m as polite mixed
company and watch their language accordingly.  Only a short list of words
will be disallowed.  Nevertheless, posters to RASNM are advised and encouraged
to use the same standards that apply in the Sunday comics.  Specifically,
changing all letters in profanity to special characters like !@#$% .  However,
when quoting material such as scanner bites, interviews etc.., the first
letter of the word may be left in place so that readers can deduce what was
actually said.

6) Crossposts - defined as posts also directed to any other newsgroup.
Exceptions to this limit are made for Usenet Administrative purposes (as
from news.announce.newgroups) and for posts from rec.autos.sport.info.

7) Binaries - Binary posts are defined as posts that include UUencoded,
MIME-encoded, or any other form of binary message in the body or signature
other than Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) signatures.  This includes, but is
not limited to, pictures, audio files, executables, and HTML.  Binaries
should be posted to an appropriate binaries newsgroup or a web page. A brief
informative notice should then be sent to the newsgroup.  The FAQ for this
group will list any web sites that have volunteered to have binaries posted
from r.a.s.n.m readers, and how to get the binary posted.

8) Email Addresses - Since an author's first post to r.a.s.n.m generates
an auto-response detailing the registration procedure, it is strongly
recommended that at least the first submission to the group carry a valid
return e-mail address.  This will avoid a delay in the registration process
that would result if the auto-response bounces.  A person may register to
post under a "munged" address to defeat spambots, but the altered address
must be readily decipherable into the poster's valid address by a human.
This does not cut off the use of pseudonymous remailers or munged headers,
both of which are allowable.

9) Copyrighted material - Quoting a line or two of copyrighted material
is not against the law.  However, quoting entire articles is a copyright
violation (unless the poster has permission from the copyright holder).  If
articles are available on the web, a short summary of the article with a URL
is the accepted method of posting.  Proper credit must be given to all
copyrighted material.

The following are discouraged, but will not be rejected outright.

1) Posts in languages other than English
2) Signatures over 6 lines
3) Posts with difficult to read formatting
4) Posts only containing questions answered completely in the FAQ

1) Non-English - At this time, 100% of the readers of the group know English,
with English being the only language of most readers.  Therefore, English is
strongly recommended as the posting language of choice for r.a.s.n.m.
Posts in languages other than English will be examined for approval if any
of the moderators can read the language in question. There is no guarantee of
approval for posts in any language other than English.

2) Signatures - USENET netiquette limits signatures to four lines.  For
r.a.s.n.m, posters are encouraged to keep their signatures to six lines
or less. PGP signature data and additional lines automatically added by
services such as hotmail and Deja News are not included in the count, but
all other text, including boxes around the signature, is included.

3) Readability - USENET Netiquette says that for everyone's enjoyment,
all posts should have right margins in the 60-70 range. The range from 60-70
is for unquoted text.  Quoted text may continue to expand to the right.  Also,
over 2/3 text quoted from previous posters is strongly discouraged.  If a
poster regularly fails to meet these simple rules, a moderator will contact
the person to find out if they can fix the problem.

4) FAQ - Posters asking questions that are covered completely in the FAQ will
be sent a copy of the FAQ and the post will be accepted.  Other posters are
encouraged to welcome the user, respond to the post, or remain silent.

Moderation overview:

Moderation procedure - To reduce their workload and expedite the posting of
articles to the group, the moderation team will employ automated moderation
software (robo-moderation). As much of the work as possible will be turned
over to the moderation software.  This software will scan each incoming
article, then either post it directly to the group without human review,
return it to the author with an appropriate explanation, or forward it to a
human moderator.  Posts will either be accepted in whole, or rejected. The
moderators will NEVER modify them at all.

All rejected posts will be returned to the originating email address with an
explanation for the rejection and instructions for appealing the rejection.
The moderators cannot be held accountable for internet failures or
undeliverable email.

Auto-rejection: binaries, crossposts, profanity, racial slurs, and articles
from authors on the auto-reject list will be automatically rejected. The
moderation team will maintain a list of words that will cause a post to be
automatically rejected.  In the spirit of allowing as much free expression
as possible, the list will be as short as possible while still insuring a
civil environment within the group.

Auto-kickout:  There will be another short list of potentially offensive
words that will cause a post to be kicked out for human moderation.  These
lists can be modified as needed by a simple majority vote of the moderators.
Posters may explicitly request human moderation of an article by placing the
special phrase MOD-HUMAN in the subject line.  This may be desirable if the
author feels there may be something in the article that would cause the
moderation software to automatically reject it. The moderators can also add
this tag to a thread.

Auto-approve:  Provided an article does not trigger an auto-rejection or
auto-kickout, articles from authors on the auto-approve list will be posted
directly to the group without human review.

Moderation sequence:  All incoming articles will be moderated according
to the following sequence with steps 1-4 being performed by the moderation
software.

1. Is the author a first time poster?
        Yes - Initiate the registration process (see below)
        No  - Continue

2. Is there an auto-kickout?
        Yes - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)
        No  - Continue

3. Are there grounds for auto-rejection?
        Yes - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.
        No  - Continue

4. Is the author on the auto-approve list?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)

5. Does the article meet the charter guidelines?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.

r.a.s.n.m registration:  When the moderation software detects an article
from a first time poster, an auto-response containing the charter, FAQ and
instructions for completing the registration are returned to the author.
The article is forwarded to a human moderator. Should the auto-response
bounce back to a moderator and a valid reply-to address for the author
cannot be determined, the registration cannot be completed and the initial
article will not be posted.  If the moderator can determine a valid address,
they will forward the registration information to the author's valid address.

When the author acknowledges by return e-mail that he/she has read the
material and agrees to abide by the charter, he/she is placed on the auto-
approve list.  If the initial article is on charter, it is posted at that
time.

Human moderation:  Individual moderators will have the authority to
reject articles that are clearly off-charter (commercial or money-making
posts, etc.), and to accept articles that are clearly on-charter.  Should
there be any question about an article being reviewed, it will be forwarded
to another moderator for a second opinion.  If the first two moderators to
review an article agree, it will be accepted or rejected accordingly.  If
the first two moderators to review an article disagree, the article will be
forwarded to a third moderator for a deciding vote.

Moderators will execute the above procedure as rapidly as possible in
order to minimize the delay in getting human moderated articles posted.

Key to the moderation philosophy, articles will not be rejected because
of the author's opinion or position on an issue, nor will any human moderated
post be rejected because of the author of the post.  Moderator's opinions will
be expressed only within their own posts, not within their moderation
activities.  Anyone who is willing to follow the Charter guidelines is welcome
to post to r.a.s.n.m, and their posts will be accepted unedited if they have
followed the Charter criteria.  Posts will never be edited by moderators.

If a moderator discovers off-charter material posted in the group, he/she
has three options:

1) Ignore it if it isn't blatant
2) Send an e-mail reminder of charter guidelines to the poster
3) Temporary removal of the poster's auto-post status

How the off-charter post is handled will be determined by what response the
situation warrants, but the moderator should use restraint whenever possible
and use removal of auto-post status only as a last resort.  In the event
that the moderator feels the situation is severe enough to warrant temporarily
suspending the author's auto-approve privilege, the moderator must immediately
notify the other moderators and forward a copy of the post to the rest of the
moderation team.  The moderation team must then decide within one week
whether to restore the author to auto-approve or continue the suspension.  A
two-thirds majority is required to maintain the suspension.  Posters suspended
from auto-approve may continue to post, but all their articles will be subject
to human moderation while the suspension is in effect.  Auto-approve may be
restored at any time by a simple majority vote of the moderators.

A poster who consistently submits off-charter material may be placed on the
auto-reject list by a two-thirds majority vote of the moderators.
Posters placed on auto-reject for this reason will be sent a copy of the
charter, FAQ and instructions on how to petition for reinstatement.

Individuals who engage in threatening or abusive behavior toward a moderator,
or who attempt to interfere with the normal operation of the newsgroup or the
internet accounts supporting the newsgroup or it's members, other than
reporting net-abuse, will be placed on auto-reject for not less than one
year.

Moderator administration and changes:  The moderation team will initially plan
to include 5 to 7 moderators.  They will be responsible for maintaining the
moderation software and reviewing articles that are neither auto-approved nor
auto-rejected. New moderators can be added as deemed appropriate upon the
approval of two-thirds of the existing moderators. Candidates for new
moderators will only be taken from those people who have been on the
auto-approve list continuously for 3 months.  During the first 3 months of the
newsgroup, the 3 month requirement will be waived.  A special call for
volunteers can be posted when an existing moderator steps down or when
the workload on the moderators is deemed sufficient that they feel it is
appropriate to increase their number.

There will be an administrative mailing list, on which the moderators can
discuss the enforcement and modification of the guidelines given here.

A thread may be marked for human attention upon agreement of a majority of
the moderators. This overrides normal auto-approval and content based
auto-rejection, and brings all posts in the thread to moderator attention so
potential problems can be dealt with before measures as drastic as
removal of auto-approval status are called for.  Notice of thread marking
may be posted to the newsgroup, but is not required.

Appeals: A poster who feels that a rejected post was within the charter
can appeal to the administrative list. If a majority of the moderators agree
that the post should be approved, it will be posted as usual.  If the poster's
auto-approve status was suspended as a result of an article that is
successfully appealed, auto-approve will be restored.

Complaints or compliments about moderator judgments, and other matters related
to the running of the newsgroup are welcome on the administrative list, but
not on the newsgroup. No post relating to such discussions will be approved
for the newsgroup. Any decision made about action to take (or not to take) is
final.  Posters who persist in pressing the issue will be subject to
auto-rejection.

Charter revisions: Any discussion on revision of the charter must include
"CHARTER:" as the beginning of the subject line.  After discussion in the
newsgroup, the moderators will judge the group consensus and let the group
know if any charter changes take place. Any changes must pass with a 2/3rds
majority of the moderators agreeing on what the group is requesting.  This
is not a vote of the opinions of the moderators, but rather to ensure that
the moderators have a clear understanding of what the members of the newsgroup
want.  If the moderators are not sure of the consensus of the group, or if
members of the group challenge the moderators' decision, an actual vote will
be taken. Votes will require a 2/3 majority to modify the charter.  The
moderators will post all results of charter modification votes to the group
after the voting is completed.  The subject line will include the phrase
"CHARTER:" so that those who wish to ignore them can skip the threads or set
their killfiles/filters to ignore them.  Changes will also be made to the FAQ.

The FAQ will be posted every Friday.

Moderators who are unwilling or unable to uphold the charter in their personal
posts or moderation activities may be removed by a two-thirds vote of the
other moderators.

Third party cancels ('retro-moderation') by anyone, including but not limited
to moderators, is strictly against newsgroup policy.

Disclaimer:
- The moderators of this newsgroup are not responsible for
  truthfulness or legality of any of the posts.
- The approval of a post by a moderator is NOT an endorsement by the
  moderator or moderation team.
- Posters assume full responsibility for the content of their posts.
- Readers using information that appears in the newsgroup do so at
  their own risk.
- Posters agree that by posting items to this newsgroup they
  indemnify and hold harmless the moderation team and service
  providers.

END CHARTER.

MODERATOR INFO: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

Moderator: "Eric O. Troldahl" <etroll@carracing.com>
Moderator: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@carracing.com>
Moderator: Deven Atkinson <deven@carracing.com>
Moderator: "Lisa A. Carbrey" <lcarbrey@carracing.com>
Moderator: John Martin <jtmartin@carracing.com>
Moderator: Martin Moleski <moleski@canisius.edu>
Moderator: Chris Watkins <C_Watkins@carracing.com>

Article submission address: rasnm@carracing.com
Administrative contact address: rasnm-admin@carracing.com

END MODERATOR INFO.

IMPORTANT VOTING PROCEDURE NOTES: READ THIS BEFORE VOTING

The purpose of a Usenet vote is to determine the genuine interest in
reading the proposed newsgroup, and soliciting votes from uninterested
parties defeats this purpose.  Do *not* distribute this CFV;  intead,
direct people to the official CFV as posted to news.announce.newgroups.
Distributing specific voting instructions or pre-marked copies of
this CFV is considered vote fraud.

This is a public vote:  All email addresses, names and votes will be
listed in the final RESULT post.  The name used may be either a real
name or an established Usenet handle.

At most one vote is allowed per person or per account.  Duplicate
votes will be resolved in favor of the most recent valid vote.

Voters must mail their ballots directly to the votetaker.  Anonymous,
forwarded, or proxy votes are not valid, nor are votes mailed from
WWW/HTML/CGI forms (which should not exist).  Votes from nonexistent
accounts are also invalid, and the votetaker will reject any "munged"
address he cannot decipher immediately.

Please direct any questions to the votetaker at <neilc@stanford.edu>.

HOW TO VOTE:

Extract the ballot from the CFV by deleting everything before and after
the "BEGINNING OF BALLOT" and "END OF BALLOT" lines.  Don't worry about
the spacing of the columns or any quote characters (">") that your
reply inserts.  Please, DO NOT send the entire CFV back to me!

Fill in the ballot as shown below.  Please provide your REAL NAME and
indicate your desired vote in the appropriate locations inside the ballot.

Examples of how to properly indicate your vote:

  [ YES     ]  example.yes.vote
  [ NO      ]  example.no.vote
  [ ABSTAIN ]  example.abstention
  [ CANCEL  ]  example.cancellation

DO NOT modify, alter or delete any information in this ballot!
If you do, the voting software will probably reject your ballot.

When finished, MAIL the ballot to: < voting@uvv.stanford.edu >
Just "replying" to this message should work, but check the "To:" line.

If you do not receive an acknowledgment of your vote within three
days contact the votetaker about the problem.  You are responsible
for reading your ack and making sure your vote is registered correctly.

If these instructions are unclear, please consult the Introduction to
Usenet Voting or the Usenet Voting FAQ at http://www.stanford.edu/~neilc/uvv.

======== BEGINNING OF BALLOT: Delete everything before this line =======
.-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 1ST CALL FOR VOTES: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
| Official Usenet Voting Ballot <RASNM-0001> (Do not remove this line!)
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Please provide your real name, or your vote may be rejected.  Place
| ONLY your name (ie. do NOT include your e-mail address or any other
| information; ONLY your name) after the colon on the following line:

Voter name:

| Insert YES, NO, ABSTAIN, or CANCEL inside the brackets for each
| newsgroup listed below (do not delete the newsgroup name):

 Your Vote   Newsgroup
 ---------   -----------------------------------------------------------
[         ]  rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (moderated)

======== END OF BALLOT: Delete everything after this line ==============


This CFV was created with uvpq 1.0 (Aug 14 1997).
PQ datestamp: 980322

-- 
Voting address: voting@uvv.stanford.edu
========= WAS CANCELLED BY =======:
Path: ...!news.icm.edu.pl!orion.cst.tpsa.pl!news.tpnet.pl!not-for-mail
Control: cancel <900663269.2407@isc.org>
Subject: cmsg cancel <900663269.2407@isc.org>
Message-ID: <iurhbavctx.cancel.900663269.2407@isc.org>
From: HipCrime@rwmeftgn.org
Sender: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>
Approved: HipCrime@rwmeftgn.org
Newsgroups: news.groups
X-No-Archive: Yes
Organization: HipCrime International, unLtd.
Lines: 2
Date: Sat, 18 Jul 1998 19:22:48 GMT
NNTP-Posting-Host: 204.237.253.133
NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 18 Jul 1998 21:22:48 MET DST

Cancelled by HipCrime's NewsAgent.


From neilc@stanford.edu Sat Jul 18 16:20:49 1998
Control: cancel <REPOST-17406.4687805176.900663269.2407@isc.org>
Path: news.isc.org!bounce-back
Message-ID: <c4491-REPOST-17406.4687805176.900663269.2407@isc.org>
From: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>
Reply-To: voting@uvv.stanford.edu
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,rec.autos.sport.f1,rec.autos.sport.indy,rec.autos.sport.misc,rec.autos.sport.nascar,rec.autos.sport.tech,rec.autos.sport.info
Subject: cmsg cancel <REPOST-17406.4687805176.900663269.2407@isc.org>
Followup-To: poster
References: <896328708.21545@isc.org> <897880198.15596@isc.org> <898490393.18097@isc.org>
Approved: newgroups-request@isc.org
Expires: 8 Aug 1998 00:00:00 GMT
Archive-Name: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
Date: 18 Jul 98 23:20:48 GMT
Lines: 2
Xref: news.isc.org control.cancel:2624744

Unapproved article for news.announce.newgroups auto-cancelled
by daemon on behalf of moderator.

From neilc@stanford.edu Tue Jul 21 00:58:27 1998
Path: news.isc.org!bounce-back
From: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>
Reply-To: voting@uvv.stanford.edu
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,rec.autos.sport.f1,rec.autos.sport.indy,rec.autos.sport.misc,rec.autos.sport.nascar,rec.autos.sport.tech,rec.autos.sport.info
Subject: CFV: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated moderated
Followup-To: poster
Message-ID: <901007906.10160@isc.org>
References: <896328708.21545@isc.org> <897880198.15596@isc.org> <898490393.18097@isc.org>
Organization: Usenet Volunteer Votetakers
Approved: newgroups-request@isc.org
Expires: 8 Aug 1998 00:00:00 GMT
Archive-Name: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 08:14:29 GMT
Lines: 542
Xref: news.isc.org news.announce.newgroups:10469 news.groups:292094 rec.autos.sport.f1:164000 rec.autos.sport.indy:82217 rec.autos.sport.misc:12672 rec.autos.sport.nascar:155203 rec.autos.sport.tech:14675 rec.autos.sport.info:13014

                     FIRST CALL FOR VOTES (of 2)
           moderated group rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

This CFV is to be distributed only by the votetaker.  It is not to be
posted to newsgroups, or mailed to mailing lists or individuals, except by
the votetaker.  Ballots or CFVs provided by anyone else will be invalid.

Newsgroups line:
rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated	NASCAR and Stockcar Racing. (Moderated)

Votes must be received by 23:59:59 UTC, 7 Aug 1998.

This vote is being conducted by a neutral third party.  Questions
about the proposed group should be directed to the proponent.

Proponent: Eric O. Troldahl <etroll@flash.net>
Proponent: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@dittosrush.com>
Proponent: Deven Atkinson <deven@Mcs.Net>
Proponent: Rich Bemben <rbemben@eng.micrion.com>
Proponent: Lisa A. Carbrey <lcarbrey@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Tom Duwe <tduwe@primenet.com>
Proponent: Ronnie Hiatt <oldsteel@bellsouth.net>
Proponent: Sue Horan-Phillips <semh@earthlink.net>
Proponent: Karen Jensen <kjinsk@shell1.shore.net>
Proponent: Henry Kelley <tinylights@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Nancy Kendrick <daytonatwin125s@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Ken (Poppy) Kraus <floridapoppy@webtv.net>
Proponent: Jerry (Tinadog) Kyte <Tinadog@aol.com>
Proponent: John Martin <jtmartin@spartanburg.net>
Proponent: Lynwood Matteson <lcmatteson@ucdavis.edu>
Proponent: Mike McGuigan <mcguigan@mindspring.com>
Proponent: Martin Moleski <moleski@canisius.edu>
Proponent: John (DeliveryBoy) Sutphin <wahoo_35@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Chris Watkins <umytbnxt@mindspring.com>
Mentor: Jonathan Grobe <grobe@worf.netins.net>
Votetaker: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>

RATIONALE: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

NASCAR and stockcar racing, as well as other motorsports, have been the
subjects of Usenet discussion for many years.  The existing
rec.autos.sport.nascar newsgroup (RASN) gets a total of well over a
hundred messages a day during the off-season and that number can increase
to two to four times that figure during the season, peaking at over 1000
a day during speedweeks.  Much of this traffic is relevant and of high-
quality, but there are also significant problems with spam, advertisements,
Driver/Team/Sponsor/Car-Make/Media abuse, and attacks aimed at other
posters to the newsgroup.  Many former posters to RASN have left because of
this situation.

Rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated is intended to be a forum where all
topics related to NASCAR and stockcar racing can be discussed without these
distractions. The primary focus of the group will be NASCAR's top 3 series:
Winston Cup, Busch Grand National, and Craftsman Trucks.  Questions and
answers about this sport will be welcomed and a FAQ will be maintained.

CHARTER: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

The unmoderated newsgroup rec.autos.sport.nascar has always been fairly
relaxed about what is on-topic. The moderated newsgroup will be the same
way.  Basically anything related to NASCAR or stock car racing will be
considered on-topic.

Posts about other types of motorsports (Indycar, F1, etc.) should be
directed to the appropriate newsgroup, unless they are comparing stockcar
racing to the other motorsport.  For example, a comparison of the point
systems of F1 and Winston Cup, and how using the F1 system would change
the Winston Cup championship standings, is on-topic.

The goal of rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (r.a.s.n.m) is to provide its
participants with a degree of free expression approaching that found in
unmoderated groups while maintaining an environment free of the spam,
commercial and money-making posts, personal harassment, vulgarity and
blatantly off topic material found in most unmoderated forums.

The philosophy of r.a.s.n.m is that responsible people should be trusted
to post like responsible adults. Therefore, the moderation effort will focus
primarily on dealing with problems as they occur, not on screening every
post.  All posters will be initially trusted with auto-approve status, which
will enable their subsequent articles to be posted immediately to the
newsgroup without the involvement of a human moderator.  They will retain
auto-approve status unless they demonstrate cause for its revocation.

Newsgroup readers are warned that since this is a discussion group about
racing, people here will want to talk about racing, even during the
televised races.  If you want your tape-delayed viewing to be unspoiled by
knowing who won, crashed, etc., it is best to keep yourself away from all
sources of racing information, including newsgroups, cable TV, racing radio
shows, newspapers, coworkers, etc.  It is considered polite to include the
word SPOILER in the subject of posts about races less than 48 hours old,
leaving discussion of the details out of the header, but this WILL NOT be
enforced.

Appropriate posts will meet one of the following criteria:

1. It would effectively start a new discussion.  Examples:

        - What is the current points system?
        - How do provisionals work?
        - How did Ricky Craven get an 8th provisional?
        - Discussions of actual Race or Qualifying action.
        - Questions about the mechanics of race cars and engines.

2. It adds content to an existing discussion.  Examples:

        - Points breakdown itself.
        - Actual NASCAR policy on provisionals.
        - Web site addresses of teams, drivers, or Fan Clubs.
        - Answers to questions posed by others.
        - Clarification of questions previously asked.

3. It is informative to the r.a.s.n.m community.  Examples:

        - Announcements of r.a.s.n reunions.
        - Announcements of upcoming TV schedules for racing.
        - Testing times.
        - Announcements of NASCAR events or schedules.
        - Announcements of driver appearances.

While examples are given wherever possible, it is impossible to anticipate
every attempt at finding a loophole. Therefore, the spirit of all the rules
should be followed as opposed to looking for leaks and loopholes. For
example, strange spellings or formats of profanity would still be considered
profanity.  Posters will be treated like responsible adults and expected to
act accordingly.

The following are unacceptable:

1) Bashing
2) Flames
3) Trolls
4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts
5) Profanity/Racial Slurs
6) Crossposts
7) Binaries
8) Posts without a respondable email address
9) Quotes of more than a few lines of copyrighted material

1) Bashing - defined as posts or portions of posts that verbally attack
others in an insulting or malicious manner to an extent that would reasonably
be considered libelous or slanderous.  In other words: "Do not post anything
that would make the driver or team you support cringe or be embarrassed to
have you as a fan."  This does NOT mean that negative comments will be
moderated out.  The expression of negative opinions is a legitimate part of
any discussion and the right to express them in a non-malicious fashion shall
not be abridged.

2) Flames - defined as inflammatory posts or portions of posts whose
primary purpose is to induce an intense emotional response.

3) Trolls - Trolls are defined as posts that do not have substance to
their content, primarily meant to incite disruptive threads or distract
posters from the main intent of the newsgroup.

4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts are defined as posts whose primary
purpose is to solicit a benefit for the poster.  This would include, but is
not limited to, advertisements of businesses, direct advertisements of goods
and/or services for sale, posts advertising the availability of goods and/or
services for sale through another medium, promotion of business opportunities,
money-making schemes, and chain letters.

Simply listing a business name, address, phone number, URL, etc. in one's
signature is not considered commercial use of the newsgroup.  However,
signatures that are in fact advertisements, or which solicit readers to
patronize a for-profit venture or visit a commercial web site fall under
the definition of commercial or money-making posts.  Posts bearing such
signatures are subject to rejection as such.

Posts promoting newsgroup related activities are not considered commercial
or money-making posts since there is no financial benefit to any of the
individuals involved.  These activities would include but are not limited
to the RASN Sponsorship Fund, raffles, and RASN reunions.

Posts advising the group of charitable racing-related events or offering
NASCAR event or NASCAR/stockcar race tickets at or below face value are also
permitted.

5) Profanity/Racial Slurs - Posters should view r.a.s.n.m as polite mixed
company and watch their language accordingly.  Only a short list of words
will be disallowed.  Nevertheless, posters to RASNM are advised and encouraged
to use the same standards that apply in the Sunday comics.  Specifically,
changing all letters in profanity to special characters like !@#$% .  However,
when quoting material such as scanner bites, interviews etc.., the first
letter of the word may be left in place so that readers can deduce what was
actually said.

6) Crossposts - defined as posts also directed to any other newsgroup.
Exceptions to this limit are made for Usenet Administrative purposes (as
from news.announce.newgroups) and for posts from rec.autos.sport.info.

7) Binaries - Binary posts are defined as posts that include UUencoded,
MIME-encoded, or any other form of binary message in the body or signature
other than Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) signatures.  This includes, but is
not limited to, pictures, audio files, executables, and HTML.  Binaries
should be posted to an appropriate binaries newsgroup or a web page. A brief
informative notice should then be sent to the newsgroup.  The FAQ for this
group will list any web sites that have volunteered to have binaries posted
from r.a.s.n.m readers, and how to get the binary posted.

8) Email Addresses - Since an author's first post to r.a.s.n.m generates
an auto-response detailing the registration procedure, it is strongly
recommended that at least the first submission to the group carry a valid
return e-mail address.  This will avoid a delay in the registration process
that would result if the auto-response bounces.  A person may register to
post under a "munged" address to defeat spambots, but the altered address
must be readily decipherable into the poster's valid address by a human.
This does not cut off the use of pseudonymous remailers or munged headers,
both of which are allowable.

9) Copyrighted material - Quoting a line or two of copyrighted material
is not against the law.  However, quoting entire articles is a copyright
violation (unless the poster has permission from the copyright holder).  If
articles are available on the web, a short summary of the article with a URL
is the accepted method of posting.  Proper credit must be given to all
copyrighted material.

The following are discouraged, but will not be rejected outright.

1) Posts in languages other than English
2) Signatures over 6 lines
3) Posts with difficult to read formatting
4) Posts only containing questions answered completely in the FAQ

1) Non-English - At this time, 100% of the readers of the group know English,
with English being the only language of most readers.  Therefore, English is
strongly recommended as the posting language of choice for r.a.s.n.m.
Posts in languages other than English will be examined for approval if any
of the moderators can read the language in question. There is no guarantee of
approval for posts in any language other than English.

2) Signatures - USENET netiquette limits signatures to four lines.  For
r.a.s.n.m, posters are encouraged to keep their signatures to six lines
or less. PGP signature data and additional lines automatically added by
services such as hotmail and Deja News are not included in the count, but
all other text, including boxes around the signature, is included.

3) Readability - USENET Netiquette says that for everyone's enjoyment,
all posts should have right margins in the 60-70 range. The range from 60-70
is for unquoted text.  Quoted text may continue to expand to the right.  Also,
over 2/3 text quoted from previous posters is strongly discouraged.  If a
poster regularly fails to meet these simple rules, a moderator will contact
the person to find out if they can fix the problem.

4) FAQ - Posters asking questions that are covered completely in the FAQ will
be sent a copy of the FAQ and the post will be accepted.  Other posters are
encouraged to welcome the user, respond to the post, or remain silent.

Moderation overview:

Moderation procedure - To reduce their workload and expedite the posting of
articles to the group, the moderation team will employ automated moderation
software (robo-moderation). As much of the work as possible will be turned
over to the moderation software.  This software will scan each incoming
article, then either post it directly to the group without human review,
return it to the author with an appropriate explanation, or forward it to a
human moderator.  Posts will either be accepted in whole, or rejected. The
moderators will NEVER modify them at all.

All rejected posts will be returned to the originating email address with an
explanation for the rejection and instructions for appealing the rejection.
The moderators cannot be held accountable for internet failures or
undeliverable email.

Auto-rejection: binaries, crossposts, profanity, racial slurs, and articles
from authors on the auto-reject list will be automatically rejected. The
moderation team will maintain a list of words that will cause a post to be
automatically rejected.  In the spirit of allowing as much free expression
as possible, the list will be as short as possible while still insuring a
civil environment within the group.

Auto-kickout:  There will be another short list of potentially offensive
words that will cause a post to be kicked out for human moderation.  These
lists can be modified as needed by a simple majority vote of the moderators.
Posters may explicitly request human moderation of an article by placing the
special phrase MOD-HUMAN in the subject line.  This may be desirable if the
author feels there may be something in the article that would cause the
moderation software to automatically reject it. The moderators can also add
this tag to a thread.

Auto-approve:  Provided an article does not trigger an auto-rejection or
auto-kickout, articles from authors on the auto-approve list will be posted
directly to the group without human review.

Moderation sequence:  All incoming articles will be moderated according
to the following sequence with steps 1-4 being performed by the moderation
software.

1. Is the author a first time poster?
        Yes - Initiate the registration process (see below)
        No  - Continue

2. Is there an auto-kickout?
        Yes - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)
        No  - Continue

3. Are there grounds for auto-rejection?
        Yes - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.
        No  - Continue

4. Is the author on the auto-approve list?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)

5. Does the article meet the charter guidelines?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.

r.a.s.n.m registration:  When the moderation software detects an article
from a first time poster, an auto-response containing the charter, FAQ and
instructions for completing the registration are returned to the author.
The article is forwarded to a human moderator. Should the auto-response
bounce back to a moderator and a valid reply-to address for the author
cannot be determined, the registration cannot be completed and the initial
article will not be posted.  If the moderator can determine a valid address,
they will forward the registration information to the author's valid address.

When the author acknowledges by return e-mail that he/she has read the
material and agrees to abide by the charter, he/she is placed on the auto-
approve list.  If the initial article is on charter, it is posted at that
time.

Human moderation:  Individual moderators will have the authority to
reject articles that are clearly off-charter (commercial or money-making
posts, etc.), and to accept articles that are clearly on-charter.  Should
there be any question about an article being reviewed, it will be forwarded
to another moderator for a second opinion.  If the first two moderators to
review an article agree, it will be accepted or rejected accordingly.  If
the first two moderators to review an article disagree, the article will be
forwarded to a third moderator for a deciding vote.

Moderators will execute the above procedure as rapidly as possible in
order to minimize the delay in getting human moderated articles posted.

Key to the moderation philosophy, articles will not be rejected because
of the author's opinion or position on an issue, nor will any human moderated
post be rejected because of the author of the post.  Moderator's opinions will
be expressed only within their own posts, not within their moderation
activities.  Anyone who is willing to follow the Charter guidelines is welcome
to post to r.a.s.n.m, and their posts will be accepted unedited if they have
followed the Charter criteria.  Posts will never be edited by moderators.

If a moderator discovers off-charter material posted in the group, he/she
has three options:

1) Ignore it if it isn't blatant
2) Send an e-mail reminder of charter guidelines to the poster
3) Temporary removal of the poster's auto-post status

How the off-charter post is handled will be determined by what response the
situation warrants, but the moderator should use restraint whenever possible
and use removal of auto-post status only as a last resort.  In the event
that the moderator feels the situation is severe enough to warrant temporarily
suspending the author's auto-approve privilege, the moderator must immediately
notify the other moderators and forward a copy of the post to the rest of the
moderation team.  The moderation team must then decide within one week
whether to restore the author to auto-approve or continue the suspension.  A
two-thirds majority is required to maintain the suspension.  Posters suspended
from auto-approve may continue to post, but all their articles will be subject
to human moderation while the suspension is in effect.  Auto-approve may be
restored at any time by a simple majority vote of the moderators.

A poster who consistently submits off-charter material may be placed on the
auto-reject list by a two-thirds majority vote of the moderators.
Posters placed on auto-reject for this reason will be sent a copy of the
charter, FAQ and instructions on how to petition for reinstatement.

Individuals who engage in threatening or abusive behavior toward a moderator,
or who attempt to interfere with the normal operation of the newsgroup or the
internet accounts supporting the newsgroup or it's members, other than
reporting net-abuse, will be placed on auto-reject for not less than one
year.

Moderator administration and changes:  The moderation team will initially plan
to include 5 to 7 moderators.  They will be responsible for maintaining the
moderation software and reviewing articles that are neither auto-approved nor
auto-rejected. New moderators can be added as deemed appropriate upon the
approval of two-thirds of the existing moderators. Candidates for new
moderators will only be taken from those people who have been on the
auto-approve list continuously for 3 months.  During the first 3 months of the
newsgroup, the 3 month requirement will be waived.  A special call for
volunteers can be posted when an existing moderator steps down or when
the workload on the moderators is deemed sufficient that they feel it is
appropriate to increase their number.

There will be an administrative mailing list, on which the moderators can
discuss the enforcement and modification of the guidelines given here.

A thread may be marked for human attention upon agreement of a majority of
the moderators. This overrides normal auto-approval and content based
auto-rejection, and brings all posts in the thread to moderator attention so
potential problems can be dealt with before measures as drastic as
removal of auto-approval status are called for.  Notice of thread marking
may be posted to the newsgroup, but is not required.

Appeals: A poster who feels that a rejected post was within the charter
can appeal to the administrative list. If a majority of the moderators agree
that the post should be approved, it will be posted as usual.  If the poster's
auto-approve status was suspended as a result of an article that is
successfully appealed, auto-approve will be restored.

Complaints or compliments about moderator judgments, and other matters related
to the running of the newsgroup are welcome on the administrative list, but
not on the newsgroup. No post relating to such discussions will be approved
for the newsgroup. Any decision made about action to take (or not to take) is
final.  Posters who persist in pressing the issue will be subject to
auto-rejection.

Charter revisions: Any discussion on revision of the charter must include
"CHARTER:" as the beginning of the subject line.  After discussion in the
newsgroup, the moderators will judge the group consensus and let the group
know if any charter changes take place. Any changes must pass with a 2/3rds
majority of the moderators agreeing on what the group is requesting.  This
is not a vote of the opinions of the moderators, but rather to ensure that
the moderators have a clear understanding of what the members of the newsgroup
want.  If the moderators are not sure of the consensus of the group, or if
members of the group challenge the moderators' decision, an actual vote will
be taken. Votes will require a 2/3 majority to modify the charter.  The
moderators will post all results of charter modification votes to the group
after the voting is completed.  The subject line will include the phrase
"CHARTER:" so that those who wish to ignore them can skip the threads or set
their killfiles/filters to ignore them.  Changes will also be made to the FAQ.

The FAQ will be posted every Friday.

Moderators who are unwilling or unable to uphold the charter in their personal
posts or moderation activities may be removed by a two-thirds vote of the
other moderators.

Third party cancels ('retro-moderation') by anyone, including but not limited
to moderators, is strictly against newsgroup policy.

Disclaimer:
- The moderators of this newsgroup are not responsible for
  truthfulness or legality of any of the posts.
- The approval of a post by a moderator is NOT an endorsement by the
  moderator or moderation team.
- Posters assume full responsibility for the content of their posts.
- Readers using information that appears in the newsgroup do so at
  their own risk.
- Posters agree that by posting items to this newsgroup they
  indemnify and hold harmless the moderation team and service
  providers.

END CHARTER.

MODERATOR INFO: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

Moderator: "Eric O. Troldahl" <etroll@carracing.com>
Moderator: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@carracing.com>
Moderator: Deven Atkinson <deven@carracing.com>
Moderator: "Lisa A. Carbrey" <lcarbrey@carracing.com>
Moderator: John Martin <jtmartin@carracing.com>
Moderator: Martin Moleski <moleski@canisius.edu>
Moderator: Chris Watkins <C_Watkins@carracing.com>

Article submission address: rasnm@carracing.com
Administrative contact address: rasnm-admin@carracing.com

END MODERATOR INFO.

IMPORTANT VOTING PROCEDURE NOTES: READ THIS BEFORE VOTING

The purpose of a Usenet vote is to determine the genuine interest in
reading the proposed newsgroup, and soliciting votes from uninterested
parties defeats this purpose.  Do *not* distribute this CFV;  intead,
direct people to the official CFV as posted to news.announce.newgroups.
Distributing specific voting instructions or pre-marked copies of
this CFV is considered vote fraud.

This is a public vote:  All email addresses, names and votes will be
listed in the final RESULT post.  The name used may be either a real
name or an established Usenet handle.

At most one vote is allowed per person or per account.  Duplicate
votes will be resolved in favor of the most recent valid vote.

Voters must mail their ballots directly to the votetaker.  Anonymous,
forwarded, or proxy votes are not valid, nor are votes mailed from
WWW/HTML/CGI forms (which should not exist).  Votes from nonexistent
accounts are also invalid, and the votetaker will reject any "munged"
address he cannot decipher immediately.

Please direct any questions to the votetaker at <neilc@stanford.edu>.

HOW TO VOTE:

Extract the ballot from the CFV by deleting everything before and after
the "BEGINNING OF BALLOT" and "END OF BALLOT" lines.  Don't worry about
the spacing of the columns or any quote characters (">") that your
reply inserts.  Please, DO NOT send the entire CFV back to me!

Fill in the ballot as shown below.  Please provide your REAL NAME and
indicate your desired vote in the appropriate locations inside the ballot.

Examples of how to properly indicate your vote:

  [ YES     ]  example.yes.vote
  [ NO      ]  example.no.vote
  [ ABSTAIN ]  example.abstention
  [ CANCEL  ]  example.cancellation

DO NOT modify, alter or delete any information in this ballot!
If you do, the voting software will probably reject your ballot.

When finished, MAIL the ballot to: < voting@uvv.stanford.edu >
Just "replying" to this message should work, but check the "To:" line.

If you do not receive an acknowledgment of your vote within three
days contact the votetaker about the problem.  You are responsible
for reading your ack and making sure your vote is registered correctly.

If these instructions are unclear, please consult the Introduction to
Usenet Voting or the Usenet Voting FAQ at http://www.stanford.edu/~neilc/uvv.

======== BEGINNING OF BALLOT: Delete everything before this line =======
.-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 1ST CALL FOR VOTES: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
| Official Usenet Voting Ballot <RASNM-0001> (Do not remove this line!)
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Please provide your real name, or your vote may be rejected.  Place
| ONLY your name (ie. do NOT include your e-mail address or any other
| information; ONLY your name) after the colon on the following line:

Voter name:

| Insert YES, NO, ABSTAIN, or CANCEL inside the brackets for each
| newsgroup listed below (do not delete the newsgroup name):

 Your Vote   Newsgroup
 ---------   -----------------------------------------------------------
[         ]  rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (moderated)

======== END OF BALLOT: Delete everything after this line ==============


This CFV was created with uvpq 1.0 (Aug 14 1997).
PQ datestamp: 980322

-- 
Voting address: voting@uvv.stanford.edu

From neilc@stanford.edu Tue Jul 21 01:00:42 1998
Path: news.isc.org!data.pa.vix.com!sonysjc!sanjose-news-feed1.bbnplanet.com!su-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!news1.bellglobal.com!news.uunet.ca!news1.ottawa.cyberus.ca!news.cyberus.ca!news-jammys.net!news.flora.ottawa.on.ca!nntp.igs.net!nott!bcarh189.bnr.ca!nrchh45.us.nortel.com!hipcancel!despams.ocunix.on.ca!resurrector!not-for-mail
Message-ID: <901008028.10473@isc.org>
X-Reposted-By: dave@ferret.ocunix.on.ca
X-Original-Path: ...!news3.bellglobal.com!news1.bellglobal.com!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!news2.ais.net!jamie!ais.net!uunet!in4.uu.net!news.isc.org!bounce-back
From: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>
Reply-To: voting@uvv.stanford.edu
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,rec.autos.sport.f1,rec.autos.sport.indy,rec.autos.sport.misc,rec.autos.sport.nascar,rec.autos.sport.tech,rec.autos.sport.info
Subject: REPOST: CFV: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated moderated
Followup-To: poster
X-Original-Message-ID: <900674663.22405@isc.org>
References: <896328708.21545@isc.org> <897880198.15596@isc.org> <898490393.18097@isc.org>
Organization: Usenet Volunteer Votetakers
Approved: newgroups-request@isc.org
Expires: 8 Aug 1998 00:00:00 GMT
Archive-Name: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 08:14:29 GMT
X-Comments: DtR Repost: The following Usenet article was cancelled,
X-Comments: more than likely by someone other than the original poster.
X-Comments: Please see the end of this posting for a copy of the cancel.
X-Comments: Dave the Resurrector can be contacted at dave@ferret.ocunix.on.ca
Lines: 559
Xref: news.isc.org news.announce.newgroups:10471 news.groups:292096 rec.autos.sport.f1:164001 rec.autos.sport.indy:82218 rec.autos.sport.misc:12673 rec.autos.sport.nascar:155204 rec.autos.sport.tech:14676 rec.autos.sport.info:13015

                     FIRST CALL FOR VOTES (of 2)
           moderated group rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

This CFV is to be distributed only by the votetaker.  It is not to be
posted to newsgroups, or mailed to mailing lists or individuals, except by
the votetaker.  Ballots or CFVs provided by anyone else will be invalid.

Newsgroups line:
rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated	NASCAR and Stockcar Racing. (Moderated)

Votes must be received by 23:59:59 UTC, 7 Aug 1998.

This vote is being conducted by a neutral third party.  Questions
about the proposed group should be directed to the proponent.

Proponent: Eric O. Troldahl <etroll@flash.net>
Proponent: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@dittosrush.com>
Proponent: Deven Atkinson <deven@Mcs.Net>
Proponent: Rich Bemben <rbemben@eng.micrion.com>
Proponent: Lisa A. Carbrey <lcarbrey@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Tom Duwe <tduwe@primenet.com>
Proponent: Ronnie Hiatt <oldsteel@bellsouth.net>
Proponent: Sue Horan-Phillips <semh@earthlink.net>
Proponent: Karen Jensen <kjinsk@shell1.shore.net>
Proponent: Henry Kelley <tinylights@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Nancy Kendrick <daytonatwin125s@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Ken (Poppy) Kraus <floridapoppy@webtv.net>
Proponent: Jerry (Tinadog) Kyte <Tinadog@aol.com>
Proponent: John Martin <jtmartin@spartanburg.net>
Proponent: Lynwood Matteson <lcmatteson@ucdavis.edu>
Proponent: Mike McGuigan <mcguigan@mindspring.com>
Proponent: Martin Moleski <moleski@canisius.edu>
Proponent: John (DeliveryBoy) Sutphin <wahoo_35@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Chris Watkins <umytbnxt@mindspring.com>
Mentor: Jonathan Grobe <grobe@worf.netins.net>
Votetaker: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>

RATIONALE: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

NASCAR and stockcar racing, as well as other motorsports, have been the
subjects of Usenet discussion for many years.  The existing
rec.autos.sport.nascar newsgroup (RASN) gets a total of well over a
hundred messages a day during the off-season and that number can increase
to two to four times that figure during the season, peaking at over 1000
a day during speedweeks.  Much of this traffic is relevant and of high-
quality, but there are also significant problems with spam, advertisements,
Driver/Team/Sponsor/Car-Make/Media abuse, and attacks aimed at other
posters to the newsgroup.  Many former posters to RASN have left because of
this situation.

Rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated is intended to be a forum where all
topics related to NASCAR and stockcar racing can be discussed without these
distractions. The primary focus of the group will be NASCAR's top 3 series:
Winston Cup, Busch Grand National, and Craftsman Trucks.  Questions and
answers about this sport will be welcomed and a FAQ will be maintained.

CHARTER: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

The unmoderated newsgroup rec.autos.sport.nascar has always been fairly
relaxed about what is on-topic. The moderated newsgroup will be the same
way.  Basically anything related to NASCAR or stock car racing will be
considered on-topic.

Posts about other types of motorsports (Indycar, F1, etc.) should be
directed to the appropriate newsgroup, unless they are comparing stockcar
racing to the other motorsport.  For example, a comparison of the point
systems of F1 and Winston Cup, and how using the F1 system would change
the Winston Cup championship standings, is on-topic.

The goal of rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (r.a.s.n.m) is to provide its
participants with a degree of free expression approaching that found in
unmoderated groups while maintaining an environment free of the spam,
commercial and money-making posts, personal harassment, vulgarity and
blatantly off topic material found in most unmoderated forums.

The philosophy of r.a.s.n.m is that responsible people should be trusted
to post like responsible adults. Therefore, the moderation effort will focus
primarily on dealing with problems as they occur, not on screening every
post.  All posters will be initially trusted with auto-approve status, which
will enable their subsequent articles to be posted immediately to the
newsgroup without the involvement of a human moderator.  They will retain
auto-approve status unless they demonstrate cause for its revocation.

Newsgroup readers are warned that since this is a discussion group about
racing, people here will want to talk about racing, even during the
televised races.  If you want your tape-delayed viewing to be unspoiled by
knowing who won, crashed, etc., it is best to keep yourself away from all
sources of racing information, including newsgroups, cable TV, racing radio
shows, newspapers, coworkers, etc.  It is considered polite to include the
word SPOILER in the subject of posts about races less than 48 hours old,
leaving discussion of the details out of the header, but this WILL NOT be
enforced.

Appropriate posts will meet one of the following criteria:

1. It would effectively start a new discussion.  Examples:

        - What is the current points system?
        - How do provisionals work?
        - How did Ricky Craven get an 8th provisional?
        - Discussions of actual Race or Qualifying action.
        - Questions about the mechanics of race cars and engines.

2. It adds content to an existing discussion.  Examples:

        - Points breakdown itself.
        - Actual NASCAR policy on provisionals.
        - Web site addresses of teams, drivers, or Fan Clubs.
        - Answers to questions posed by others.
        - Clarification of questions previously asked.

3. It is informative to the r.a.s.n.m community.  Examples:

        - Announcements of r.a.s.n reunions.
        - Announcements of upcoming TV schedules for racing.
        - Testing times.
        - Announcements of NASCAR events or schedules.
        - Announcements of driver appearances.

While examples are given wherever possible, it is impossible to anticipate
every attempt at finding a loophole. Therefore, the spirit of all the rules
should be followed as opposed to looking for leaks and loopholes. For
example, strange spellings or formats of profanity would still be considered
profanity.  Posters will be treated like responsible adults and expected to
act accordingly.

The following are unacceptable:

1) Bashing
2) Flames
3) Trolls
4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts
5) Profanity/Racial Slurs
6) Crossposts
7) Binaries
8) Posts without a respondable email address
9) Quotes of more than a few lines of copyrighted material

1) Bashing - defined as posts or portions of posts that verbally attack
others in an insulting or malicious manner to an extent that would reasonably
be considered libelous or slanderous.  In other words: "Do not post anything
that would make the driver or team you support cringe or be embarrassed to
have you as a fan."  This does NOT mean that negative comments will be
moderated out.  The expression of negative opinions is a legitimate part of
any discussion and the right to express them in a non-malicious fashion shall
not be abridged.

2) Flames - defined as inflammatory posts or portions of posts whose
primary purpose is to induce an intense emotional response.

3) Trolls - Trolls are defined as posts that do not have substance to
their content, primarily meant to incite disruptive threads or distract
posters from the main intent of the newsgroup.

4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts are defined as posts whose primary
purpose is to solicit a benefit for the poster.  This would include, but is
not limited to, advertisements of businesses, direct advertisements of goods
and/or services for sale, posts advertising the availability of goods and/or
services for sale through another medium, promotion of business opportunities,
money-making schemes, and chain letters.

Simply listing a business name, address, phone number, URL, etc. in one's
signature is not considered commercial use of the newsgroup.  However,
signatures that are in fact advertisements, or which solicit readers to
patronize a for-profit venture or visit a commercial web site fall under
the definition of commercial or money-making posts.  Posts bearing such
signatures are subject to rejection as such.

Posts promoting newsgroup related activities are not considered commercial
or money-making posts since there is no financial benefit to any of the
individuals involved.  These activities would include but are not limited
to the RASN Sponsorship Fund, raffles, and RASN reunions.

Posts advising the group of charitable racing-related events or offering
NASCAR event or NASCAR/stockcar race tickets at or below face value are also
permitted.

5) Profanity/Racial Slurs - Posters should view r.a.s.n.m as polite mixed
company and watch their language accordingly.  Only a short list of words
will be disallowed.  Nevertheless, posters to RASNM are advised and encouraged
to use the same standards that apply in the Sunday comics.  Specifically,
changing all letters in profanity to special characters like !@#$% .  However,
when quoting material such as scanner bites, interviews etc.., the first
letter of the word may be left in place so that readers can deduce what was
actually said.

6) Crossposts - defined as posts also directed to any other newsgroup.
Exceptions to this limit are made for Usenet Administrative purposes (as
from news.announce.newgroups) and for posts from rec.autos.sport.info.

7) Binaries - Binary posts are defined as posts that include UUencoded,
MIME-encoded, or any other form of binary message in the body or signature
other than Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) signatures.  This includes, but is
not limited to, pictures, audio files, executables, and HTML.  Binaries
should be posted to an appropriate binaries newsgroup or a web page. A brief
informative notice should then be sent to the newsgroup.  The FAQ for this
group will list any web sites that have volunteered to have binaries posted
from r.a.s.n.m readers, and how to get the binary posted.

8) Email Addresses - Since an author's first post to r.a.s.n.m generates
an auto-response detailing the registration procedure, it is strongly
recommended that at least the first submission to the group carry a valid
return e-mail address.  This will avoid a delay in the registration process
that would result if the auto-response bounces.  A person may register to
post under a "munged" address to defeat spambots, but the altered address
must be readily decipherable into the poster's valid address by a human.
This does not cut off the use of pseudonymous remailers or munged headers,
both of which are allowable.

9) Copyrighted material - Quoting a line or two of copyrighted material
is not against the law.  However, quoting entire articles is a copyright
violation (unless the poster has permission from the copyright holder).  If
articles are available on the web, a short summary of the article with a URL
is the accepted method of posting.  Proper credit must be given to all
copyrighted material.

The following are discouraged, but will not be rejected outright.

1) Posts in languages other than English
2) Signatures over 6 lines
3) Posts with difficult to read formatting
4) Posts only containing questions answered completely in the FAQ

1) Non-English - At this time, 100% of the readers of the group know English,
with English being the only language of most readers.  Therefore, English is
strongly recommended as the posting language of choice for r.a.s.n.m.
Posts in languages other than English will be examined for approval if any
of the moderators can read the language in question. There is no guarantee of
approval for posts in any language other than English.

2) Signatures - USENET netiquette limits signatures to four lines.  For
r.a.s.n.m, posters are encouraged to keep their signatures to six lines
or less. PGP signature data and additional lines automatically added by
services such as hotmail and Deja News are not included in the count, but
all other text, including boxes around the signature, is included.

3) Readability - USENET Netiquette says that for everyone's enjoyment,
all posts should have right margins in the 60-70 range. The range from 60-70
is for unquoted text.  Quoted text may continue to expand to the right.  Also,
over 2/3 text quoted from previous posters is strongly discouraged.  If a
poster regularly fails to meet these simple rules, a moderator will contact
the person to find out if they can fix the problem.

4) FAQ - Posters asking questions that are covered completely in the FAQ will
be sent a copy of the FAQ and the post will be accepted.  Other posters are
encouraged to welcome the user, respond to the post, or remain silent.

Moderation overview:

Moderation procedure - To reduce their workload and expedite the posting of
articles to the group, the moderation team will employ automated moderation
software (robo-moderation). As much of the work as possible will be turned
over to the moderation software.  This software will scan each incoming
article, then either post it directly to the group without human review,
return it to the author with an appropriate explanation, or forward it to a
human moderator.  Posts will either be accepted in whole, or rejected. The
moderators will NEVER modify them at all.

All rejected posts will be returned to the originating email address with an
explanation for the rejection and instructions for appealing the rejection.
The moderators cannot be held accountable for internet failures or
undeliverable email.

Auto-rejection: binaries, crossposts, profanity, racial slurs, and articles
from authors on the auto-reject list will be automatically rejected. The
moderation team will maintain a list of words that will cause a post to be
automatically rejected.  In the spirit of allowing as much free expression
as possible, the list will be as short as possible while still insuring a
civil environment within the group.

Auto-kickout:  There will be another short list of potentially offensive
words that will cause a post to be kicked out for human moderation.  These
lists can be modified as needed by a simple majority vote of the moderators.
Posters may explicitly request human moderation of an article by placing the
special phrase MOD-HUMAN in the subject line.  This may be desirable if the
author feels there may be something in the article that would cause the
moderation software to automatically reject it. The moderators can also add
this tag to a thread.

Auto-approve:  Provided an article does not trigger an auto-rejection or
auto-kickout, articles from authors on the auto-approve list will be posted
directly to the group without human review.

Moderation sequence:  All incoming articles will be moderated according
to the following sequence with steps 1-4 being performed by the moderation
software.

1. Is the author a first time poster?
        Yes - Initiate the registration process (see below)
        No  - Continue

2. Is there an auto-kickout?
        Yes - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)
        No  - Continue

3. Are there grounds for auto-rejection?
        Yes - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.
        No  - Continue

4. Is the author on the auto-approve list?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)

5. Does the article meet the charter guidelines?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.

r.a.s.n.m registration:  When the moderation software detects an article
from a first time poster, an auto-response containing the charter, FAQ and
instructions for completing the registration are returned to the author.
The article is forwarded to a human moderator. Should the auto-response
bounce back to a moderator and a valid reply-to address for the author
cannot be determined, the registration cannot be completed and the initial
article will not be posted.  If the moderator can determine a valid address,
they will forward the registration information to the author's valid address.

When the author acknowledges by return e-mail that he/she has read the
material and agrees to abide by the charter, he/she is placed on the auto-
approve list.  If the initial article is on charter, it is posted at that
time.

Human moderation:  Individual moderators will have the authority to
reject articles that are clearly off-charter (commercial or money-making
posts, etc.), and to accept articles that are clearly on-charter.  Should
there be any question about an article being reviewed, it will be forwarded
to another moderator for a second opinion.  If the first two moderators to
review an article agree, it will be accepted or rejected accordingly.  If
the first two moderators to review an article disagree, the article will be
forwarded to a third moderator for a deciding vote.

Moderators will execute the above procedure as rapidly as possible in
order to minimize the delay in getting human moderated articles posted.

Key to the moderation philosophy, articles will not be rejected because
of the author's opinion or position on an issue, nor will any human moderated
post be rejected because of the author of the post.  Moderator's opinions will
be expressed only within their own posts, not within their moderation
activities.  Anyone who is willing to follow the Charter guidelines is welcome
to post to r.a.s.n.m, and their posts will be accepted unedited if they have
followed the Charter criteria.  Posts will never be edited by moderators.

If a moderator discovers off-charter material posted in the group, he/she
has three options:

1) Ignore it if it isn't blatant
2) Send an e-mail reminder of charter guidelines to the poster
3) Temporary removal of the poster's auto-post status

How the off-charter post is handled will be determined by what response the
situation warrants, but the moderator should use restraint whenever possible
and use removal of auto-post status only as a last resort.  In the event
that the moderator feels the situation is severe enough to warrant temporarily
suspending the author's auto-approve privilege, the moderator must immediately
notify the other moderators and forward a copy of the post to the rest of the
moderation team.  The moderation team must then decide within one week
whether to restore the author to auto-approve or continue the suspension.  A
two-thirds majority is required to maintain the suspension.  Posters suspended
from auto-approve may continue to post, but all their articles will be subject
to human moderation while the suspension is in effect.  Auto-approve may be
restored at any time by a simple majority vote of the moderators.

A poster who consistently submits off-charter material may be placed on the
auto-reject list by a two-thirds majority vote of the moderators.
Posters placed on auto-reject for this reason will be sent a copy of the
charter, FAQ and instructions on how to petition for reinstatement.

Individuals who engage in threatening or abusive behavior toward a moderator,
or who attempt to interfere with the normal operation of the newsgroup or the
internet accounts supporting the newsgroup or it's members, other than
reporting net-abuse, will be placed on auto-reject for not less than one
year.

Moderator administration and changes:  The moderation team will initially plan
to include 5 to 7 moderators.  They will be responsible for maintaining the
moderation software and reviewing articles that are neither auto-approved nor
auto-rejected. New moderators can be added as deemed appropriate upon the
approval of two-thirds of the existing moderators. Candidates for new
moderators will only be taken from those people who have been on the
auto-approve list continuously for 3 months.  During the first 3 months of the
newsgroup, the 3 month requirement will be waived.  A special call for
volunteers can be posted when an existing moderator steps down or when
the workload on the moderators is deemed sufficient that they feel it is
appropriate to increase their number.

There will be an administrative mailing list, on which the moderators can
discuss the enforcement and modification of the guidelines given here.

A thread may be marked for human attention upon agreement of a majority of
the moderators. This overrides normal auto-approval and content based
auto-rejection, and brings all posts in the thread to moderator attention so
potential problems can be dealt with before measures as drastic as
removal of auto-approval status are called for.  Notice of thread marking
may be posted to the newsgroup, but is not required.

Appeals: A poster who feels that a rejected post was within the charter
can appeal to the administrative list. If a majority of the moderators agree
that the post should be approved, it will be posted as usual.  If the poster's
auto-approve status was suspended as a result of an article that is
successfully appealed, auto-approve will be restored.

Complaints or compliments about moderator judgments, and other matters related
to the running of the newsgroup are welcome on the administrative list, but
not on the newsgroup. No post relating to such discussions will be approved
for the newsgroup. Any decision made about action to take (or not to take) is
final.  Posters who persist in pressing the issue will be subject to
auto-rejection.

Charter revisions: Any discussion on revision of the charter must include
"CHARTER:" as the beginning of the subject line.  After discussion in the
newsgroup, the moderators will judge the group consensus and let the group
know if any charter changes take place. Any changes must pass with a 2/3rds
majority of the moderators agreeing on what the group is requesting.  This
is not a vote of the opinions of the moderators, but rather to ensure that
the moderators have a clear understanding of what the members of the newsgroup
want.  If the moderators are not sure of the consensus of the group, or if
members of the group challenge the moderators' decision, an actual vote will
be taken. Votes will require a 2/3 majority to modify the charter.  The
moderators will post all results of charter modification votes to the group
after the voting is completed.  The subject line will include the phrase
"CHARTER:" so that those who wish to ignore them can skip the threads or set
their killfiles/filters to ignore them.  Changes will also be made to the FAQ.

The FAQ will be posted every Friday.

Moderators who are unwilling or unable to uphold the charter in their personal
posts or moderation activities may be removed by a two-thirds vote of the
other moderators.

Third party cancels ('retro-moderation') by anyone, including but not limited
to moderators, is strictly against newsgroup policy.

Disclaimer:
- The moderators of this newsgroup are not responsible for
  truthfulness or legality of any of the posts.
- The approval of a post by a moderator is NOT an endorsement by the
  moderator or moderation team.
- Posters assume full responsibility for the content of their posts.
- Readers using information that appears in the newsgroup do so at
  their own risk.
- Posters agree that by posting items to this newsgroup they
  indemnify and hold harmless the moderation team and service
  providers.

END CHARTER.

MODERATOR INFO: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

Moderator: "Eric O. Troldahl" <etroll@carracing.com>
Moderator: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@carracing.com>
Moderator: Deven Atkinson <deven@carracing.com>
Moderator: "Lisa A. Carbrey" <lcarbrey@carracing.com>
Moderator: John Martin <jtmartin@carracing.com>
Moderator: Martin Moleski <moleski@canisius.edu>
Moderator: Chris Watkins <C_Watkins@carracing.com>

Article submission address: rasnm@carracing.com
Administrative contact address: rasnm-admin@carracing.com

END MODERATOR INFO.

IMPORTANT VOTING PROCEDURE NOTES: READ THIS BEFORE VOTING

The purpose of a Usenet vote is to determine the genuine interest in
reading the proposed newsgroup, and soliciting votes from uninterested
parties defeats this purpose.  Do *not* distribute this CFV;  intead,
direct people to the official CFV as posted to news.announce.newgroups.
Distributing specific voting instructions or pre-marked copies of
this CFV is considered vote fraud.

This is a public vote:  All email addresses, names and votes will be
listed in the final RESULT post.  The name used may be either a real
name or an established Usenet handle.

At most one vote is allowed per person or per account.  Duplicate
votes will be resolved in favor of the most recent valid vote.

Voters must mail their ballots directly to the votetaker.  Anonymous,
forwarded, or proxy votes are not valid, nor are votes mailed from
WWW/HTML/CGI forms (which should not exist).  Votes from nonexistent
accounts are also invalid, and the votetaker will reject any "munged"
address he cannot decipher immediately.

Please direct any questions to the votetaker at <neilc@stanford.edu>.

HOW TO VOTE:

Extract the ballot from the CFV by deleting everything before and after
the "BEGINNING OF BALLOT" and "END OF BALLOT" lines.  Don't worry about
the spacing of the columns or any quote characters (">") that your
reply inserts.  Please, DO NOT send the entire CFV back to me!

Fill in the ballot as shown below.  Please provide your REAL NAME and
indicate your desired vote in the appropriate locations inside the ballot.

Examples of how to properly indicate your vote:

  [ YES     ]  example.yes.vote
  [ NO      ]  example.no.vote
  [ ABSTAIN ]  example.abstention
  [ CANCEL  ]  example.cancellation

DO NOT modify, alter or delete any information in this ballot!
If you do, the voting software will probably reject your ballot.

When finished, MAIL the ballot to: < voting@uvv.stanford.edu >
Just "replying" to this message should work, but check the "To:" line.

If you do not receive an acknowledgment of your vote within three
days contact the votetaker about the problem.  You are responsible
for reading your ack and making sure your vote is registered correctly.

If these instructions are unclear, please consult the Introduction to
Usenet Voting or the Usenet Voting FAQ at http://www.stanford.edu/~neilc/uvv.

======== BEGINNING OF BALLOT: Delete everything before this line =======
.-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 1ST CALL FOR VOTES: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
| Official Usenet Voting Ballot <RASNM-0001> (Do not remove this line!)
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Please provide your real name, or your vote may be rejected.  Place
| ONLY your name (ie. do NOT include your e-mail address or any other
| information; ONLY your name) after the colon on the following line:

Voter name:

| Insert YES, NO, ABSTAIN, or CANCEL inside the brackets for each
| newsgroup listed below (do not delete the newsgroup name):

 Your Vote   Newsgroup
 ---------   -----------------------------------------------------------
[         ]  rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (moderated)

======== END OF BALLOT: Delete everything after this line ==============


This CFV was created with uvpq 1.0 (Aug 14 1997).
PQ datestamp: 980322

-- 
Voting address: voting@uvv.stanford.edu
========= WAS CANCELLED BY =======:
Control: cancel <900674663.22405@isc.org>
Subject: cmsg cancel <900674663.22405@isc.org>
Message-ID: <901008028.10473@isc.org>
From: HipCrime@jlnif.gov
Sender: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>
Approved: HipCrime@jlnif.gov
Newsgroups: news.groups
Date: 17 Jul 1998 12:47:34 GMT
X-No-Archive: Yes
Organization: HipCrime International, unLtd.
NNTP-Posting-Host: 204.237.253.7
Lines: 2
Path: ...!news-peer.gip.net!news-raspail.gip.net!news.gsl.net!gip.net!rain.fr!194.250.238.3!nntp.HipCrime.new!cyberspam!hipcancel!usenet

Cancelled by HipCrime's NewsAgent.


From neilc@stanford.edu Tue Jul 21 01:00:44 1998
Control: cancel <901008028.10473@isc.org>
Path: news.isc.org!bounce-back
Message-ID: <c10507-901008028.10473@isc.org>
From: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>
Reply-To: voting@uvv.stanford.edu
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,rec.autos.sport.f1,rec.autos.sport.indy,rec.autos.sport.misc,rec.autos.sport.nascar,rec.autos.sport.tech,rec.autos.sport.info
Subject: cmsg cancel <901008028.10473@isc.org>
Followup-To: poster
References: <896328708.21545@isc.org> <897880198.15596@isc.org> <898490393.18097@isc.org>
Approved: newgroups-request@isc.org
Expires: 8 Aug 1998 00:00:00 GMT
Archive-Name: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
Date: 21 Jul 98 08:00:42 GMT
Lines: 2
Xref: news.isc.org control.cancel:2648186

Unapproved article for news.announce.newgroups auto-cancelled
by daemon on behalf of moderator.

From neilc@stanford.edu Tue Jul 21 01:01:15 1998
Path: news.isc.org!bounce-back
From: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>
Reply-To: voting@uvv.stanford.edu
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,rec.autos.sport.f1,rec.autos.sport.indy,rec.autos.sport.misc,rec.autos.sport.nascar,rec.autos.sport.tech,rec.autos.sport.info
Subject: CFV: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated moderated
Followup-To: poster
Message-ID: <901008072.10701@isc.org>
References: <896328708.21545@isc.org> <897880198.15596@isc.org> <898490393.18097@isc.org>
Organization: Usenet Volunteer Votetakers
Approved: newgroups-request@isc.org
Expires: 8 Aug 1998 00:00:00 GMT
Archive-Name: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 08:14:29 GMT
Lines: 542
Xref: news.isc.org news.announce.newgroups:10473 news.groups:292098 rec.autos.sport.f1:164002 rec.autos.sport.indy:82219 rec.autos.sport.misc:12674 rec.autos.sport.nascar:155205 rec.autos.sport.tech:14677 rec.autos.sport.info:13016

                     FIRST CALL FOR VOTES (of 2)
           moderated group rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

This CFV is to be distributed only by the votetaker.  It is not to be
posted to newsgroups, or mailed to mailing lists or individuals, except by
the votetaker.  Ballots or CFVs provided by anyone else will be invalid.

Newsgroups line:
rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated	NASCAR and Stockcar Racing. (Moderated)

Votes must be received by 23:59:59 UTC, 7 Aug 1998.

This vote is being conducted by a neutral third party.  Questions
about the proposed group should be directed to the proponent.

Proponent: Eric O. Troldahl <etroll@flash.net>
Proponent: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@dittosrush.com>
Proponent: Deven Atkinson <deven@Mcs.Net>
Proponent: Rich Bemben <rbemben@eng.micrion.com>
Proponent: Lisa A. Carbrey <lcarbrey@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Tom Duwe <tduwe@primenet.com>
Proponent: Ronnie Hiatt <oldsteel@bellsouth.net>
Proponent: Sue Horan-Phillips <semh@earthlink.net>
Proponent: Karen Jensen <kjinsk@shell1.shore.net>
Proponent: Henry Kelley <tinylights@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Nancy Kendrick <daytonatwin125s@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Ken (Poppy) Kraus <floridapoppy@webtv.net>
Proponent: Jerry (Tinadog) Kyte <Tinadog@aol.com>
Proponent: John Martin <jtmartin@spartanburg.net>
Proponent: Lynwood Matteson <lcmatteson@ucdavis.edu>
Proponent: Mike McGuigan <mcguigan@mindspring.com>
Proponent: Martin Moleski <moleski@canisius.edu>
Proponent: John (DeliveryBoy) Sutphin <wahoo_35@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Chris Watkins <umytbnxt@mindspring.com>
Mentor: Jonathan Grobe <grobe@worf.netins.net>
Votetaker: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>

RATIONALE: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

NASCAR and stockcar racing, as well as other motorsports, have been the
subjects of Usenet discussion for many years.  The existing
rec.autos.sport.nascar newsgroup (RASN) gets a total of well over a
hundred messages a day during the off-season and that number can increase
to two to four times that figure during the season, peaking at over 1000
a day during speedweeks.  Much of this traffic is relevant and of high-
quality, but there are also significant problems with spam, advertisements,
Driver/Team/Sponsor/Car-Make/Media abuse, and attacks aimed at other
posters to the newsgroup.  Many former posters to RASN have left because of
this situation.

Rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated is intended to be a forum where all
topics related to NASCAR and stockcar racing can be discussed without these
distractions. The primary focus of the group will be NASCAR's top 3 series:
Winston Cup, Busch Grand National, and Craftsman Trucks.  Questions and
answers about this sport will be welcomed and a FAQ will be maintained.

CHARTER: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

The unmoderated newsgroup rec.autos.sport.nascar has always been fairly
relaxed about what is on-topic. The moderated newsgroup will be the same
way.  Basically anything related to NASCAR or stock car racing will be
considered on-topic.

Posts about other types of motorsports (Indycar, F1, etc.) should be
directed to the appropriate newsgroup, unless they are comparing stockcar
racing to the other motorsport.  For example, a comparison of the point
systems of F1 and Winston Cup, and how using the F1 system would change
the Winston Cup championship standings, is on-topic.

The goal of rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (r.a.s.n.m) is to provide its
participants with a degree of free expression approaching that found in
unmoderated groups while maintaining an environment free of the spam,
commercial and money-making posts, personal harassment, vulgarity and
blatantly off topic material found in most unmoderated forums.

The philosophy of r.a.s.n.m is that responsible people should be trusted
to post like responsible adults. Therefore, the moderation effort will focus
primarily on dealing with problems as they occur, not on screening every
post.  All posters will be initially trusted with auto-approve status, which
will enable their subsequent articles to be posted immediately to the
newsgroup without the involvement of a human moderator.  They will retain
auto-approve status unless they demonstrate cause for its revocation.

Newsgroup readers are warned that since this is a discussion group about
racing, people here will want to talk about racing, even during the
televised races.  If you want your tape-delayed viewing to be unspoiled by
knowing who won, crashed, etc., it is best to keep yourself away from all
sources of racing information, including newsgroups, cable TV, racing radio
shows, newspapers, coworkers, etc.  It is considered polite to include the
word SPOILER in the subject of posts about races less than 48 hours old,
leaving discussion of the details out of the header, but this WILL NOT be
enforced.

Appropriate posts will meet one of the following criteria:

1. It would effectively start a new discussion.  Examples:

        - What is the current points system?
        - How do provisionals work?
        - How did Ricky Craven get an 8th provisional?
        - Discussions of actual Race or Qualifying action.
        - Questions about the mechanics of race cars and engines.

2. It adds content to an existing discussion.  Examples:

        - Points breakdown itself.
        - Actual NASCAR policy on provisionals.
        - Web site addresses of teams, drivers, or Fan Clubs.
        - Answers to questions posed by others.
        - Clarification of questions previously asked.

3. It is informative to the r.a.s.n.m community.  Examples:

        - Announcements of r.a.s.n reunions.
        - Announcements of upcoming TV schedules for racing.
        - Testing times.
        - Announcements of NASCAR events or schedules.
        - Announcements of driver appearances.

While examples are given wherever possible, it is impossible to anticipate
every attempt at finding a loophole. Therefore, the spirit of all the rules
should be followed as opposed to looking for leaks and loopholes. For
example, strange spellings or formats of profanity would still be considered
profanity.  Posters will be treated like responsible adults and expected to
act accordingly.

The following are unacceptable:

1) Bashing
2) Flames
3) Trolls
4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts
5) Profanity/Racial Slurs
6) Crossposts
7) Binaries
8) Posts without a respondable email address
9) Quotes of more than a few lines of copyrighted material

1) Bashing - defined as posts or portions of posts that verbally attack
others in an insulting or malicious manner to an extent that would reasonably
be considered libelous or slanderous.  In other words: "Do not post anything
that would make the driver or team you support cringe or be embarrassed to
have you as a fan."  This does NOT mean that negative comments will be
moderated out.  The expression of negative opinions is a legitimate part of
any discussion and the right to express them in a non-malicious fashion shall
not be abridged.

2) Flames - defined as inflammatory posts or portions of posts whose
primary purpose is to induce an intense emotional response.

3) Trolls - Trolls are defined as posts that do not have substance to
their content, primarily meant to incite disruptive threads or distract
posters from the main intent of the newsgroup.

4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts are defined as posts whose primary
purpose is to solicit a benefit for the poster.  This would include, but is
not limited to, advertisements of businesses, direct advertisements of goods
and/or services for sale, posts advertising the availability of goods and/or
services for sale through another medium, promotion of business opportunities,
money-making schemes, and chain letters.

Simply listing a business name, address, phone number, URL, etc. in one's
signature is not considered commercial use of the newsgroup.  However,
signatures that are in fact advertisements, or which solicit readers to
patronize a for-profit venture or visit a commercial web site fall under
the definition of commercial or money-making posts.  Posts bearing such
signatures are subject to rejection as such.

Posts promoting newsgroup related activities are not considered commercial
or money-making posts since there is no financial benefit to any of the
individuals involved.  These activities would include but are not limited
to the RASN Sponsorship Fund, raffles, and RASN reunions.

Posts advising the group of charitable racing-related events or offering
NASCAR event or NASCAR/stockcar race tickets at or below face value are also
permitted.

5) Profanity/Racial Slurs - Posters should view r.a.s.n.m as polite mixed
company and watch their language accordingly.  Only a short list of words
will be disallowed.  Nevertheless, posters to RASNM are advised and encouraged
to use the same standards that apply in the Sunday comics.  Specifically,
changing all letters in profanity to special characters like !@#$% .  However,
when quoting material such as scanner bites, interviews etc.., the first
letter of the word may be left in place so that readers can deduce what was
actually said.

6) Crossposts - defined as posts also directed to any other newsgroup.
Exceptions to this limit are made for Usenet Administrative purposes (as
from news.announce.newgroups) and for posts from rec.autos.sport.info.

7) Binaries - Binary posts are defined as posts that include UUencoded,
MIME-encoded, or any other form of binary message in the body or signature
other than Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) signatures.  This includes, but is
not limited to, pictures, audio files, executables, and HTML.  Binaries
should be posted to an appropriate binaries newsgroup or a web page. A brief
informative notice should then be sent to the newsgroup.  The FAQ for this
group will list any web sites that have volunteered to have binaries posted
from r.a.s.n.m readers, and how to get the binary posted.

8) Email Addresses - Since an author's first post to r.a.s.n.m generates
an auto-response detailing the registration procedure, it is strongly
recommended that at least the first submission to the group carry a valid
return e-mail address.  This will avoid a delay in the registration process
that would result if the auto-response bounces.  A person may register to
post under a "munged" address to defeat spambots, but the altered address
must be readily decipherable into the poster's valid address by a human.
This does not cut off the use of pseudonymous remailers or munged headers,
both of which are allowable.

9) Copyrighted material - Quoting a line or two of copyrighted material
is not against the law.  However, quoting entire articles is a copyright
violation (unless the poster has permission from the copyright holder).  If
articles are available on the web, a short summary of the article with a URL
is the accepted method of posting.  Proper credit must be given to all
copyrighted material.

The following are discouraged, but will not be rejected outright.

1) Posts in languages other than English
2) Signatures over 6 lines
3) Posts with difficult to read formatting
4) Posts only containing questions answered completely in the FAQ

1) Non-English - At this time, 100% of the readers of the group know English,
with English being the only language of most readers.  Therefore, English is
strongly recommended as the posting language of choice for r.a.s.n.m.
Posts in languages other than English will be examined for approval if any
of the moderators can read the language in question. There is no guarantee of
approval for posts in any language other than English.

2) Signatures - USENET netiquette limits signatures to four lines.  For
r.a.s.n.m, posters are encouraged to keep their signatures to six lines
or less. PGP signature data and additional lines automatically added by
services such as hotmail and Deja News are not included in the count, but
all other text, including boxes around the signature, is included.

3) Readability - USENET Netiquette says that for everyone's enjoyment,
all posts should have right margins in the 60-70 range. The range from 60-70
is for unquoted text.  Quoted text may continue to expand to the right.  Also,
over 2/3 text quoted from previous posters is strongly discouraged.  If a
poster regularly fails to meet these simple rules, a moderator will contact
the person to find out if they can fix the problem.

4) FAQ - Posters asking questions that are covered completely in the FAQ will
be sent a copy of the FAQ and the post will be accepted.  Other posters are
encouraged to welcome the user, respond to the post, or remain silent.

Moderation overview:

Moderation procedure - To reduce their workload and expedite the posting of
articles to the group, the moderation team will employ automated moderation
software (robo-moderation). As much of the work as possible will be turned
over to the moderation software.  This software will scan each incoming
article, then either post it directly to the group without human review,
return it to the author with an appropriate explanation, or forward it to a
human moderator.  Posts will either be accepted in whole, or rejected. The
moderators will NEVER modify them at all.

All rejected posts will be returned to the originating email address with an
explanation for the rejection and instructions for appealing the rejection.
The moderators cannot be held accountable for internet failures or
undeliverable email.

Auto-rejection: binaries, crossposts, profanity, racial slurs, and articles
from authors on the auto-reject list will be automatically rejected. The
moderation team will maintain a list of words that will cause a post to be
automatically rejected.  In the spirit of allowing as much free expression
as possible, the list will be as short as possible while still insuring a
civil environment within the group.

Auto-kickout:  There will be another short list of potentially offensive
words that will cause a post to be kicked out for human moderation.  These
lists can be modified as needed by a simple majority vote of the moderators.
Posters may explicitly request human moderation of an article by placing the
special phrase MOD-HUMAN in the subject line.  This may be desirable if the
author feels there may be something in the article that would cause the
moderation software to automatically reject it. The moderators can also add
this tag to a thread.

Auto-approve:  Provided an article does not trigger an auto-rejection or
auto-kickout, articles from authors on the auto-approve list will be posted
directly to the group without human review.

Moderation sequence:  All incoming articles will be moderated according
to the following sequence with steps 1-4 being performed by the moderation
software.

1. Is the author a first time poster?
        Yes - Initiate the registration process (see below)
        No  - Continue

2. Is there an auto-kickout?
        Yes - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)
        No  - Continue

3. Are there grounds for auto-rejection?
        Yes - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.
        No  - Continue

4. Is the author on the auto-approve list?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)

5. Does the article meet the charter guidelines?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.

r.a.s.n.m registration:  When the moderation software detects an article
from a first time poster, an auto-response containing the charter, FAQ and
instructions for completing the registration are returned to the author.
The article is forwarded to a human moderator. Should the auto-response
bounce back to a moderator and a valid reply-to address for the author
cannot be determined, the registration cannot be completed and the initial
article will not be posted.  If the moderator can determine a valid address,
they will forward the registration information to the author's valid address.

When the author acknowledges by return e-mail that he/she has read the
material and agrees to abide by the charter, he/she is placed on the auto-
approve list.  If the initial article is on charter, it is posted at that
time.

Human moderation:  Individual moderators will have the authority to
reject articles that are clearly off-charter (commercial or money-making
posts, etc.), and to accept articles that are clearly on-charter.  Should
there be any question about an article being reviewed, it will be forwarded
to another moderator for a second opinion.  If the first two moderators to
review an article agree, it will be accepted or rejected accordingly.  If
the first two moderators to review an article disagree, the article will be
forwarded to a third moderator for a deciding vote.

Moderators will execute the above procedure as rapidly as possible in
order to minimize the delay in getting human moderated articles posted.

Key to the moderation philosophy, articles will not be rejected because
of the author's opinion or position on an issue, nor will any human moderated
post be rejected because of the author of the post.  Moderator's opinions will
be expressed only within their own posts, not within their moderation
activities.  Anyone who is willing to follow the Charter guidelines is welcome
to post to r.a.s.n.m, and their posts will be accepted unedited if they have
followed the Charter criteria.  Posts will never be edited by moderators.

If a moderator discovers off-charter material posted in the group, he/she
has three options:

1) Ignore it if it isn't blatant
2) Send an e-mail reminder of charter guidelines to the poster
3) Temporary removal of the poster's auto-post status

How the off-charter post is handled will be determined by what response the
situation warrants, but the moderator should use restraint whenever possible
and use removal of auto-post status only as a last resort.  In the event
that the moderator feels the situation is severe enough to warrant temporarily
suspending the author's auto-approve privilege, the moderator must immediately
notify the other moderators and forward a copy of the post to the rest of the
moderation team.  The moderation team must then decide within one week
whether to restore the author to auto-approve or continue the suspension.  A
two-thirds majority is required to maintain the suspension.  Posters suspended
from auto-approve may continue to post, but all their articles will be subject
to human moderation while the suspension is in effect.  Auto-approve may be
restored at any time by a simple majority vote of the moderators.

A poster who consistently submits off-charter material may be placed on the
auto-reject list by a two-thirds majority vote of the moderators.
Posters placed on auto-reject for this reason will be sent a copy of the
charter, FAQ and instructions on how to petition for reinstatement.

Individuals who engage in threatening or abusive behavior toward a moderator,
or who attempt to interfere with the normal operation of the newsgroup or the
internet accounts supporting the newsgroup or it's members, other than
reporting net-abuse, will be placed on auto-reject for not less than one
year.

Moderator administration and changes:  The moderation team will initially plan
to include 5 to 7 moderators.  They will be responsible for maintaining the
moderation software and reviewing articles that are neither auto-approved nor
auto-rejected. New moderators can be added as deemed appropriate upon the
approval of two-thirds of the existing moderators. Candidates for new
moderators will only be taken from those people who have been on the
auto-approve list continuously for 3 months.  During the first 3 months of the
newsgroup, the 3 month requirement will be waived.  A special call for
volunteers can be posted when an existing moderator steps down or when
the workload on the moderators is deemed sufficient that they feel it is
appropriate to increase their number.

There will be an administrative mailing list, on which the moderators can
discuss the enforcement and modification of the guidelines given here.

A thread may be marked for human attention upon agreement of a majority of
the moderators. This overrides normal auto-approval and content based
auto-rejection, and brings all posts in the thread to moderator attention so
potential problems can be dealt with before measures as drastic as
removal of auto-approval status are called for.  Notice of thread marking
may be posted to the newsgroup, but is not required.

Appeals: A poster who feels that a rejected post was within the charter
can appeal to the administrative list. If a majority of the moderators agree
that the post should be approved, it will be posted as usual.  If the poster's
auto-approve status was suspended as a result of an article that is
successfully appealed, auto-approve will be restored.

Complaints or compliments about moderator judgments, and other matters related
to the running of the newsgroup are welcome on the administrative list, but
not on the newsgroup. No post relating to such discussions will be approved
for the newsgroup. Any decision made about action to take (or not to take) is
final.  Posters who persist in pressing the issue will be subject to
auto-rejection.

Charter revisions: Any discussion on revision of the charter must include
"CHARTER:" as the beginning of the subject line.  After discussion in the
newsgroup, the moderators will judge the group consensus and let the group
know if any charter changes take place. Any changes must pass with a 2/3rds
majority of the moderators agreeing on what the group is requesting.  This
is not a vote of the opinions of the moderators, but rather to ensure that
the moderators have a clear understanding of what the members of the newsgroup
want.  If the moderators are not sure of the consensus of the group, or if
members of the group challenge the moderators' decision, an actual vote will
be taken. Votes will require a 2/3 majority to modify the charter.  The
moderators will post all results of charter modification votes to the group
after the voting is completed.  The subject line will include the phrase
"CHARTER:" so that those who wish to ignore them can skip the threads or set
their killfiles/filters to ignore them.  Changes will also be made to the FAQ.

The FAQ will be posted every Friday.

Moderators who are unwilling or unable to uphold the charter in their personal
posts or moderation activities may be removed by a two-thirds vote of the
other moderators.

Third party cancels ('retro-moderation') by anyone, including but not limited
to moderators, is strictly against newsgroup policy.

Disclaimer:
- The moderators of this newsgroup are not responsible for
  truthfulness or legality of any of the posts.
- The approval of a post by a moderator is NOT an endorsement by the
  moderator or moderation team.
- Posters assume full responsibility for the content of their posts.
- Readers using information that appears in the newsgroup do so at
  their own risk.
- Posters agree that by posting items to this newsgroup they
  indemnify and hold harmless the moderation team and service
  providers.

END CHARTER.

MODERATOR INFO: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

Moderator: "Eric O. Troldahl" <etroll@carracing.com>
Moderator: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@carracing.com>
Moderator: Deven Atkinson <deven@carracing.com>
Moderator: "Lisa A. Carbrey" <lcarbrey@carracing.com>
Moderator: John Martin <jtmartin@carracing.com>
Moderator: Martin Moleski <moleski@canisius.edu>
Moderator: Chris Watkins <C_Watkins@carracing.com>

Article submission address: rasnm@carracing.com
Administrative contact address: rasnm-admin@carracing.com

END MODERATOR INFO.

IMPORTANT VOTING PROCEDURE NOTES: READ THIS BEFORE VOTING

The purpose of a Usenet vote is to determine the genuine interest in
reading the proposed newsgroup, and soliciting votes from uninterested
parties defeats this purpose.  Do *not* distribute this CFV;  intead,
direct people to the official CFV as posted to news.announce.newgroups.
Distributing specific voting instructions or pre-marked copies of
this CFV is considered vote fraud.

This is a public vote:  All email addresses, names and votes will be
listed in the final RESULT post.  The name used may be either a real
name or an established Usenet handle.

At most one vote is allowed per person or per account.  Duplicate
votes will be resolved in favor of the most recent valid vote.

Voters must mail their ballots directly to the votetaker.  Anonymous,
forwarded, or proxy votes are not valid, nor are votes mailed from
WWW/HTML/CGI forms (which should not exist).  Votes from nonexistent
accounts are also invalid, and the votetaker will reject any "munged"
address he cannot decipher immediately.

Please direct any questions to the votetaker at <neilc@stanford.edu>.

HOW TO VOTE:

Extract the ballot from the CFV by deleting everything before and after
the "BEGINNING OF BALLOT" and "END OF BALLOT" lines.  Don't worry about
the spacing of the columns or any quote characters (">") that your
reply inserts.  Please, DO NOT send the entire CFV back to me!

Fill in the ballot as shown below.  Please provide your REAL NAME and
indicate your desired vote in the appropriate locations inside the ballot.

Examples of how to properly indicate your vote:

  [ YES     ]  example.yes.vote
  [ NO      ]  example.no.vote
  [ ABSTAIN ]  example.abstention
  [ CANCEL  ]  example.cancellation

DO NOT modify, alter or delete any information in this ballot!
If you do, the voting software will probably reject your ballot.

When finished, MAIL the ballot to: < voting@uvv.stanford.edu >
Just "replying" to this message should work, but check the "To:" line.

If you do not receive an acknowledgment of your vote within three
days contact the votetaker about the problem.  You are responsible
for reading your ack and making sure your vote is registered correctly.

If these instructions are unclear, please consult the Introduction to
Usenet Voting or the Usenet Voting FAQ at http://www.stanford.edu/~neilc/uvv.

======== BEGINNING OF BALLOT: Delete everything before this line =======
.-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 1ST CALL FOR VOTES: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
| Official Usenet Voting Ballot <RASNM-0001> (Do not remove this line!)
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Please provide your real name, or your vote may be rejected.  Place
| ONLY your name (ie. do NOT include your e-mail address or any other
| information; ONLY your name) after the colon on the following line:

Voter name:

| Insert YES, NO, ABSTAIN, or CANCEL inside the brackets for each
| newsgroup listed below (do not delete the newsgroup name):

 Your Vote   Newsgroup
 ---------   -----------------------------------------------------------
[         ]  rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (moderated)

======== END OF BALLOT: Delete everything after this line ==============


This CFV was created with uvpq 1.0 (Aug 14 1997).
PQ datestamp: 980322

-- 
Voting address: voting@uvv.stanford.edu

From neilc@stanford.edu Tue Jul 21 10:31:20 1998
Path: news.isc.org!data.pa.vix.com!sonysjc!sanjose-news-feed1.bbnplanet.com!su-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!la-news-feed1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!newsfeed1.earthlink.net!news.idt.net!newshub.northeast.verio.net!btnet-peer!btnet-feed2!btnet!bmdhh222.bnr.ca!bhars12c.bnr.co.uk!bcarh8ac.ca.nortel.com!bcarh189.bnr.ca!nrchh45.us.nortel.com!hipcancel!despams.ocunix.on.ca!resurrector!not-for-mail
Message-ID: <901042273.21762@isc.org>
X-Reposted-By: dave@ferret.ocunix.on.ca
X-Original-Path: zcarh46f.bnr.ca!nrchh45.us.nortel.com!hipcancel!despams.ocunix.on.ca!resurrector!not-for-mail
X-Original-Message-ID: <REPOST-8664.73556518555.900674663.22405@isc.org>
X-Reposted-By: dave@ferret.ocunix.on.ca
X-Original-Path: ...!news3.bellglobal.com!news1.bellglobal.com!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!news2.ais.net!jamie!ais.net!uunet!in4.uu.net!news.isc.org!bounce-back
From: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>
Reply-To: voting@uvv.stanford.edu
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,rec.autos.sport.f1,rec.autos.sport.indy,rec.autos.sport.misc,rec.autos.sport.nascar,rec.autos.sport.tech,rec.autos.sport.info
Subject: REPOST: CFV: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated moderated
Followup-To: poster
X-Original-Message-ID: <900674663.22405@isc.org>
References: <896328708.21545@isc.org> <897880198.15596@isc.org> <898490393.18097@isc.org>
Organization: Usenet Volunteer Votetakers
Approved: newgroups-request@isc.org
Expires: 8 Aug 1998 00:00:00 GMT
Archive-Name: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 08:14:29 GMT
X-Comments: DtR Repost: The following Usenet article was cancelled,
X-Comments: more than likely by someone other than the original poster.
X-Comments: Please see the end of this posting for a copy of the cancel.
X-Comments: Dave the Resurrector can be contacted at dave@ferret.ocunix.on.ca
Lines: 577
Xref: news.isc.org news.announce.newgroups:10476 news.groups:292158 rec.autos.sport.f1:164164 rec.autos.sport.indy:82299 rec.autos.sport.misc:12676 rec.autos.sport.nascar:155308 rec.autos.sport.tech:14680 rec.autos.sport.info:13022

                     FIRST CALL FOR VOTES (of 2)
           moderated group rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

This CFV is to be distributed only by the votetaker.  It is not to be
posted to newsgroups, or mailed to mailing lists or individuals, except by
the votetaker.  Ballots or CFVs provided by anyone else will be invalid.

Newsgroups line:
rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated	NASCAR and Stockcar Racing. (Moderated)

Votes must be received by 23:59:59 UTC, 7 Aug 1998.

This vote is being conducted by a neutral third party.  Questions
about the proposed group should be directed to the proponent.

Proponent: Eric O. Troldahl <etroll@flash.net>
Proponent: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@dittosrush.com>
Proponent: Deven Atkinson <deven@Mcs.Net>
Proponent: Rich Bemben <rbemben@eng.micrion.com>
Proponent: Lisa A. Carbrey <lcarbrey@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Tom Duwe <tduwe@primenet.com>
Proponent: Ronnie Hiatt <oldsteel@bellsouth.net>
Proponent: Sue Horan-Phillips <semh@earthlink.net>
Proponent: Karen Jensen <kjinsk@shell1.shore.net>
Proponent: Henry Kelley <tinylights@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Nancy Kendrick <daytonatwin125s@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Ken (Poppy) Kraus <floridapoppy@webtv.net>
Proponent: Jerry (Tinadog) Kyte <Tinadog@aol.com>
Proponent: John Martin <jtmartin@spartanburg.net>
Proponent: Lynwood Matteson <lcmatteson@ucdavis.edu>
Proponent: Mike McGuigan <mcguigan@mindspring.com>
Proponent: Martin Moleski <moleski@canisius.edu>
Proponent: John (DeliveryBoy) Sutphin <wahoo_35@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Chris Watkins <umytbnxt@mindspring.com>
Mentor: Jonathan Grobe <grobe@worf.netins.net>
Votetaker: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>

RATIONALE: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

NASCAR and stockcar racing, as well as other motorsports, have been the
subjects of Usenet discussion for many years.  The existing
rec.autos.sport.nascar newsgroup (RASN) gets a total of well over a
hundred messages a day during the off-season and that number can increase
to two to four times that figure during the season, peaking at over 1000
a day during speedweeks.  Much of this traffic is relevant and of high-
quality, but there are also significant problems with spam, advertisements,
Driver/Team/Sponsor/Car-Make/Media abuse, and attacks aimed at other
posters to the newsgroup.  Many former posters to RASN have left because of
this situation.

Rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated is intended to be a forum where all
topics related to NASCAR and stockcar racing can be discussed without these
distractions. The primary focus of the group will be NASCAR's top 3 series:
Winston Cup, Busch Grand National, and Craftsman Trucks.  Questions and
answers about this sport will be welcomed and a FAQ will be maintained.

CHARTER: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

The unmoderated newsgroup rec.autos.sport.nascar has always been fairly
relaxed about what is on-topic. The moderated newsgroup will be the same
way.  Basically anything related to NASCAR or stock car racing will be
considered on-topic.

Posts about other types of motorsports (Indycar, F1, etc.) should be
directed to the appropriate newsgroup, unless they are comparing stockcar
racing to the other motorsport.  For example, a comparison of the point
systems of F1 and Winston Cup, and how using the F1 system would change
the Winston Cup championship standings, is on-topic.

The goal of rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (r.a.s.n.m) is to provide its
participants with a degree of free expression approaching that found in
unmoderated groups while maintaining an environment free of the spam,
commercial and money-making posts, personal harassment, vulgarity and
blatantly off topic material found in most unmoderated forums.

The philosophy of r.a.s.n.m is that responsible people should be trusted
to post like responsible adults. Therefore, the moderation effort will focus
primarily on dealing with problems as they occur, not on screening every
post.  All posters will be initially trusted with auto-approve status, which
will enable their subsequent articles to be posted immediately to the
newsgroup without the involvement of a human moderator.  They will retain
auto-approve status unless they demonstrate cause for its revocation.

Newsgroup readers are warned that since this is a discussion group about
racing, people here will want to talk about racing, even during the
televised races.  If you want your tape-delayed viewing to be unspoiled by
knowing who won, crashed, etc., it is best to keep yourself away from all
sources of racing information, including newsgroups, cable TV, racing radio
shows, newspapers, coworkers, etc.  It is considered polite to include the
word SPOILER in the subject of posts about races less than 48 hours old,
leaving discussion of the details out of the header, but this WILL NOT be
enforced.

Appropriate posts will meet one of the following criteria:

1. It would effectively start a new discussion.  Examples:

        - What is the current points system?
        - How do provisionals work?
        - How did Ricky Craven get an 8th provisional?
        - Discussions of actual Race or Qualifying action.
        - Questions about the mechanics of race cars and engines.

2. It adds content to an existing discussion.  Examples:

        - Points breakdown itself.
        - Actual NASCAR policy on provisionals.
        - Web site addresses of teams, drivers, or Fan Clubs.
        - Answers to questions posed by others.
        - Clarification of questions previously asked.

3. It is informative to the r.a.s.n.m community.  Examples:

        - Announcements of r.a.s.n reunions.
        - Announcements of upcoming TV schedules for racing.
        - Testing times.
        - Announcements of NASCAR events or schedules.
        - Announcements of driver appearances.

While examples are given wherever possible, it is impossible to anticipate
every attempt at finding a loophole. Therefore, the spirit of all the rules
should be followed as opposed to looking for leaks and loopholes. For
example, strange spellings or formats of profanity would still be considered
profanity.  Posters will be treated like responsible adults and expected to
act accordingly.

The following are unacceptable:

1) Bashing
2) Flames
3) Trolls
4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts
5) Profanity/Racial Slurs
6) Crossposts
7) Binaries
8) Posts without a respondable email address
9) Quotes of more than a few lines of copyrighted material

1) Bashing - defined as posts or portions of posts that verbally attack
others in an insulting or malicious manner to an extent that would reasonably
be considered libelous or slanderous.  In other words: "Do not post anything
that would make the driver or team you support cringe or be embarrassed to
have you as a fan."  This does NOT mean that negative comments will be
moderated out.  The expression of negative opinions is a legitimate part of
any discussion and the right to express them in a non-malicious fashion shall
not be abridged.

2) Flames - defined as inflammatory posts or portions of posts whose
primary purpose is to induce an intense emotional response.

3) Trolls - Trolls are defined as posts that do not have substance to
their content, primarily meant to incite disruptive threads or distract
posters from the main intent of the newsgroup.

4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts are defined as posts whose primary
purpose is to solicit a benefit for the poster.  This would include, but is
not limited to, advertisements of businesses, direct advertisements of goods
and/or services for sale, posts advertising the availability of goods and/or
services for sale through another medium, promotion of business opportunities,
money-making schemes, and chain letters.

Simply listing a business name, address, phone number, URL, etc. in one's
signature is not considered commercial use of the newsgroup.  However,
signatures that are in fact advertisements, or which solicit readers to
patronize a for-profit venture or visit a commercial web site fall under
the definition of commercial or money-making posts.  Posts bearing such
signatures are subject to rejection as such.

Posts promoting newsgroup related activities are not considered commercial
or money-making posts since there is no financial benefit to any of the
individuals involved.  These activities would include but are not limited
to the RASN Sponsorship Fund, raffles, and RASN reunions.

Posts advising the group of charitable racing-related events or offering
NASCAR event or NASCAR/stockcar race tickets at or below face value are also
permitted.

5) Profanity/Racial Slurs - Posters should view r.a.s.n.m as polite mixed
company and watch their language accordingly.  Only a short list of words
will be disallowed.  Nevertheless, posters to RASNM are advised and encouraged
to use the same standards that apply in the Sunday comics.  Specifically,
changing all letters in profanity to special characters like !@#$% .  However,
when quoting material such as scanner bites, interviews etc.., the first
letter of the word may be left in place so that readers can deduce what was
actually said.

6) Crossposts - defined as posts also directed to any other newsgroup.
Exceptions to this limit are made for Usenet Administrative purposes (as
from news.announce.newgroups) and for posts from rec.autos.sport.info.

7) Binaries - Binary posts are defined as posts that include UUencoded,
MIME-encoded, or any other form of binary message in the body or signature
other than Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) signatures.  This includes, but is
not limited to, pictures, audio files, executables, and HTML.  Binaries
should be posted to an appropriate binaries newsgroup or a web page. A brief
informative notice should then be sent to the newsgroup.  The FAQ for this
group will list any web sites that have volunteered to have binaries posted
from r.a.s.n.m readers, and how to get the binary posted.

8) Email Addresses - Since an author's first post to r.a.s.n.m generates
an auto-response detailing the registration procedure, it is strongly
recommended that at least the first submission to the group carry a valid
return e-mail address.  This will avoid a delay in the registration process
that would result if the auto-response bounces.  A person may register to
post under a "munged" address to defeat spambots, but the altered address
must be readily decipherable into the poster's valid address by a human.
This does not cut off the use of pseudonymous remailers or munged headers,
both of which are allowable.

9) Copyrighted material - Quoting a line or two of copyrighted material
is not against the law.  However, quoting entire articles is a copyright
violation (unless the poster has permission from the copyright holder).  If
articles are available on the web, a short summary of the article with a URL
is the accepted method of posting.  Proper credit must be given to all
copyrighted material.

The following are discouraged, but will not be rejected outright.

1) Posts in languages other than English
2) Signatures over 6 lines
3) Posts with difficult to read formatting
4) Posts only containing questions answered completely in the FAQ

1) Non-English - At this time, 100% of the readers of the group know English,
with English being the only language of most readers.  Therefore, English is
strongly recommended as the posting language of choice for r.a.s.n.m.
Posts in languages other than English will be examined for approval if any
of the moderators can read the language in question. There is no guarantee of
approval for posts in any language other than English.

2) Signatures - USENET netiquette limits signatures to four lines.  For
r.a.s.n.m, posters are encouraged to keep their signatures to six lines
or less. PGP signature data and additional lines automatically added by
services such as hotmail and Deja News are not included in the count, but
all other text, including boxes around the signature, is included.

3) Readability - USENET Netiquette says that for everyone's enjoyment,
all posts should have right margins in the 60-70 range. The range from 60-70
is for unquoted text.  Quoted text may continue to expand to the right.  Also,
over 2/3 text quoted from previous posters is strongly discouraged.  If a
poster regularly fails to meet these simple rules, a moderator will contact
the person to find out if they can fix the problem.

4) FAQ - Posters asking questions that are covered completely in the FAQ will
be sent a copy of the FAQ and the post will be accepted.  Other posters are
encouraged to welcome the user, respond to the post, or remain silent.

Moderation overview:

Moderation procedure - To reduce their workload and expedite the posting of
articles to the group, the moderation team will employ automated moderation
software (robo-moderation). As much of the work as possible will be turned
over to the moderation software.  This software will scan each incoming
article, then either post it directly to the group without human review,
return it to the author with an appropriate explanation, or forward it to a
human moderator.  Posts will either be accepted in whole, or rejected. The
moderators will NEVER modify them at all.

All rejected posts will be returned to the originating email address with an
explanation for the rejection and instructions for appealing the rejection.
The moderators cannot be held accountable for internet failures or
undeliverable email.

Auto-rejection: binaries, crossposts, profanity, racial slurs, and articles
from authors on the auto-reject list will be automatically rejected. The
moderation team will maintain a list of words that will cause a post to be
automatically rejected.  In the spirit of allowing as much free expression
as possible, the list will be as short as possible while still insuring a
civil environment within the group.

Auto-kickout:  There will be another short list of potentially offensive
words that will cause a post to be kicked out for human moderation.  These
lists can be modified as needed by a simple majority vote of the moderators.
Posters may explicitly request human moderation of an article by placing the
special phrase MOD-HUMAN in the subject line.  This may be desirable if the
author feels there may be something in the article that would cause the
moderation software to automatically reject it. The moderators can also add
this tag to a thread.

Auto-approve:  Provided an article does not trigger an auto-rejection or
auto-kickout, articles from authors on the auto-approve list will be posted
directly to the group without human review.

Moderation sequence:  All incoming articles will be moderated according
to the following sequence with steps 1-4 being performed by the moderation
software.

1. Is the author a first time poster?
        Yes - Initiate the registration process (see below)
        No  - Continue

2. Is there an auto-kickout?
        Yes - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)
        No  - Continue

3. Are there grounds for auto-rejection?
        Yes - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.
        No  - Continue

4. Is the author on the auto-approve list?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)

5. Does the article meet the charter guidelines?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.

r.a.s.n.m registration:  When the moderation software detects an article
from a first time poster, an auto-response containing the charter, FAQ and
instructions for completing the registration are returned to the author.
The article is forwarded to a human moderator. Should the auto-response
bounce back to a moderator and a valid reply-to address for the author
cannot be determined, the registration cannot be completed and the initial
article will not be posted.  If the moderator can determine a valid address,
they will forward the registration information to the author's valid address.

When the author acknowledges by return e-mail that he/she has read the
material and agrees to abide by the charter, he/she is placed on the auto-
approve list.  If the initial article is on charter, it is posted at that
time.

Human moderation:  Individual moderators will have the authority to
reject articles that are clearly off-charter (commercial or money-making
posts, etc.), and to accept articles that are clearly on-charter.  Should
there be any question about an article being reviewed, it will be forwarded
to another moderator for a second opinion.  If the first two moderators to
review an article agree, it will be accepted or rejected accordingly.  If
the first two moderators to review an article disagree, the article will be
forwarded to a third moderator for a deciding vote.

Moderators will execute the above procedure as rapidly as possible in
order to minimize the delay in getting human moderated articles posted.

Key to the moderation philosophy, articles will not be rejected because
of the author's opinion or position on an issue, nor will any human moderated
post be rejected because of the author of the post.  Moderator's opinions will
be expressed only within their own posts, not within their moderation
activities.  Anyone who is willing to follow the Charter guidelines is welcome
to post to r.a.s.n.m, and their posts will be accepted unedited if they have
followed the Charter criteria.  Posts will never be edited by moderators.

If a moderator discovers off-charter material posted in the group, he/she
has three options:

1) Ignore it if it isn't blatant
2) Send an e-mail reminder of charter guidelines to the poster
3) Temporary removal of the poster's auto-post status

How the off-charter post is handled will be determined by what response the
situation warrants, but the moderator should use restraint whenever possible
and use removal of auto-post status only as a last resort.  In the event
that the moderator feels the situation is severe enough to warrant temporarily
suspending the author's auto-approve privilege, the moderator must immediately
notify the other moderators and forward a copy of the post to the rest of the
moderation team.  The moderation team must then decide within one week
whether to restore the author to auto-approve or continue the suspension.  A
two-thirds majority is required to maintain the suspension.  Posters suspended
from auto-approve may continue to post, but all their articles will be subject
to human moderation while the suspension is in effect.  Auto-approve may be
restored at any time by a simple majority vote of the moderators.

A poster who consistently submits off-charter material may be placed on the
auto-reject list by a two-thirds majority vote of the moderators.
Posters placed on auto-reject for this reason will be sent a copy of the
charter, FAQ and instructions on how to petition for reinstatement.

Individuals who engage in threatening or abusive behavior toward a moderator,
or who attempt to interfere with the normal operation of the newsgroup or the
internet accounts supporting the newsgroup or it's members, other than
reporting net-abuse, will be placed on auto-reject for not less than one
year.

Moderator administration and changes:  The moderation team will initially plan
to include 5 to 7 moderators.  They will be responsible for maintaining the
moderation software and reviewing articles that are neither auto-approved nor
auto-rejected. New moderators can be added as deemed appropriate upon the
approval of two-thirds of the existing moderators. Candidates for new
moderators will only be taken from those people who have been on the
auto-approve list continuously for 3 months.  During the first 3 months of the
newsgroup, the 3 month requirement will be waived.  A special call for
volunteers can be posted when an existing moderator steps down or when
the workload on the moderators is deemed sufficient that they feel it is
appropriate to increase their number.

There will be an administrative mailing list, on which the moderators can
discuss the enforcement and modification of the guidelines given here.

A thread may be marked for human attention upon agreement of a majority of
the moderators. This overrides normal auto-approval and content based
auto-rejection, and brings all posts in the thread to moderator attention so
potential problems can be dealt with before measures as drastic as
removal of auto-approval status are called for.  Notice of thread marking
may be posted to the newsgroup, but is not required.

Appeals: A poster who feels that a rejected post was within the charter
can appeal to the administrative list. If a majority of the moderators agree
that the post should be approved, it will be posted as usual.  If the poster's
auto-approve status was suspended as a result of an article that is
successfully appealed, auto-approve will be restored.

Complaints or compliments about moderator judgments, and other matters related
to the running of the newsgroup are welcome on the administrative list, but
not on the newsgroup. No post relating to such discussions will be approved
for the newsgroup. Any decision made about action to take (or not to take) is
final.  Posters who persist in pressing the issue will be subject to
auto-rejection.

Charter revisions: Any discussion on revision of the charter must include
"CHARTER:" as the beginning of the subject line.  After discussion in the
newsgroup, the moderators will judge the group consensus and let the group
know if any charter changes take place. Any changes must pass with a 2/3rds
majority of the moderators agreeing on what the group is requesting.  This
is not a vote of the opinions of the moderators, but rather to ensure that
the moderators have a clear understanding of what the members of the newsgroup
want.  If the moderators are not sure of the consensus of the group, or if
members of the group challenge the moderators' decision, an actual vote will
be taken. Votes will require a 2/3 majority to modify the charter.  The
moderators will post all results of charter modification votes to the group
after the voting is completed.  The subject line will include the phrase
"CHARTER:" so that those who wish to ignore them can skip the threads or set
their killfiles/filters to ignore them.  Changes will also be made to the FAQ.

The FAQ will be posted every Friday.

Moderators who are unwilling or unable to uphold the charter in their personal
posts or moderation activities may be removed by a two-thirds vote of the
other moderators.

Third party cancels ('retro-moderation') by anyone, including but not limited
to moderators, is strictly against newsgroup policy.

Disclaimer:
- The moderators of this newsgroup are not responsible for
  truthfulness or legality of any of the posts.
- The approval of a post by a moderator is NOT an endorsement by the
  moderator or moderation team.
- Posters assume full responsibility for the content of their posts.
- Readers using information that appears in the newsgroup do so at
  their own risk.
- Posters agree that by posting items to this newsgroup they
  indemnify and hold harmless the moderation team and service
  providers.

END CHARTER.

MODERATOR INFO: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

Moderator: "Eric O. Troldahl" <etroll@carracing.com>
Moderator: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@carracing.com>
Moderator: Deven Atkinson <deven@carracing.com>
Moderator: "Lisa A. Carbrey" <lcarbrey@carracing.com>
Moderator: John Martin <jtmartin@carracing.com>
Moderator: Martin Moleski <moleski@canisius.edu>
Moderator: Chris Watkins <C_Watkins@carracing.com>

Article submission address: rasnm@carracing.com
Administrative contact address: rasnm-admin@carracing.com

END MODERATOR INFO.

IMPORTANT VOTING PROCEDURE NOTES: READ THIS BEFORE VOTING

The purpose of a Usenet vote is to determine the genuine interest in
reading the proposed newsgroup, and soliciting votes from uninterested
parties defeats this purpose.  Do *not* distribute this CFV;  intead,
direct people to the official CFV as posted to news.announce.newgroups.
Distributing specific voting instructions or pre-marked copies of
this CFV is considered vote fraud.

This is a public vote:  All email addresses, names and votes will be
listed in the final RESULT post.  The name used may be either a real
name or an established Usenet handle.

At most one vote is allowed per person or per account.  Duplicate
votes will be resolved in favor of the most recent valid vote.

Voters must mail their ballots directly to the votetaker.  Anonymous,
forwarded, or proxy votes are not valid, nor are votes mailed from
WWW/HTML/CGI forms (which should not exist).  Votes from nonexistent
accounts are also invalid, and the votetaker will reject any "munged"
address he cannot decipher immediately.

Please direct any questions to the votetaker at <neilc@stanford.edu>.

HOW TO VOTE:

Extract the ballot from the CFV by deleting everything before and after
the "BEGINNING OF BALLOT" and "END OF BALLOT" lines.  Don't worry about
the spacing of the columns or any quote characters (">") that your
reply inserts.  Please, DO NOT send the entire CFV back to me!

Fill in the ballot as shown below.  Please provide your REAL NAME and
indicate your desired vote in the appropriate locations inside the ballot.

Examples of how to properly indicate your vote:

  [ YES     ]  example.yes.vote
  [ NO      ]  example.no.vote
  [ ABSTAIN ]  example.abstention
  [ CANCEL  ]  example.cancellation

DO NOT modify, alter or delete any information in this ballot!
If you do, the voting software will probably reject your ballot.

When finished, MAIL the ballot to: < voting@uvv.stanford.edu >
Just "replying" to this message should work, but check the "To:" line.

If you do not receive an acknowledgment of your vote within three
days contact the votetaker about the problem.  You are responsible
for reading your ack and making sure your vote is registered correctly.

If these instructions are unclear, please consult the Introduction to
Usenet Voting or the Usenet Voting FAQ at http://www.stanford.edu/~neilc/uvv.

======== BEGINNING OF BALLOT: Delete everything before this line =======
.-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 1ST CALL FOR VOTES: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
| Official Usenet Voting Ballot <RASNM-0001> (Do not remove this line!)
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Please provide your real name, or your vote may be rejected.  Place
| ONLY your name (ie. do NOT include your e-mail address or any other
| information; ONLY your name) after the colon on the following line:

Voter name:

| Insert YES, NO, ABSTAIN, or CANCEL inside the brackets for each
| newsgroup listed below (do not delete the newsgroup name):

 Your Vote   Newsgroup
 ---------   -----------------------------------------------------------
[         ]  rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (moderated)

======== END OF BALLOT: Delete everything after this line ==============


This CFV was created with uvpq 1.0 (Aug 14 1997).
PQ datestamp: 980322

-- 
Voting address: voting@uvv.stanford.edu
========= WAS CANCELLED BY =======:
Control: cancel <900674663.22405@isc.org>
Subject: cmsg cancel <900674663.22405@isc.org>
Message-ID: <901042273.21762@isc.org>
From: HipCrime@jlnif.gov
Sender: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>
Approved: HipCrime@jlnif.gov
Newsgroups: news.groups
Date: 17 Jul 1998 12:47:34 GMT
X-No-Archive: Yes
Organization: HipCrime International, unLtd.
NNTP-Posting-Host: 204.237.253.7
Lines: 2
Path: ...!news-peer.gip.net!news-raspail.gip.net!news.gsl.net!gip.net!rain.fr!194.250.238.3!nntp.HipCrime.new!cyberspam!hipcancel!usenet

Cancelled by HipCrime's NewsAgent.

========= WAS CANCELLED BY =======:
Path: ...!wn4feed!worldnet.att.net!208.134.241.18!newsfeed.internetmci.com!194.67.2.106!newsfeed.sovam.com!sovam!mtu.ru!Pollux.Teleglobe.net!orion.cst.tpsa.pl!news.tpnet.pl!not-for-mail
Control: cancel <REPOST-8664.73556518555.900674663.22405@isc.org>
Subject: cmsg cancel <REPOST-8664.73556518555.900674663.22405@isc.org>
Message-ID: <901042273.21762@isc.org>
From: HipCrime@qqjiniytivh.com
Sender: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>
Approved: HipCrime@qqjiniytivh.com
Newsgroups: news.groups
X-No-Archive: Yes
Organization: HipCrime International, unLtd.
Lines: 2
Date: Sat, 18 Jul 1998 19:19:34 GMT
NNTP-Posting-Host: 204.237.253.133
NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 18 Jul 1998 21:19:34 MET DST

Cancelled by HipCrime's NewsAgent.


From neilc@stanford.edu Tue Jul 21 10:31:22 1998
Control: cancel <901042273.21762@isc.org>
Path: news.isc.org!bounce-back
Message-ID: <c21776-901042273.21762@isc.org>
From: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>
Reply-To: voting@uvv.stanford.edu
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,rec.autos.sport.f1,rec.autos.sport.indy,rec.autos.sport.misc,rec.autos.sport.nascar,rec.autos.sport.tech,rec.autos.sport.info
Subject: cmsg cancel <901042273.21762@isc.org>
Followup-To: poster
References: <896328708.21545@isc.org> <897880198.15596@isc.org> <898490393.18097@isc.org>
Approved: newgroups-request@isc.org
Expires: 8 Aug 1998 00:00:00 GMT
Archive-Name: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
Date: 21 Jul 98 17:31:21 GMT
Lines: 2
Xref: news.isc.org control.cancel:2651047

Unapproved article for news.announce.newgroups auto-cancelled
by daemon on behalf of moderator.

From neilc@stanford.edu Tue Jul 21 12:50:54 1998
Path: news.isc.org!data.pa.vix.com!sonysjc!sanjose-news-feed1.bbnplanet.com!su-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!195.99.66.215!news-feed1.eu.concert.net!btnet-peer!btnet-feed2!btnet!bmdhh222.bnr.ca!bhars12c.bnr.co.uk!bcarh8ac.ca.nortel.com!bcarh189.bnr.ca!nrchh45.us.nortel.com!hipcancel!despams.ocunix.on.ca!resurrector!not-for-mail
Message-ID: <901050639.911@isc.org>
X-Reposted-By: dave@ferret.ocunix.on.ca
X-Original-Path: ...!news3.bellglobal.com!news1.bellglobal.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!news.idt.net!mr.net!data.pa.vix.com!news.isc.org!bounce-back
From: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>
Reply-To: voting@uvv.stanford.edu
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,rec.autos.sport.f1,rec.autos.sport.indy,rec.autos.sport.misc,rec.autos.sport.nascar,rec.autos.sport.tech,rec.autos.sport.info
Subject: REPOST: CFV: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated moderated
Followup-To: poster
X-Original-Message-ID: <900663269.2407@isc.org>
References: <896328708.21545@isc.org> <897880198.15596@isc.org> <898490393.18097@isc.org>
Organization: Usenet Volunteer Votetakers
Approved: newgroups-request@isc.org
Expires: 8 Aug 1998 00:00:00 GMT
Archive-Name: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 08:14:29 GMT
X-Comments: DtR Repost: The following Usenet article was cancelled,
X-Comments: more than likely by someone other than the original poster.
X-Comments: Please see the end of this posting for a copy of the cancel.
X-Comments: Dave the Resurrector can be contacted at dave@ferret.ocunix.on.ca
Lines: 560
Xref: news.isc.org news.announce.newgroups:10479 news.groups:292172 rec.autos.sport.f1:164221 rec.autos.sport.indy:82323 rec.autos.sport.misc:12678 rec.autos.sport.nascar:155354 rec.autos.sport.tech:14681 rec.autos.sport.info:13024

                     FIRST CALL FOR VOTES (of 2)
           moderated group rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

This CFV is to be distributed only by the votetaker.  It is not to be
posted to newsgroups, or mailed to mailing lists or individuals, except by
the votetaker.  Ballots or CFVs provided by anyone else will be invalid.

Newsgroups line:
rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated	NASCAR and Stockcar Racing. (Moderated)

Votes must be received by 23:59:59 UTC, 7 Aug 1998.

This vote is being conducted by a neutral third party.  Questions
about the proposed group should be directed to the proponent.

Proponent: Eric O. Troldahl <etroll@flash.net>
Proponent: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@dittosrush.com>
Proponent: Deven Atkinson <deven@Mcs.Net>
Proponent: Rich Bemben <rbemben@eng.micrion.com>
Proponent: Lisa A. Carbrey <lcarbrey@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Tom Duwe <tduwe@primenet.com>
Proponent: Ronnie Hiatt <oldsteel@bellsouth.net>
Proponent: Sue Horan-Phillips <semh@earthlink.net>
Proponent: Karen Jensen <kjinsk@shell1.shore.net>
Proponent: Henry Kelley <tinylights@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Nancy Kendrick <daytonatwin125s@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Ken (Poppy) Kraus <floridapoppy@webtv.net>
Proponent: Jerry (Tinadog) Kyte <Tinadog@aol.com>
Proponent: John Martin <jtmartin@spartanburg.net>
Proponent: Lynwood Matteson <lcmatteson@ucdavis.edu>
Proponent: Mike McGuigan <mcguigan@mindspring.com>
Proponent: Martin Moleski <moleski@canisius.edu>
Proponent: John (DeliveryBoy) Sutphin <wahoo_35@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Chris Watkins <umytbnxt@mindspring.com>
Mentor: Jonathan Grobe <grobe@worf.netins.net>
Votetaker: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>

RATIONALE: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

NASCAR and stockcar racing, as well as other motorsports, have been the
subjects of Usenet discussion for many years.  The existing
rec.autos.sport.nascar newsgroup (RASN) gets a total of well over a
hundred messages a day during the off-season and that number can increase
to two to four times that figure during the season, peaking at over 1000
a day during speedweeks.  Much of this traffic is relevant and of high-
quality, but there are also significant problems with spam, advertisements,
Driver/Team/Sponsor/Car-Make/Media abuse, and attacks aimed at other
posters to the newsgroup.  Many former posters to RASN have left because of
this situation.

Rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated is intended to be a forum where all
topics related to NASCAR and stockcar racing can be discussed without these
distractions. The primary focus of the group will be NASCAR's top 3 series:
Winston Cup, Busch Grand National, and Craftsman Trucks.  Questions and
answers about this sport will be welcomed and a FAQ will be maintained.

CHARTER: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

The unmoderated newsgroup rec.autos.sport.nascar has always been fairly
relaxed about what is on-topic. The moderated newsgroup will be the same
way.  Basically anything related to NASCAR or stock car racing will be
considered on-topic.

Posts about other types of motorsports (Indycar, F1, etc.) should be
directed to the appropriate newsgroup, unless they are comparing stockcar
racing to the other motorsport.  For example, a comparison of the point
systems of F1 and Winston Cup, and how using the F1 system would change
the Winston Cup championship standings, is on-topic.

The goal of rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (r.a.s.n.m) is to provide its
participants with a degree of free expression approaching that found in
unmoderated groups while maintaining an environment free of the spam,
commercial and money-making posts, personal harassment, vulgarity and
blatantly off topic material found in most unmoderated forums.

The philosophy of r.a.s.n.m is that responsible people should be trusted
to post like responsible adults. Therefore, the moderation effort will focus
primarily on dealing with problems as they occur, not on screening every
post.  All posters will be initially trusted with auto-approve status, which
will enable their subsequent articles to be posted immediately to the
newsgroup without the involvement of a human moderator.  They will retain
auto-approve status unless they demonstrate cause for its revocation.

Newsgroup readers are warned that since this is a discussion group about
racing, people here will want to talk about racing, even during the
televised races.  If you want your tape-delayed viewing to be unspoiled by
knowing who won, crashed, etc., it is best to keep yourself away from all
sources of racing information, including newsgroups, cable TV, racing radio
shows, newspapers, coworkers, etc.  It is considered polite to include the
word SPOILER in the subject of posts about races less than 48 hours old,
leaving discussion of the details out of the header, but this WILL NOT be
enforced.

Appropriate posts will meet one of the following criteria:

1. It would effectively start a new discussion.  Examples:

        - What is the current points system?
        - How do provisionals work?
        - How did Ricky Craven get an 8th provisional?
        - Discussions of actual Race or Qualifying action.
        - Questions about the mechanics of race cars and engines.

2. It adds content to an existing discussion.  Examples:

        - Points breakdown itself.
        - Actual NASCAR policy on provisionals.
        - Web site addresses of teams, drivers, or Fan Clubs.
        - Answers to questions posed by others.
        - Clarification of questions previously asked.

3. It is informative to the r.a.s.n.m community.  Examples:

        - Announcements of r.a.s.n reunions.
        - Announcements of upcoming TV schedules for racing.
        - Testing times.
        - Announcements of NASCAR events or schedules.
        - Announcements of driver appearances.

While examples are given wherever possible, it is impossible to anticipate
every attempt at finding a loophole. Therefore, the spirit of all the rules
should be followed as opposed to looking for leaks and loopholes. For
example, strange spellings or formats of profanity would still be considered
profanity.  Posters will be treated like responsible adults and expected to
act accordingly.

The following are unacceptable:

1) Bashing
2) Flames
3) Trolls
4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts
5) Profanity/Racial Slurs
6) Crossposts
7) Binaries
8) Posts without a respondable email address
9) Quotes of more than a few lines of copyrighted material

1) Bashing - defined as posts or portions of posts that verbally attack
others in an insulting or malicious manner to an extent that would reasonably
be considered libelous or slanderous.  In other words: "Do not post anything
that would make the driver or team you support cringe or be embarrassed to
have you as a fan."  This does NOT mean that negative comments will be
moderated out.  The expression of negative opinions is a legitimate part of
any discussion and the right to express them in a non-malicious fashion shall
not be abridged.

2) Flames - defined as inflammatory posts or portions of posts whose
primary purpose is to induce an intense emotional response.

3) Trolls - Trolls are defined as posts that do not have substance to
their content, primarily meant to incite disruptive threads or distract
posters from the main intent of the newsgroup.

4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts are defined as posts whose primary
purpose is to solicit a benefit for the poster.  This would include, but is
not limited to, advertisements of businesses, direct advertisements of goods
and/or services for sale, posts advertising the availability of goods and/or
services for sale through another medium, promotion of business opportunities,
money-making schemes, and chain letters.

Simply listing a business name, address, phone number, URL, etc. in one's
signature is not considered commercial use of the newsgroup.  However,
signatures that are in fact advertisements, or which solicit readers to
patronize a for-profit venture or visit a commercial web site fall under
the definition of commercial or money-making posts.  Posts bearing such
signatures are subject to rejection as such.

Posts promoting newsgroup related activities are not considered commercial
or money-making posts since there is no financial benefit to any of the
individuals involved.  These activities would include but are not limited
to the RASN Sponsorship Fund, raffles, and RASN reunions.

Posts advising the group of charitable racing-related events or offering
NASCAR event or NASCAR/stockcar race tickets at or below face value are also
permitted.

5) Profanity/Racial Slurs - Posters should view r.a.s.n.m as polite mixed
company and watch their language accordingly.  Only a short list of words
will be disallowed.  Nevertheless, posters to RASNM are advised and encouraged
to use the same standards that apply in the Sunday comics.  Specifically,
changing all letters in profanity to special characters like !@#$% .  However,
when quoting material such as scanner bites, interviews etc.., the first
letter of the word may be left in place so that readers can deduce what was
actually said.

6) Crossposts - defined as posts also directed to any other newsgroup.
Exceptions to this limit are made for Usenet Administrative purposes (as
from news.announce.newgroups) and for posts from rec.autos.sport.info.

7) Binaries - Binary posts are defined as posts that include UUencoded,
MIME-encoded, or any other form of binary message in the body or signature
other than Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) signatures.  This includes, but is
not limited to, pictures, audio files, executables, and HTML.  Binaries
should be posted to an appropriate binaries newsgroup or a web page. A brief
informative notice should then be sent to the newsgroup.  The FAQ for this
group will list any web sites that have volunteered to have binaries posted
from r.a.s.n.m readers, and how to get the binary posted.

8) Email Addresses - Since an author's first post to r.a.s.n.m generates
an auto-response detailing the registration procedure, it is strongly
recommended that at least the first submission to the group carry a valid
return e-mail address.  This will avoid a delay in the registration process
that would result if the auto-response bounces.  A person may register to
post under a "munged" address to defeat spambots, but the altered address
must be readily decipherable into the poster's valid address by a human.
This does not cut off the use of pseudonymous remailers or munged headers,
both of which are allowable.

9) Copyrighted material - Quoting a line or two of copyrighted material
is not against the law.  However, quoting entire articles is a copyright
violation (unless the poster has permission from the copyright holder).  If
articles are available on the web, a short summary of the article with a URL
is the accepted method of posting.  Proper credit must be given to all
copyrighted material.

The following are discouraged, but will not be rejected outright.

1) Posts in languages other than English
2) Signatures over 6 lines
3) Posts with difficult to read formatting
4) Posts only containing questions answered completely in the FAQ

1) Non-English - At this time, 100% of the readers of the group know English,
with English being the only language of most readers.  Therefore, English is
strongly recommended as the posting language of choice for r.a.s.n.m.
Posts in languages other than English will be examined for approval if any
of the moderators can read the language in question. There is no guarantee of
approval for posts in any language other than English.

2) Signatures - USENET netiquette limits signatures to four lines.  For
r.a.s.n.m, posters are encouraged to keep their signatures to six lines
or less. PGP signature data and additional lines automatically added by
services such as hotmail and Deja News are not included in the count, but
all other text, including boxes around the signature, is included.

3) Readability - USENET Netiquette says that for everyone's enjoyment,
all posts should have right margins in the 60-70 range. The range from 60-70
is for unquoted text.  Quoted text may continue to expand to the right.  Also,
over 2/3 text quoted from previous posters is strongly discouraged.  If a
poster regularly fails to meet these simple rules, a moderator will contact
the person to find out if they can fix the problem.

4) FAQ - Posters asking questions that are covered completely in the FAQ will
be sent a copy of the FAQ and the post will be accepted.  Other posters are
encouraged to welcome the user, respond to the post, or remain silent.

Moderation overview:

Moderation procedure - To reduce their workload and expedite the posting of
articles to the group, the moderation team will employ automated moderation
software (robo-moderation). As much of the work as possible will be turned
over to the moderation software.  This software will scan each incoming
article, then either post it directly to the group without human review,
return it to the author with an appropriate explanation, or forward it to a
human moderator.  Posts will either be accepted in whole, or rejected. The
moderators will NEVER modify them at all.

All rejected posts will be returned to the originating email address with an
explanation for the rejection and instructions for appealing the rejection.
The moderators cannot be held accountable for internet failures or
undeliverable email.

Auto-rejection: binaries, crossposts, profanity, racial slurs, and articles
from authors on the auto-reject list will be automatically rejected. The
moderation team will maintain a list of words that will cause a post to be
automatically rejected.  In the spirit of allowing as much free expression
as possible, the list will be as short as possible while still insuring a
civil environment within the group.

Auto-kickout:  There will be another short list of potentially offensive
words that will cause a post to be kicked out for human moderation.  These
lists can be modified as needed by a simple majority vote of the moderators.
Posters may explicitly request human moderation of an article by placing the
special phrase MOD-HUMAN in the subject line.  This may be desirable if the
author feels there may be something in the article that would cause the
moderation software to automatically reject it. The moderators can also add
this tag to a thread.

Auto-approve:  Provided an article does not trigger an auto-rejection or
auto-kickout, articles from authors on the auto-approve list will be posted
directly to the group without human review.

Moderation sequence:  All incoming articles will be moderated according
to the following sequence with steps 1-4 being performed by the moderation
software.

1. Is the author a first time poster?
        Yes - Initiate the registration process (see below)
        No  - Continue

2. Is there an auto-kickout?
        Yes - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)
        No  - Continue

3. Are there grounds for auto-rejection?
        Yes - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.
        No  - Continue

4. Is the author on the auto-approve list?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)

5. Does the article meet the charter guidelines?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.

r.a.s.n.m registration:  When the moderation software detects an article
from a first time poster, an auto-response containing the charter, FAQ and
instructions for completing the registration are returned to the author.
The article is forwarded to a human moderator. Should the auto-response
bounce back to a moderator and a valid reply-to address for the author
cannot be determined, the registration cannot be completed and the initial
article will not be posted.  If the moderator can determine a valid address,
they will forward the registration information to the author's valid address.

When the author acknowledges by return e-mail that he/she has read the
material and agrees to abide by the charter, he/she is placed on the auto-
approve list.  If the initial article is on charter, it is posted at that
time.

Human moderation:  Individual moderators will have the authority to
reject articles that are clearly off-charter (commercial or money-making
posts, etc.), and to accept articles that are clearly on-charter.  Should
there be any question about an article being reviewed, it will be forwarded
to another moderator for a second opinion.  If the first two moderators to
review an article agree, it will be accepted or rejected accordingly.  If
the first two moderators to review an article disagree, the article will be
forwarded to a third moderator for a deciding vote.

Moderators will execute the above procedure as rapidly as possible in
order to minimize the delay in getting human moderated articles posted.

Key to the moderation philosophy, articles will not be rejected because
of the author's opinion or position on an issue, nor will any human moderated
post be rejected because of the author of the post.  Moderator's opinions will
be expressed only within their own posts, not within their moderation
activities.  Anyone who is willing to follow the Charter guidelines is welcome
to post to r.a.s.n.m, and their posts will be accepted unedited if they have
followed the Charter criteria.  Posts will never be edited by moderators.

If a moderator discovers off-charter material posted in the group, he/she
has three options:

1) Ignore it if it isn't blatant
2) Send an e-mail reminder of charter guidelines to the poster
3) Temporary removal of the poster's auto-post status

How the off-charter post is handled will be determined by what response the
situation warrants, but the moderator should use restraint whenever possible
and use removal of auto-post status only as a last resort.  In the event
that the moderator feels the situation is severe enough to warrant temporarily
suspending the author's auto-approve privilege, the moderator must immediately
notify the other moderators and forward a copy of the post to the rest of the
moderation team.  The moderation team must then decide within one week
whether to restore the author to auto-approve or continue the suspension.  A
two-thirds majority is required to maintain the suspension.  Posters suspended
from auto-approve may continue to post, but all their articles will be subject
to human moderation while the suspension is in effect.  Auto-approve may be
restored at any time by a simple majority vote of the moderators.

A poster who consistently submits off-charter material may be placed on the
auto-reject list by a two-thirds majority vote of the moderators.
Posters placed on auto-reject for this reason will be sent a copy of the
charter, FAQ and instructions on how to petition for reinstatement.

Individuals who engage in threatening or abusive behavior toward a moderator,
or who attempt to interfere with the normal operation of the newsgroup or the
internet accounts supporting the newsgroup or it's members, other than
reporting net-abuse, will be placed on auto-reject for not less than one
year.

Moderator administration and changes:  The moderation team will initially plan
to include 5 to 7 moderators.  They will be responsible for maintaining the
moderation software and reviewing articles that are neither auto-approved nor
auto-rejected. New moderators can be added as deemed appropriate upon the
approval of two-thirds of the existing moderators. Candidates for new
moderators will only be taken from those people who have been on the
auto-approve list continuously for 3 months.  During the first 3 months of the
newsgroup, the 3 month requirement will be waived.  A special call for
volunteers can be posted when an existing moderator steps down or when
the workload on the moderators is deemed sufficient that they feel it is
appropriate to increase their number.

There will be an administrative mailing list, on which the moderators can
discuss the enforcement and modification of the guidelines given here.

A thread may be marked for human attention upon agreement of a majority of
the moderators. This overrides normal auto-approval and content based
auto-rejection, and brings all posts in the thread to moderator attention so
potential problems can be dealt with before measures as drastic as
removal of auto-approval status are called for.  Notice of thread marking
may be posted to the newsgroup, but is not required.

Appeals: A poster who feels that a rejected post was within the charter
can appeal to the administrative list. If a majority of the moderators agree
that the post should be approved, it will be posted as usual.  If the poster's
auto-approve status was suspended as a result of an article that is
successfully appealed, auto-approve will be restored.

Complaints or compliments about moderator judgments, and other matters related
to the running of the newsgroup are welcome on the administrative list, but
not on the newsgroup. No post relating to such discussions will be approved
for the newsgroup. Any decision made about action to take (or not to take) is
final.  Posters who persist in pressing the issue will be subject to
auto-rejection.

Charter revisions: Any discussion on revision of the charter must include
"CHARTER:" as the beginning of the subject line.  After discussion in the
newsgroup, the moderators will judge the group consensus and let the group
know if any charter changes take place. Any changes must pass with a 2/3rds
majority of the moderators agreeing on what the group is requesting.  This
is not a vote of the opinions of the moderators, but rather to ensure that
the moderators have a clear understanding of what the members of the newsgroup
want.  If the moderators are not sure of the consensus of the group, or if
members of the group challenge the moderators' decision, an actual vote will
be taken. Votes will require a 2/3 majority to modify the charter.  The
moderators will post all results of charter modification votes to the group
after the voting is completed.  The subject line will include the phrase
"CHARTER:" so that those who wish to ignore them can skip the threads or set
their killfiles/filters to ignore them.  Changes will also be made to the FAQ.

The FAQ will be posted every Friday.

Moderators who are unwilling or unable to uphold the charter in their personal
posts or moderation activities may be removed by a two-thirds vote of the
other moderators.

Third party cancels ('retro-moderation') by anyone, including but not limited
to moderators, is strictly against newsgroup policy.

Disclaimer:
- The moderators of this newsgroup are not responsible for
  truthfulness or legality of any of the posts.
- The approval of a post by a moderator is NOT an endorsement by the
  moderator or moderation team.
- Posters assume full responsibility for the content of their posts.
- Readers using information that appears in the newsgroup do so at
  their own risk.
- Posters agree that by posting items to this newsgroup they
  indemnify and hold harmless the moderation team and service
  providers.

END CHARTER.

MODERATOR INFO: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

Moderator: "Eric O. Troldahl" <etroll@carracing.com>
Moderator: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@carracing.com>
Moderator: Deven Atkinson <deven@carracing.com>
Moderator: "Lisa A. Carbrey" <lcarbrey@carracing.com>
Moderator: John Martin <jtmartin@carracing.com>
Moderator: Martin Moleski <moleski@canisius.edu>
Moderator: Chris Watkins <C_Watkins@carracing.com>

Article submission address: rasnm@carracing.com
Administrative contact address: rasnm-admin@carracing.com

END MODERATOR INFO.

IMPORTANT VOTING PROCEDURE NOTES: READ THIS BEFORE VOTING

The purpose of a Usenet vote is to determine the genuine interest in
reading the proposed newsgroup, and soliciting votes from uninterested
parties defeats this purpose.  Do *not* distribute this CFV;  intead,
direct people to the official CFV as posted to news.announce.newgroups.
Distributing specific voting instructions or pre-marked copies of
this CFV is considered vote fraud.

This is a public vote:  All email addresses, names and votes will be
listed in the final RESULT post.  The name used may be either a real
name or an established Usenet handle.

At most one vote is allowed per person or per account.  Duplicate
votes will be resolved in favor of the most recent valid vote.

Voters must mail their ballots directly to the votetaker.  Anonymous,
forwarded, or proxy votes are not valid, nor are votes mailed from
WWW/HTML/CGI forms (which should not exist).  Votes from nonexistent
accounts are also invalid, and the votetaker will reject any "munged"
address he cannot decipher immediately.

Please direct any questions to the votetaker at <neilc@stanford.edu>.

HOW TO VOTE:

Extract the ballot from the CFV by deleting everything before and after
the "BEGINNING OF BALLOT" and "END OF BALLOT" lines.  Don't worry about
the spacing of the columns or any quote characters (">") that your
reply inserts.  Please, DO NOT send the entire CFV back to me!

Fill in the ballot as shown below.  Please provide your REAL NAME and
indicate your desired vote in the appropriate locations inside the ballot.

Examples of how to properly indicate your vote:

  [ YES     ]  example.yes.vote
  [ NO      ]  example.no.vote
  [ ABSTAIN ]  example.abstention
  [ CANCEL  ]  example.cancellation

DO NOT modify, alter or delete any information in this ballot!
If you do, the voting software will probably reject your ballot.

When finished, MAIL the ballot to: < voting@uvv.stanford.edu >
Just "replying" to this message should work, but check the "To:" line.

If you do not receive an acknowledgment of your vote within three
days contact the votetaker about the problem.  You are responsible
for reading your ack and making sure your vote is registered correctly.

If these instructions are unclear, please consult the Introduction to
Usenet Voting or the Usenet Voting FAQ at http://www.stanford.edu/~neilc/uvv.

======== BEGINNING OF BALLOT: Delete everything before this line =======
.-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 1ST CALL FOR VOTES: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
| Official Usenet Voting Ballot <RASNM-0001> (Do not remove this line!)
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Please provide your real name, or your vote may be rejected.  Place
| ONLY your name (ie. do NOT include your e-mail address or any other
| information; ONLY your name) after the colon on the following line:

Voter name:

| Insert YES, NO, ABSTAIN, or CANCEL inside the brackets for each
| newsgroup listed below (do not delete the newsgroup name):

 Your Vote   Newsgroup
 ---------   -----------------------------------------------------------
[         ]  rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (moderated)

======== END OF BALLOT: Delete everything after this line ==============


This CFV was created with uvpq 1.0 (Aug 14 1997).
PQ datestamp: 980322

-- 
Voting address: voting@uvv.stanford.edu
========= WAS CANCELLED BY =======:
Path: ...!news.icm.edu.pl!orion.cst.tpsa.pl!news.tpnet.pl!not-for-mail
Control: cancel <900663269.2407@isc.org>
Subject: cmsg cancel <900663269.2407@isc.org>
Message-ID: <901050639.911@isc.org>
From: HipCrime@rwmeftgn.org
Sender: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>
Approved: HipCrime@rwmeftgn.org
Newsgroups: news.groups
X-No-Archive: Yes
Organization: HipCrime International, unLtd.
Lines: 2
Date: Sat, 18 Jul 1998 19:22:48 GMT
NNTP-Posting-Host: 204.237.253.133
NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 18 Jul 1998 21:22:48 MET DST

Cancelled by HipCrime's NewsAgent.


From neilc@stanford.edu Tue Jul 21 12:50:56 1998
Control: cancel <901050639.911@isc.org>
Path: news.isc.org!bounce-back
Message-ID: <c984-901050639.911@isc.org>
From: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>
Reply-To: voting@uvv.stanford.edu
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,rec.autos.sport.f1,rec.autos.sport.indy,rec.autos.sport.misc,rec.autos.sport.nascar,rec.autos.sport.tech,rec.autos.sport.info
Subject: cmsg cancel <901050639.911@isc.org>
Followup-To: poster
References: <896328708.21545@isc.org> <897880198.15596@isc.org> <898490393.18097@isc.org>
Approved: newgroups-request@isc.org
Expires: 8 Aug 1998 00:00:00 GMT
Archive-Name: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
Date: 21 Jul 98 19:50:55 GMT
Lines: 2
Xref: news.isc.org control.cancel:2651619

Unapproved article for news.announce.newgroups auto-cancelled
by daemon on behalf of moderator.

From neilc@stanford.edu Mon Jul 27 17:30:11 1998
Path: news.isc.org!bounce-back
From: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>
Reply-To: voting@uvv.stanford.edu
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,rec.autos.sport.info,rec.autos.sport.nascar
Subject: 2nd CFV: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated moderated
Followup-To: poster
Message-ID: <901585710.21818@isc.org>
References: <896328708.21545@isc.org> <897880198.15596@isc.org> <898490393.18097@isc.org> <900663269.2407@isc.org>
Supersedes: <900663269.2407@isc.org>
Organization: Usenet Volunteer Votetakers
Approved: newgroups-request@isc.org
Expires: 8 Aug 1998 00:00:00 GMT
Archive-Name: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 00:28:31 GMT
Lines: 562
Xref: news.isc.org news.announce.newgroups:10507 news.groups:292777 rec.autos.sport.info:13318 rec.autos.sport.nascar:157444

                      LAST CALL FOR VOTES (of 2)
           moderated group rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

This CFV is to be distributed only by the votetaker.  It is not to be
posted to newsgroups, or mailed to mailing lists or individuals, except by
the votetaker.  Ballots or CFVs provided by anyone else will be invalid.

Newsgroups line:
rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated	NASCAR and Stockcar Racing. (Moderated)

Votes must be received by 23:59:59 UTC, 7 Aug 1998.

This vote is being conducted by a neutral third party.  Questions
about the proposed group should be directed to the proponent.

Proponent: Eric O. Troldahl <etroll@flash.net>
Proponent: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@dittosrush.com>
Proponent: Deven Atkinson <deven@Mcs.Net>
Proponent: Rich Bemben <rbemben@eng.micrion.com>
Proponent: Lisa A. Carbrey <lcarbrey@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Tom Duwe <tduwe@primenet.com>
Proponent: Ronnie Hiatt <oldsteel@bellsouth.net>
Proponent: Sue Horan-Phillips <semh@earthlink.net>
Proponent: Karen Jensen <kjinsk@shell1.shore.net>
Proponent: Henry Kelley <tinylights@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Nancy Kendrick <daytonatwin125s@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Ken (Poppy) Kraus <floridapoppy@webtv.net>
Proponent: Jerry (Tinadog) Kyte <Tinadog@aol.com>
Proponent: John Martin <jtmartin@spartanburg.net>
Proponent: Lynwood Matteson <lcmatteson@ucdavis.edu>
Proponent: Mike McGuigan <mcguigan@mindspring.com>
Proponent: Martin Moleski <moleski@canisius.edu>
Proponent: John (DeliveryBoy) Sutphin <wahoo_35@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Chris Watkins <umytbnxt@mindspring.com>
Mentor: Jonathan Grobe <grobe@worf.netins.net>
Votetaker: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>

RATIONALE: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

NASCAR and stockcar racing, as well as other motorsports, have been the
subjects of Usenet discussion for many years.  The existing
rec.autos.sport.nascar newsgroup (RASN) gets a total of well over a
hundred messages a day during the off-season and that number can increase
to two to four times that figure during the season, peaking at over 1000
a day during speedweeks.  Much of this traffic is relevant and of high-
quality, but there are also significant problems with spam, advertisements,
Driver/Team/Sponsor/Car-Make/Media abuse, and attacks aimed at other
posters to the newsgroup.  Many former posters to RASN have left because of
this situation.

Rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated is intended to be a forum where all
topics related to NASCAR and stockcar racing can be discussed without these
distractions. The primary focus of the group will be NASCAR's top 3 series:
Winston Cup, Busch Grand National, and Craftsman Trucks.  Questions and
answers about this sport will be welcomed and a FAQ will be maintained.

CHARTER: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

The unmoderated newsgroup rec.autos.sport.nascar has always been fairly
relaxed about what is on-topic. The moderated newsgroup will be the same
way.  Basically anything related to NASCAR or stock car racing will be
considered on-topic.

Posts about other types of motorsports (Indycar, F1, etc.) should be
directed to the appropriate newsgroup, unless they are comparing stockcar
racing to the other motorsport.  For example, a comparison of the point
systems of F1 and Winston Cup, and how using the F1 system would change
the Winston Cup championship standings, is on-topic.

The goal of rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (r.a.s.n.m) is to provide its
participants with a degree of free expression approaching that found in
unmoderated groups while maintaining an environment free of the spam,
commercial and money-making posts, personal harassment, vulgarity and
blatantly off topic material found in most unmoderated forums.

The philosophy of r.a.s.n.m is that responsible people should be trusted
to post like responsible adults. Therefore, the moderation effort will focus
primarily on dealing with problems as they occur, not on screening every
post.  All posters will be initially trusted with auto-approve status, which
will enable their subsequent articles to be posted immediately to the
newsgroup without the involvement of a human moderator.  They will retain
auto-approve status unless they demonstrate cause for its revocation.

Newsgroup readers are warned that since this is a discussion group about
racing, people here will want to talk about racing, even during the
televised races.  If you want your tape-delayed viewing to be unspoiled by
knowing who won, crashed, etc., it is best to keep yourself away from all
sources of racing information, including newsgroups, cable TV, racing radio
shows, newspapers, coworkers, etc.  It is considered polite to include the
word SPOILER in the subject of posts about races less than 48 hours old,
leaving discussion of the details out of the header, but this WILL NOT be
enforced.

Appropriate posts will meet one of the following criteria:

1. It would effectively start a new discussion.  Examples:

        - What is the current points system?
        - How do provisionals work?
        - How did Ricky Craven get an 8th provisional?
        - Discussions of actual Race or Qualifying action.
        - Questions about the mechanics of race cars and engines.

2. It adds content to an existing discussion.  Examples:

        - Points breakdown itself.
        - Actual NASCAR policy on provisionals.
        - Web site addresses of teams, drivers, or Fan Clubs.
        - Answers to questions posed by others.
        - Clarification of questions previously asked.

3. It is informative to the r.a.s.n.m community.  Examples:

        - Announcements of r.a.s.n reunions.
        - Announcements of upcoming TV schedules for racing.
        - Testing times.
        - Announcements of NASCAR events or schedules.
        - Announcements of driver appearances.

While examples are given wherever possible, it is impossible to anticipate
every attempt at finding a loophole. Therefore, the spirit of all the rules
should be followed as opposed to looking for leaks and loopholes. For
example, strange spellings or formats of profanity would still be considered
profanity.  Posters will be treated like responsible adults and expected to
act accordingly.

The following are unacceptable:

1) Bashing
2) Flames
3) Trolls
4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts
5) Profanity/Racial Slurs
6) Crossposts
7) Binaries
8) Posts without a respondable email address
9) Quotes of more than a few lines of copyrighted material

1) Bashing - defined as posts or portions of posts that verbally attack
others in an insulting or malicious manner to an extent that would reasonably
be considered libelous or slanderous.  In other words: "Do not post anything
that would make the driver or team you support cringe or be embarrassed to
have you as a fan."  This does NOT mean that negative comments will be
moderated out.  The expression of negative opinions is a legitimate part of
any discussion and the right to express them in a non-malicious fashion shall
not be abridged.

2) Flames - defined as inflammatory posts or portions of posts whose
primary purpose is to induce an intense emotional response.

3) Trolls - Trolls are defined as posts that do not have substance to
their content, primarily meant to incite disruptive threads or distract
posters from the main intent of the newsgroup.

4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts are defined as posts whose primary
purpose is to solicit a benefit for the poster.  This would include, but is
not limited to, advertisements of businesses, direct advertisements of goods
and/or services for sale, posts advertising the availability of goods and/or
services for sale through another medium, promotion of business opportunities,
money-making schemes, and chain letters.

Simply listing a business name, address, phone number, URL, etc. in one's
signature is not considered commercial use of the newsgroup.  However,
signatures that are in fact advertisements, or which solicit readers to
patronize a for-profit venture or visit a commercial web site fall under
the definition of commercial or money-making posts.  Posts bearing such
signatures are subject to rejection as such.

Posts promoting newsgroup related activities are not considered commercial
or money-making posts since there is no financial benefit to any of the
individuals involved.  These activities would include but are not limited
to the RASN Sponsorship Fund, raffles, and RASN reunions.

Posts advising the group of charitable racing-related events or offering
NASCAR event or NASCAR/stockcar race tickets at or below face value are also
permitted.

5) Profanity/Racial Slurs - Posters should view r.a.s.n.m as polite mixed
company and watch their language accordingly.  Only a short list of words
will be disallowed.  Nevertheless, posters to RASNM are advised and encouraged
to use the same standards that apply in the Sunday comics.  Specifically,
changing all letters in profanity to special characters like !@#$% .  However,
when quoting material such as scanner bites, interviews etc.., the first
letter of the word may be left in place so that readers can deduce what was
actually said.

6) Crossposts - defined as posts also directed to any other newsgroup.
Exceptions to this limit are made for Usenet Administrative purposes (as
from news.announce.newgroups) and for posts from rec.autos.sport.info.

7) Binaries - Binary posts are defined as posts that include UUencoded,
MIME-encoded, or any other form of binary message in the body or signature
other than Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) signatures.  This includes, but is
not limited to, pictures, audio files, executables, and HTML.  Binaries
should be posted to an appropriate binaries newsgroup or a web page. A brief
informative notice should then be sent to the newsgroup.  The FAQ for this
group will list any web sites that have volunteered to have binaries posted
from r.a.s.n.m readers, and how to get the binary posted.

8) Email Addresses - Since an author's first post to r.a.s.n.m generates
an auto-response detailing the registration procedure, it is strongly
recommended that at least the first submission to the group carry a valid
return e-mail address.  This will avoid a delay in the registration process
that would result if the auto-response bounces.  A person may register to
post under a "munged" address to defeat spambots, but the altered address
must be readily decipherable into the poster's valid address by a human.
This does not cut off the use of pseudonymous remailers or munged headers,
both of which are allowable.

9) Copyrighted material - Quoting a line or two of copyrighted material
is not against the law.  However, quoting entire articles is a copyright
violation (unless the poster has permission from the copyright holder).  If
articles are available on the web, a short summary of the article with a URL
is the accepted method of posting.  Proper credit must be given to all
copyrighted material.

The following are discouraged, but will not be rejected outright.

1) Posts in languages other than English
2) Signatures over 6 lines
3) Posts with difficult to read formatting
4) Posts only containing questions answered completely in the FAQ

1) Non-English - At this time, 100% of the readers of the group know English,
with English being the only language of most readers.  Therefore, English is
strongly recommended as the posting language of choice for r.a.s.n.m.
Posts in languages other than English will be examined for approval if any
of the moderators can read the language in question. There is no guarantee of
approval for posts in any language other than English.

2) Signatures - USENET netiquette limits signatures to four lines.  For
r.a.s.n.m, posters are encouraged to keep their signatures to six lines
or less. PGP signature data and additional lines automatically added by
services such as hotmail and Deja News are not included in the count, but
all other text, including boxes around the signature, is included.

3) Readability - USENET Netiquette says that for everyone's enjoyment,
all posts should have right margins in the 60-70 range. The range from 60-70
is for unquoted text.  Quoted text may continue to expand to the right.  Also,
over 2/3 text quoted from previous posters is strongly discouraged.  If a
poster regularly fails to meet these simple rules, a moderator will contact
the person to find out if they can fix the problem.

4) FAQ - Posters asking questions that are covered completely in the FAQ will
be sent a copy of the FAQ and the post will be accepted.  Other posters are
encouraged to welcome the user, respond to the post, or remain silent.

Moderation overview:

Moderation procedure - To reduce their workload and expedite the posting of
articles to the group, the moderation team will employ automated moderation
software (robo-moderation). As much of the work as possible will be turned
over to the moderation software.  This software will scan each incoming
article, then either post it directly to the group without human review,
return it to the author with an appropriate explanation, or forward it to a
human moderator.  Posts will either be accepted in whole, or rejected. The
moderators will NEVER modify them at all.

All rejected posts will be returned to the originating email address with an
explanation for the rejection and instructions for appealing the rejection.
The moderators cannot be held accountable for internet failures or
undeliverable email.

Auto-rejection: binaries, crossposts, profanity, racial slurs, and articles
from authors on the auto-reject list will be automatically rejected. The
moderation team will maintain a list of words that will cause a post to be
automatically rejected.  In the spirit of allowing as much free expression
as possible, the list will be as short as possible while still insuring a
civil environment within the group.

Auto-kickout:  There will be another short list of potentially offensive
words that will cause a post to be kicked out for human moderation.  These
lists can be modified as needed by a simple majority vote of the moderators.
Posters may explicitly request human moderation of an article by placing the
special phrase MOD-HUMAN in the subject line.  This may be desirable if the
author feels there may be something in the article that would cause the
moderation software to automatically reject it. The moderators can also add
this tag to a thread.

Auto-approve:  Provided an article does not trigger an auto-rejection or
auto-kickout, articles from authors on the auto-approve list will be posted
directly to the group without human review.

Moderation sequence:  All incoming articles will be moderated according
to the following sequence with steps 1-4 being performed by the moderation
software.

1. Is the author a first time poster?
        Yes - Initiate the registration process (see below)
        No  - Continue

2. Is there an auto-kickout?
        Yes - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)
        No  - Continue

3. Are there grounds for auto-rejection?
        Yes - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.
        No  - Continue

4. Is the author on the auto-approve list?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)

5. Does the article meet the charter guidelines?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.

r.a.s.n.m registration:  When the moderation software detects an article
from a first time poster, an auto-response containing the charter, FAQ and
instructions for completing the registration are returned to the author.
The article is forwarded to a human moderator. Should the auto-response
bounce back to a moderator and a valid reply-to address for the author
cannot be determined, the registration cannot be completed and the initial
article will not be posted.  If the moderator can determine a valid address,
they will forward the registration information to the author's valid address.

When the author acknowledges by return e-mail that he/she has read the
material and agrees to abide by the charter, he/she is placed on the auto-
approve list.  If the initial article is on charter, it is posted at that
time.

Human moderation:  Individual moderators will have the authority to
reject articles that are clearly off-charter (commercial or money-making
posts, etc.), and to accept articles that are clearly on-charter.  Should
there be any question about an article being reviewed, it will be forwarded
to another moderator for a second opinion.  If the first two moderators to
review an article agree, it will be accepted or rejected accordingly.  If
the first two moderators to review an article disagree, the article will be
forwarded to a third moderator for a deciding vote.

Moderators will execute the above procedure as rapidly as possible in
order to minimize the delay in getting human moderated articles posted.

Key to the moderation philosophy, articles will not be rejected because
of the author's opinion or position on an issue, nor will any human moderated
post be rejected because of the author of the post.  Moderator's opinions will
be expressed only within their own posts, not within their moderation
activities.  Anyone who is willing to follow the Charter guidelines is welcome
to post to r.a.s.n.m, and their posts will be accepted unedited if they have
followed the Charter criteria.  Posts will never be edited by moderators.

If a moderator discovers off-charter material posted in the group, he/she
has three options:

1) Ignore it if it isn't blatant
2) Send an e-mail reminder of charter guidelines to the poster
3) Temporary removal of the poster's auto-post status

How the off-charter post is handled will be determined by what response the
situation warrants, but the moderator should use restraint whenever possible
and use removal of auto-post status only as a last resort.  In the event
that the moderator feels the situation is severe enough to warrant temporarily
suspending the author's auto-approve privilege, the moderator must immediately
notify the other moderators and forward a copy of the post to the rest of the
moderation team.  The moderation team must then decide within one week
whether to restore the author to auto-approve or continue the suspension.  A
two-thirds majority is required to maintain the suspension.  Posters suspended
from auto-approve may continue to post, but all their articles will be subject
to human moderation while the suspension is in effect.  Auto-approve may be
restored at any time by a simple majority vote of the moderators.

A poster who consistently submits off-charter material may be placed on the
auto-reject list by a two-thirds majority vote of the moderators.
Posters placed on auto-reject for this reason will be sent a copy of the
charter, FAQ and instructions on how to petition for reinstatement.

Individuals who engage in threatening or abusive behavior toward a moderator,
or who attempt to interfere with the normal operation of the newsgroup or the
internet accounts supporting the newsgroup or it's members, other than
reporting net-abuse, will be placed on auto-reject for not less than one
year.

Moderator administration and changes:  The moderation team will initially plan
to include 5 to 7 moderators.  They will be responsible for maintaining the
moderation software and reviewing articles that are neither auto-approved nor
auto-rejected. New moderators can be added as deemed appropriate upon the
approval of two-thirds of the existing moderators. Candidates for new
moderators will only be taken from those people who have been on the
auto-approve list continuously for 3 months.  During the first 3 months of the
newsgroup, the 3 month requirement will be waived.  A special call for
volunteers can be posted when an existing moderator steps down or when
the workload on the moderators is deemed sufficient that they feel it is
appropriate to increase their number.

There will be an administrative mailing list, on which the moderators can
discuss the enforcement and modification of the guidelines given here.

A thread may be marked for human attention upon agreement of a majority of
the moderators. This overrides normal auto-approval and content based
auto-rejection, and brings all posts in the thread to moderator attention so
potential problems can be dealt with before measures as drastic as
removal of auto-approval status are called for.  Notice of thread marking
may be posted to the newsgroup, but is not required.

Appeals: A poster who feels that a rejected post was within the charter
can appeal to the administrative list. If a majority of the moderators agree
that the post should be approved, it will be posted as usual.  If the poster's
auto-approve status was suspended as a result of an article that is
successfully appealed, auto-approve will be restored.

Complaints or compliments about moderator judgments, and other matters related
to the running of the newsgroup are welcome on the administrative list, but
not on the newsgroup. No post relating to such discussions will be approved
for the newsgroup. Any decision made about action to take (or not to take) is
final.  Posters who persist in pressing the issue will be subject to
auto-rejection.

Charter revisions: Any discussion on revision of the charter must include
"CHARTER:" as the beginning of the subject line.  After discussion in the
newsgroup, the moderators will judge the group consensus and let the group
know if any charter changes take place. Any changes must pass with a 2/3rds
majority of the moderators agreeing on what the group is requesting.  This
is not a vote of the opinions of the moderators, but rather to ensure that
the moderators have a clear understanding of what the members of the newsgroup
want.  If the moderators are not sure of the consensus of the group, or if
members of the group challenge the moderators' decision, an actual vote will
be taken. Votes will require a 2/3 majority to modify the charter.  The
moderators will post all results of charter modification votes to the group
after the voting is completed.  The subject line will include the phrase
"CHARTER:" so that those who wish to ignore them can skip the threads or set
their killfiles/filters to ignore them.  Changes will also be made to the FAQ.

The FAQ will be posted every Friday.

Moderators who are unwilling or unable to uphold the charter in their personal
posts or moderation activities may be removed by a two-thirds vote of the
other moderators.

Third party cancels ('retro-moderation') by anyone, including but not limited
to moderators, is strictly against newsgroup policy.

Disclaimer:
- The moderators of this newsgroup are not responsible for
  truthfulness or legality of any of the posts.
- The approval of a post by a moderator is NOT an endorsement by the
  moderator or moderation team.
- Posters assume full responsibility for the content of their posts.
- Readers using information that appears in the newsgroup do so at
  their own risk.
- Posters agree that by posting items to this newsgroup they
  indemnify and hold harmless the moderation team and service
  providers.

END CHARTER.

MODERATOR INFO: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

Moderator: "Eric O. Troldahl" <etroll@carracing.com>
Moderator: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@carracing.com>
Moderator: Deven Atkinson <deven@carracing.com>
Moderator: "Lisa A. Carbrey" <lcarbrey@carracing.com>
Moderator: John Martin <jtmartin@carracing.com>
Moderator: Martin Moleski <moleski@canisius.edu>
Moderator: Chris Watkins <C_Watkins@carracing.com>

Article submission address: rasnm@carracing.com
Administrative contact address: rasnm-admin@carracing.com

END MODERATOR INFO.

IMPORTANT VOTING PROCEDURE NOTES: READ THIS BEFORE VOTING

The purpose of a Usenet vote is to determine the genuine interest in
reading the proposed newsgroup, and soliciting votes from uninterested
parties defeats this purpose.  Do *not* distribute this CFV;  intead,
direct people to the official CFV as posted to news.announce.newgroups.
Distributing specific voting instructions or pre-marked copies of
this CFV is considered vote fraud.

This is a public vote:  All email addresses, names and votes will be
listed in the final RESULT post.  The name used may be either a real
name or an established Usenet handle.

At most one vote is allowed per person or per account.  Duplicate
votes will be resolved in favor of the most recent valid vote.

Voters must mail their ballots directly to the votetaker.  Anonymous,
forwarded, or proxy votes are not valid, nor are votes mailed from
WWW/HTML/CGI forms (which should not exist).  Votes from nonexistent
accounts are also invalid, and the votetaker will reject any "munged"
address he cannot decipher immediately.

Please direct any questions to the votetaker at <neilc@stanford.edu>.

HOW TO VOTE:

Extract the ballot from the CFV by deleting everything before and after
the "BEGINNING OF BALLOT" and "END OF BALLOT" lines.  Don't worry about
the spacing of the columns or any quote characters (">") that your
reply inserts.  Please, DO NOT send the entire CFV back to me!

Fill in the ballot as shown below.  Please provide your REAL NAME and
indicate your desired vote in the appropriate locations inside the ballot.

Examples of how to properly indicate your vote:

  [ YES     ]  example.yes.vote
  [ NO      ]  example.no.vote
  [ ABSTAIN ]  example.abstention
  [ CANCEL  ]  example.cancellation

DO NOT modify, alter or delete any information in this ballot!
If you do, the voting software will probably reject your ballot.

When finished, MAIL the ballot to: < voting@uvv.stanford.edu >
Just "replying" to this message should work, but check the "To:" line.

If you do not receive an acknowledgment of your vote within three
days contact the votetaker about the problem.  You are responsible
for reading your ack and making sure your vote is registered correctly.

If these instructions are unclear, please consult the Introduction to
Usenet Voting or the Usenet Voting FAQ at http://www.stanford.edu/~neilc/uvv.

======== BEGINNING OF BALLOT: Delete everything before this line =======
.-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2ND CALL FOR VOTES: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
| Official Usenet Voting Ballot <RASNM-0002> (Do not remove this line!)
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Please provide your real name, or your vote may be rejected.  Place
| ONLY your name (ie. do NOT include your e-mail address or any other
| information; ONLY your name) after the colon on the following line:

Voter name:

| Insert YES, NO, ABSTAIN, or CANCEL inside the brackets for each
| newsgroup listed below (do not delete the newsgroup name):

 Your Vote   Newsgroup
 ---------   -----------------------------------------------------------
[         ]  rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (moderated)

======== END OF BALLOT: Delete everything after this line ==============


rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated Bounce List - Contact me about your vote.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
bherdman_nospam [at] efni.com                                    Bryan Herdman
bweidnerSPAM [at] mindspring.com                                  Bill Weidner
nospam [at] together.net                                            Tom Suitor
rsteve [at] spam.this.iquest.net                                     Ron Steve
samjo [at] bellsouth.net                                           Sam Johnson
samjo [at] REMOVETHISbellsouth.net                                 Sam Johnson
tsuitor [at] together.net                                           Tom Suitor
twdixon [at] usa.net                                                 Tom Dixon

DISTRIBUTION:

Pointers directing readers to this CFV will be posted in these groups:

rec.autos.sport.f1
rec.autos.sport.indy
rec.autos.sport.misc
rec.autos.sport.tech

This CFV was created with uvpq 1.0 (Aug 14 1997).
PQ datestamp: 980322

-- 
Voting address: voting@uvv.stanford.edu

From neilc@stanford.edu Wed Aug 12 09:15:13 1998
Path: news.isc.org!bounce-back
From: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups,rec.autos.sport.info,rec.autos.sport.nascar
Subject: RESULT: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated moderated passes 216:32
Followup-To: news.groups
Message-ID: <902877632.20468@isc.org>
References: <896328708.21545@isc.org> <897880198.15596@isc.org> <898490393.18097@isc.org> <900663269.2407@isc.org> <901585710.21818@isc.org>
Supersedes: <901585710.21818@isc.org>
Organization: Usenet Volunteer Votetakers
Approved: newgroups-request@isc.org
Archive-Name: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 1998 23:20:33 GMT
Lines: 748
Xref: news.isc.org news.announce.newgroups:10537 news.groups:293730 rec.autos.sport.info:13943 rec.autos.sport.nascar:163092

                                RESULT
    moderated group rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated passes 216:32

There were 216 YES votes and 32 NO votes, for a total of 248 valid
votes.  There were 3 abstentions and 4 invalid ballots.

For a group to pass, YES votes must be at least 2/3 of all valid
(YES and NO) votes.  There must also be at least 100 more YES votes
than NO votes.

A five day discussion period follows this announcement.  If no
serious allegations of voting irregularities are raised, the
moderator of news.announce.newgroups will create the group shortly
thereafter.

Newsgroups line:
rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated	NASCAR and Stockcar Racing. (Moderated)

The voting period closed at 23:59:59 UTC, 7 Aug 1998.

This vote was conducted by a neutral third party.  Questions
about the proposed group should be directed to the proponent.

Proponent: Eric O. Troldahl <etroll@flash.net>
Proponent: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@dittosrush.com>
Proponent: Deven Atkinson <deven@Mcs.Net>
Proponent: Rich Bemben <rbemben@eng.micrion.com>
Proponent: Lisa A. Carbrey <lcarbrey@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Tom Duwe <tduwe@primenet.com>
Proponent: Ronnie Hiatt <oldsteel@bellsouth.net>
Proponent: Sue Horan-Phillips <semh@earthlink.net>
Proponent: Karen Jensen <kjinsk@shell1.shore.net>
Proponent: Henry Kelley <tinylights@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Nancy Kendrick <daytonatwin125s@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Ken (Poppy) Kraus <floridapoppy@webtv.net>
Proponent: Jerry (Tinadog) Kyte <Tinadog@aol.com>
Proponent: John Martin <jtmartin@spartanburg.net>
Proponent: Lynwood Matteson <lcmatteson@ucdavis.edu>
Proponent: Mike McGuigan <mcguigan@mindspring.com>
Proponent: Martin Moleski <moleski@canisius.edu>
Proponent: John (DeliveryBoy) Sutphin <wahoo_35@hotmail.com>
Proponent: Chris Watkins <umytbnxt@mindspring.com>
Mentor: Jonathan Grobe <grobe@worf.netins.net>
Votetaker: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu>

RATIONALE: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

NASCAR and stockcar racing, as well as other motorsports, have been the
subjects of Usenet discussion for many years.  The existing
rec.autos.sport.nascar newsgroup (RASN) gets a total of well over a
hundred messages a day during the off-season and that number can increase
to two to four times that figure during the season, peaking at over 1000
a day during speedweeks.  Much of this traffic is relevant and of high-
quality, but there are also significant problems with spam, advertisements,
Driver/Team/Sponsor/Car-Make/Media abuse, and attacks aimed at other
posters to the newsgroup.  Many former posters to RASN have left because of
this situation.

Rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated is intended to be a forum where all
topics related to NASCAR and stockcar racing can be discussed without these
distractions. The primary focus of the group will be NASCAR's top 3 series:
Winston Cup, Busch Grand National, and Craftsman Trucks.  Questions and
answers about this sport will be welcomed and a FAQ will be maintained.

CHARTER: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

The unmoderated newsgroup rec.autos.sport.nascar has always been fairly
relaxed about what is on-topic. The moderated newsgroup will be the same
way.  Basically anything related to NASCAR or stock car racing will be
considered on-topic.

Posts about other types of motorsports (Indycar, F1, etc.) should be
directed to the appropriate newsgroup, unless they are comparing stockcar
racing to the other motorsport.  For example, a comparison of the point
systems of F1 and Winston Cup, and how using the F1 system would change
the Winston Cup championship standings, is on-topic.

The goal of rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated (r.a.s.n.m) is to provide its
participants with a degree of free expression approaching that found in
unmoderated groups while maintaining an environment free of the spam,
commercial and money-making posts, personal harassment, vulgarity and
blatantly off topic material found in most unmoderated forums.

The philosophy of r.a.s.n.m is that responsible people should be trusted
to post like responsible adults. Therefore, the moderation effort will focus
primarily on dealing with problems as they occur, not on screening every
post.  All posters will be initially trusted with auto-approve status, which
will enable their subsequent articles to be posted immediately to the
newsgroup without the involvement of a human moderator.  They will retain
auto-approve status unless they demonstrate cause for its revocation.

Newsgroup readers are warned that since this is a discussion group about
racing, people here will want to talk about racing, even during the
televised races.  If you want your tape-delayed viewing to be unspoiled by
knowing who won, crashed, etc., it is best to keep yourself away from all
sources of racing information, including newsgroups, cable TV, racing radio
shows, newspapers, coworkers, etc.  It is considered polite to include the
word SPOILER in the subject of posts about races less than 48 hours old,
leaving discussion of the details out of the header, but this WILL NOT be
enforced.

Appropriate posts will meet one of the following criteria:

1. It would effectively start a new discussion.  Examples:

        - What is the current points system?
        - How do provisionals work?
        - How did Ricky Craven get an 8th provisional?
        - Discussions of actual Race or Qualifying action.
        - Questions about the mechanics of race cars and engines.

2. It adds content to an existing discussion.  Examples:

        - Points breakdown itself.
        - Actual NASCAR policy on provisionals.
        - Web site addresses of teams, drivers, or Fan Clubs.
        - Answers to questions posed by others.
        - Clarification of questions previously asked.

3. It is informative to the r.a.s.n.m community.  Examples:

        - Announcements of r.a.s.n reunions.
        - Announcements of upcoming TV schedules for racing.
        - Testing times.
        - Announcements of NASCAR events or schedules.
        - Announcements of driver appearances.

While examples are given wherever possible, it is impossible to anticipate
every attempt at finding a loophole. Therefore, the spirit of all the rules
should be followed as opposed to looking for leaks and loopholes. For
example, strange spellings or formats of profanity would still be considered
profanity.  Posters will be treated like responsible adults and expected to
act accordingly.

The following are unacceptable:

1) Bashing
2) Flames
3) Trolls
4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts
5) Profanity/Racial Slurs
6) Crossposts
7) Binaries
8) Posts without a respondable email address
9) Quotes of more than a few lines of copyrighted material

1) Bashing - defined as posts or portions of posts that verbally attack
others in an insulting or malicious manner to an extent that would reasonably
be considered libelous or slanderous.  In other words: "Do not post anything
that would make the driver or team you support cringe or be embarrassed to
have you as a fan."  This does NOT mean that negative comments will be
moderated out.  The expression of negative opinions is a legitimate part of
any discussion and the right to express them in a non-malicious fashion shall
not be abridged.

2) Flames - defined as inflammatory posts or portions of posts whose
primary purpose is to induce an intense emotional response.

3) Trolls - Trolls are defined as posts that do not have substance to
their content, primarily meant to incite disruptive threads or distract
posters from the main intent of the newsgroup.

4) Commercial and Money-Making Posts are defined as posts whose primary
purpose is to solicit a benefit for the poster.  This would include, but is
not limited to, advertisements of businesses, direct advertisements of goods
and/or services for sale, posts advertising the availability of goods and/or
services for sale through another medium, promotion of business opportunities,
money-making schemes, and chain letters.

Simply listing a business name, address, phone number, URL, etc. in one's
signature is not considered commercial use of the newsgroup.  However,
signatures that are in fact advertisements, or which solicit readers to
patronize a for-profit venture or visit a commercial web site fall under
the definition of commercial or money-making posts.  Posts bearing such
signatures are subject to rejection as such.

Posts promoting newsgroup related activities are not considered commercial
or money-making posts since there is no financial benefit to any of the
individuals involved.  These activities would include but are not limited
to the RASN Sponsorship Fund, raffles, and RASN reunions.

Posts advising the group of charitable racing-related events or offering
NASCAR event or NASCAR/stockcar race tickets at or below face value are also
permitted.

5) Profanity/Racial Slurs - Posters should view r.a.s.n.m as polite mixed
company and watch their language accordingly.  Only a short list of words
will be disallowed.  Nevertheless, posters to RASNM are advised and encouraged
to use the same standards that apply in the Sunday comics.  Specifically,
changing all letters in profanity to special characters like !@#$% .  However,
when quoting material such as scanner bites, interviews etc.., the first
letter of the word may be left in place so that readers can deduce what was
actually said.

6) Crossposts - defined as posts also directed to any other newsgroup.
Exceptions to this limit are made for Usenet Administrative purposes (as
from news.announce.newgroups) and for posts from rec.autos.sport.info.

7) Binaries - Binary posts are defined as posts that include UUencoded,
MIME-encoded, or any other form of binary message in the body or signature
other than Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) signatures.  This includes, but is
not limited to, pictures, audio files, executables, and HTML.  Binaries
should be posted to an appropriate binaries newsgroup or a web page. A brief
informative notice should then be sent to the newsgroup.  The FAQ for this
group will list any web sites that have volunteered to have binaries posted
from r.a.s.n.m readers, and how to get the binary posted.

8) Email Addresses - Since an author's first post to r.a.s.n.m generates
an auto-response detailing the registration procedure, it is strongly
recommended that at least the first submission to the group carry a valid
return e-mail address.  This will avoid a delay in the registration process
that would result if the auto-response bounces.  A person may register to
post under a "munged" address to defeat spambots, but the altered address
must be readily decipherable into the poster's valid address by a human.
This does not cut off the use of pseudonymous remailers or munged headers,
both of which are allowable.

9) Copyrighted material - Quoting a line or two of copyrighted material
is not against the law.  However, quoting entire articles is a copyright
violation (unless the poster has permission from the copyright holder).  If
articles are available on the web, a short summary of the article with a URL
is the accepted method of posting.  Proper credit must be given to all
copyrighted material.

The following are discouraged, but will not be rejected outright.

1) Posts in languages other than English
2) Signatures over 6 lines
3) Posts with difficult to read formatting
4) Posts only containing questions answered completely in the FAQ

1) Non-English - At this time, 100% of the readers of the group know English,
with English being the only language of most readers.  Therefore, English is
strongly recommended as the posting language of choice for r.a.s.n.m.
Posts in languages other than English will be examined for approval if any
of the moderators can read the language in question. There is no guarantee of
approval for posts in any language other than English.

2) Signatures - USENET netiquette limits signatures to four lines.  For
r.a.s.n.m, posters are encouraged to keep their signatures to six lines
or less. PGP signature data and additional lines automatically added by
services such as hotmail and Deja News are not included in the count, but
all other text, including boxes around the signature, is included.

3) Readability - USENET Netiquette says that for everyone's enjoyment,
all posts should have right margins in the 60-70 range. The range from 60-70
is for unquoted text.  Quoted text may continue to expand to the right.  Also,
over 2/3 text quoted from previous posters is strongly discouraged.  If a
poster regularly fails to meet these simple rules, a moderator will contact
the person to find out if they can fix the problem.

4) FAQ - Posters asking questions that are covered completely in the FAQ will
be sent a copy of the FAQ and the post will be accepted.  Other posters are
encouraged to welcome the user, respond to the post, or remain silent.

Moderation overview:

Moderation procedure - To reduce their workload and expedite the posting of
articles to the group, the moderation team will employ automated moderation
software (robo-moderation). As much of the work as possible will be turned
over to the moderation software.  This software will scan each incoming
article, then either post it directly to the group without human review,
return it to the author with an appropriate explanation, or forward it to a
human moderator.  Posts will either be accepted in whole, or rejected. The
moderators will NEVER modify them at all.

All rejected posts will be returned to the originating email address with an
explanation for the rejection and instructions for appealing the rejection.
The moderators cannot be held accountable for internet failures or
undeliverable email.

Auto-rejection: binaries, crossposts, profanity, racial slurs, and articles
from authors on the auto-reject list will be automatically rejected. The
moderation team will maintain a list of words that will cause a post to be
automatically rejected.  In the spirit of allowing as much free expression
as possible, the list will be as short as possible while still insuring a
civil environment within the group.

Auto-kickout:  There will be another short list of potentially offensive
words that will cause a post to be kicked out for human moderation.  These
lists can be modified as needed by a simple majority vote of the moderators.
Posters may explicitly request human moderation of an article by placing the
special phrase MOD-HUMAN in the subject line.  This may be desirable if the
author feels there may be something in the article that would cause the
moderation software to automatically reject it. The moderators can also add
this tag to a thread.

Auto-approve:  Provided an article does not trigger an auto-rejection or
auto-kickout, articles from authors on the auto-approve list will be posted
directly to the group without human review.

Moderation sequence:  All incoming articles will be moderated according
to the following sequence with steps 1-4 being performed by the moderation
software.

1. Is the author a first time poster?
        Yes - Initiate the registration process (see below)
        No  - Continue

2. Is there an auto-kickout?
        Yes - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)
        No  - Continue

3. Are there grounds for auto-rejection?
        Yes - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.
        No  - Continue

4. Is the author on the auto-approve list?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Forward the article to a human moderator (goto step 5)

5. Does the article meet the charter guidelines?
        Yes - Post the article to the newsgroup
        No  - Return the article to the author with an
                explanation for the rejection.

r.a.s.n.m registration:  When the moderation software detects an article
from a first time poster, an auto-response containing the charter, FAQ and
instructions for completing the registration are returned to the author.
The article is forwarded to a human moderator. Should the auto-response
bounce back to a moderator and a valid reply-to address for the author
cannot be determined, the registration cannot be completed and the initial
article will not be posted.  If the moderator can determine a valid address,
they will forward the registration information to the author's valid address.

When the author acknowledges by return e-mail that he/she has read the
material and agrees to abide by the charter, he/she is placed on the auto-
approve list.  If the initial article is on charter, it is posted at that
time.

Human moderation:  Individual moderators will have the authority to
reject articles that are clearly off-charter (commercial or money-making
posts, etc.), and to accept articles that are clearly on-charter.  Should
there be any question about an article being reviewed, it will be forwarded
to another moderator for a second opinion.  If the first two moderators to
review an article agree, it will be accepted or rejected accordingly.  If
the first two moderators to review an article disagree, the article will be
forwarded to a third moderator for a deciding vote.

Moderators will execute the above procedure as rapidly as possible in
order to minimize the delay in getting human moderated articles posted.

Key to the moderation philosophy, articles will not be rejected because
of the author's opinion or position on an issue, nor will any human moderated
post be rejected because of the author of the post.  Moderator's opinions will
be expressed only within their own posts, not within their moderation
activities.  Anyone who is willing to follow the Charter guidelines is welcome
to post to r.a.s.n.m, and their posts will be accepted unedited if they have
followed the Charter criteria.  Posts will never be edited by moderators.

If a moderator discovers off-charter material posted in the group, he/she
has three options:

1) Ignore it if it isn't blatant
2) Send an e-mail reminder of charter guidelines to the poster
3) Temporary removal of the poster's auto-post status

How the off-charter post is handled will be determined by what response the
situation warrants, but the moderator should use restraint whenever possible
and use removal of auto-post status only as a last resort.  In the event
that the moderator feels the situation is severe enough to warrant temporarily
suspending the author's auto-approve privilege, the moderator must immediately
notify the other moderators and forward a copy of the post to the rest of the
moderation team.  The moderation team must then decide within one week
whether to restore the author to auto-approve or continue the suspension.  A
two-thirds majority is required to maintain the suspension.  Posters suspended
from auto-approve may continue to post, but all their articles will be subject
to human moderation while the suspension is in effect.  Auto-approve may be
restored at any time by a simple majority vote of the moderators.

A poster who consistently submits off-charter material may be placed on the
auto-reject list by a two-thirds majority vote of the moderators.
Posters placed on auto-reject for this reason will be sent a copy of the
charter, FAQ and instructions on how to petition for reinstatement.

Individuals who engage in threatening or abusive behavior toward a moderator,
or who attempt to interfere with the normal operation of the newsgroup or the
internet accounts supporting the newsgroup or it's members, other than
reporting net-abuse, will be placed on auto-reject for not less than one
year.

Moderator administration and changes:  The moderation team will initially plan
to include 5 to 7 moderators.  They will be responsible for maintaining the
moderation software and reviewing articles that are neither auto-approved nor
auto-rejected. New moderators can be added as deemed appropriate upon the
approval of two-thirds of the existing moderators. Candidates for new
moderators will only be taken from those people who have been on the
auto-approve list continuously for 3 months.  During the first 3 months of the
newsgroup, the 3 month requirement will be waived.  A special call for
volunteers can be posted when an existing moderator steps down or when
the workload on the moderators is deemed sufficient that they feel it is
appropriate to increase their number.

There will be an administrative mailing list, on which the moderators can
discuss the enforcement and modification of the guidelines given here.

A thread may be marked for human attention upon agreement of a majority of
the moderators. This overrides normal auto-approval and content based
auto-rejection, and brings all posts in the thread to moderator attention so
potential problems can be dealt with before measures as drastic as
removal of auto-approval status are called for.  Notice of thread marking
may be posted to the newsgroup, but is not required.

Appeals: A poster who feels that a rejected post was within the charter
can appeal to the administrative list. If a majority of the moderators agree
that the post should be approved, it will be posted as usual.  If the poster's
auto-approve status was suspended as a result of an article that is
successfully appealed, auto-approve will be restored.

Complaints or compliments about moderator judgments, and other matters related
to the running of the newsgroup are welcome on the administrative list, but
not on the newsgroup. No post relating to such discussions will be approved
for the newsgroup. Any decision made about action to take (or not to take) is
final.  Posters who persist in pressing the issue will be subject to
auto-rejection.

Charter revisions: Any discussion on revision of the charter must include
"CHARTER:" as the beginning of the subject line.  After discussion in the
newsgroup, the moderators will judge the group consensus and let the group
know if any charter changes take place. Any changes must pass with a 2/3rds
majority of the moderators agreeing on what the group is requesting.  This
is not a vote of the opinions of the moderators, but rather to ensure that
the moderators have a clear understanding of what the members of the newsgroup
want.  If the moderators are not sure of the consensus of the group, or if
members of the group challenge the moderators' decision, an actual vote will
be taken. Votes will require a 2/3 majority to modify the charter.  The
moderators will post all results of charter modification votes to the group
after the voting is completed.  The subject line will include the phrase
"CHARTER:" so that those who wish to ignore them can skip the threads or set
their killfiles/filters to ignore them.  Changes will also be made to the FAQ.

The FAQ will be posted every Friday.

Moderators who are unwilling or unable to uphold the charter in their personal
posts or moderation activities may be removed by a two-thirds vote of the
other moderators.

Third party cancels ('retro-moderation') by anyone, including but not limited
to moderators, is strictly against newsgroup policy.

Disclaimer:
- The moderators of this newsgroup are not responsible for
  truthfulness or legality of any of the posts.
- The approval of a post by a moderator is NOT an endorsement by the
  moderator or moderation team.
- Posters assume full responsibility for the content of their posts.
- Readers using information that appears in the newsgroup do so at
  their own risk.
- Posters agree that by posting items to this newsgroup they
  indemnify and hold harmless the moderation team and service
  providers.

END CHARTER.

MODERATOR INFO: rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated

Moderator: "Eric O. Troldahl" <etroll@carracing.com>
Moderator: Bob Paxton <bpaxton@carracing.com>
Moderator: Deven Atkinson <deven@carracing.com>
Moderator: "Lisa A. Carbrey" <lcarbrey@carracing.com>
Moderator: John Martin <jtmartin@carracing.com>
Moderator: Martin Moleski <moleski@canisius.edu>
Moderator: Chris Watkins <C_Watkins@carracing.com>

Article submission address: rasnm@carracing.com
Administrative contact address: rasnm-admin@carracing.com

END MODERATOR INFO.



rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated Final Voter list

Voted YES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
nascar3 [at] bestweb<DOT>net                                   Craig Witkowski
da229 [at] freenet.carleton.ca                                      Ken Hilson
hruska [at] nortel.ca                                               Bob Hruska
janetm [at] unixg.ubc.ca                                        Janet Morrison
denis [at] csg.uwaterloo.ca                                      Denis Rowland
miked [at] 99main.com                                                 Mike Day
rthlsbrj [at] pprd.abbott.com                               John Rothlisberger
rpali [at] alienshore.com                                            Rick Pali
bwblevins [at] amoco.com                                         Brian Blevins
afret69 [at] aol.com                                              Pat Champion
biffan [at] aol.com                                                 L. A. Carr
Cadman14X [at] AOL.com                                                Tim Dike
FAN3car [at] aol.com                                            Glenn T. Allen
Honaker1 [at] aol.com                                              Joe Honaker
injedolds [at] aol.com                                               Injedolds
JRs660fan [at] aol.com                                              John Owren
lkrz [at] aol.com                                                Laura Kreuzer
Omajahn [at] aol.com
perkykimmy [at] aol.com                                       Kimberly Douglas
racerdave6 [at] aol.com                                          David Blaskey
rbemben [at] aol.com                                         Richard E. Bemben
sforsell [at] aol.com                                            Scott Forsell
SLMehl [at] aol.com                                             Shari Mehlhose
Tinadog [at] aol.com                                                Jerry Kyte
Trezzer [at] aol.com                                             Terry Kiernan
Winstongal [at] aol.com                                                    Sue
kimdv [at] best.com                                               Kim DeVaughn
aclaffie [at] bgnn.com                                         Alan J. Claffie
stufflehead [at] bigfoot.com                               Kenneth W. Sodemann
mark [at] breland.com                                          Mark A. Breland
kurtis [at] centilliondata.com                                   Kurtis Miller
KR10 [at] chrysler.com                                          Kurt Rasmussen
lgl [at] coact.com                                                 Louis Lauer
charlie.andrews [at] commobunker.com                        Charles D. Andrews
LStaley [at] compuserve.com                                       Laura Staley
agross [at] cray.com                                           Alan Grossmeier
cathyr [at] cybergal.com                                         Cathy Ribbeck
dougk [at] cyberia.com                                  Douglas B. Klunk</DIV>
darren [at] cybrtyme.com                                           Darren Ford
booda [at] datasync.com                                        Martin H. Booda
guymacon [at] deltanet.com                   guymacon@deltanet.com (Guy Macon)
bpaxton [at] dittosrush.com                                         Bob Paxton
jberkan [at] dlcwest.com                                          Jason Berkan
steve [at] downtowncomputing.com                                Steven D. Owen
julesd [at] edifax.com                                            Jules Dubois
bherdman [at] efni.com                                           Bryan Herdman
LINC41 [at] erols.com                                           Peggy Stafford
lovelimo [at] erols.com                                        Glenn Stafford.
rmacdon [at] execpc.com                                          Ray MacDonald
chipw [at] fanlinks.com                                             Chip White
david [at] farrar.com                                             David Farrar
brenda [at] flexbon.com                                            Brenda Will
heather [at] flexbon.com                                     Heather Krajewski
les [at] flexbon.com                                                     Les =
teresak [at] flexbon.com                                        Teresa Kessler
tina [at] flexbon.com                                           Tina Yescavage
dchadwi1 [at] ford.com                                           Dawn Chadwick
jchadwi1 [at] ford.com                                           John Chadwick
KJENSEN [at] forum.com                                            Karen Jensen
cartisan [at] hotmail.com                                           Newton Fig
tinylights [at] hotmail.com                                       Henry Kelley
bird [at] icomnet.com                                          ROBIN L. BELYEA
rbatina [at] infinet.com                                       Robert J Batina
moyra [at] interlog.com                                         Moyra J. Bligh
dutch [at] jerseycape.com                                    Richard P. Ludwig
bob-in-jersey [at] juno.com                                         Bob Frable
ranmeister [at] juno.com                                          Randy Turner
reel [at] lexmark.com                                             Richard Reel
sscott [at] lightlink.com                                          Steve Scott
rem [at] winner.lc.lucent.com                                Richard Menninger
tomatocountry [at] lycosemail.com                                   Andy Bowen
mgraden [at] mci2000.com                                           Mike Graden
jackd [at] metrics.com                                             Jack Durbin
bweidner [at] mindspring.com                                      Bill Weidner
cagreen [at] mindspring.com                                        Cathy Green
deliveryboy [at] mindspring.com                         John 'aka' Deliveryboy
dowatts [at] mindspring.com                                        David Watts
franmc [at] mindspring.com                                 Fran McGuigan</DIV>
jlalmand [at] mindspring.com                                         JL Almand
mcguigan [at] mindspring.com                                     Mike McGuigan
jbstok [at] opel.mindspring.com                                  J. B. Stokley
umytbnxt [at] mindspring.com                                     Chris Watkins
jeff.gutshall [at] smtpgate.MSAnet.com                           Jeff Gutshall
3424n98 [at] msn.com                                               Brenda Frey
anadandy [at] my-dejanews.com                                       Anne Bulin
rw131144 [at] exchange.DAYTONOH.NCR.com                             Rick Wolfe
gjeglint [at] ix.netcom.com                                      Greg Eglinton
igopogo [at] ix.netcom.com                                          John McCoy
John.Musolino [at] Newsday.com                                   John Musolino
thul [at] newsguy.com                                                Matt Thul
racefan [at] nni.com                                            joesph nielson
Kevin.Bagwell.kbagwell [at] nt.com                               Kevin Bagwell
tduwe [at] primenet.com                                               Tom Duwe
GHDK38B [at] prodigy.com                                           Len Ashburn
pspegal [at] commsrv.pssd.com                                   Paul M. Spegal
rapp [at] rcn.com                                                   James Rapp
rcarpenter [at] redshift.com                              Rebecca E. Carpenter
njbell [at] midsouth.rr.com                                         Noble Bell
nwelch1 [at] rochester.rr.com                                     Welch Family
wanderso [at] siemens-psc.com                               Warren D. Anderson
donpettyjohn [at] sprintmail.com                           Donald C. Pettyjohn
blueslvr [at] sprynet.com                                         Roy W. Forgy
dkwii [at] sprynet.com                                             David Wynia
eige [at] sprynet.com                                             Jamison Eige
stamper [at] stamper.com                                         Chris Stamper
arielle [at] taronga.com                                    Stephanie da Silva
daver [at] teleport.com                                      David F. Reynolds
heitke [at] tellabs.com                                           Steve Heitke
RonHickman [at] unisys.com                                         Ron Hickman
kdyer [at] ncal.verio.com                                        Kathleen Dyer
jerryh [at] wrq.com                                           Jerald L. Holmes
falcon77777 [at] yahoo.com                                     David Champagne
naddy [at] mips.rhein-neckar.de                           Christian Weisgerber
vote [at] kholdan.snafu.de                                         tobias erle
angooddr [at] alfredtech.edu                                       Dale Angood
Susan_Bowlin [at] baylor.edu                                      Susan Bowlin
kevin.james [at] bc.edu                                            Kevin James
moleski [at] canisius.edu                                Martin X. Moleski, SJ
ndowning [at] budget.emory.edu                               Nicole M. Downing
hh299 [at] cleveland.Freenet.Edu                                Jim Baranovich
jl64 [at] prism.gatech.edu                                        Jeffrey Lahr
slhowell [at] cs1.presby.edu                                     Sam L. Howell
bwf2 [at] psu.edu                                                 Brian France
rick [at] bcm.tmc.edu                                           Richard Miller
cdash [at] cs.uccs.edu                                            Charlie Shub
lcmatteson [at] ucdavis.edu                                   Lynn C. Matteson
clund [at] daedalus.ucsd.edu                                  Christopher Lund
escowles [at] gort.ucsd.edu                                  kevin esme cowles
sdonoh1 [at] gl.umbc.edu                         Scott C. Donohue, BS, NREMT-P
ejsharp [at] umich.edu                                          Elmer J. Sharp
rufinus [at] mbe.ece.wisc.edu                                        J Rufinus
mmalbert [at] facstaff.wisc.edu                                 Michele Albert
tlit [at] loc.gov                                               Tom Littlejohn
jpc [at] drum.msfc.nasa.gov                                    J. Porter Clark
dosselw [at] eustis.army.mil                                  Dossel, Will CDR
janders [at] nswc.navy.mil                                  Joseph O. Anderson
terwillj [at] af.pentagon.mil                                  Jim Terwilliger
christopher.gary [at] acd.net                                 Gary Christopher
edwardp [at] mailhost.col.ameritech.net                         Edward Dittmer
barpushrod [at] att.net                                       Bruce Richardson
DrJohn [at] worldnet.att.net                                      Kenn Johnson
lcarbrey [at] worldnet.att.net                                 Lisa A. Carbrey
gregory [at] bcn.net                                          Gregory E Nadeau
bmatthws [at] bellatlantic.net                                   Bill Matthews
bthomas [at] bellatlantic.net                                      bill thomas
jjohnso4 [at] bellsouth.net                                   Johnny I Johnson
jpricket [at] bellsouth.net                                     Jason Prickett
oldsteel [at] bellsouth.net                                       Ronnie Hiatt
racecar3 [at] bellsouth.net                                     Nancy Kendrick
samjo [at] bellsouth.net                                           Sam Johnson
lori_Merriman [at] webmail.bellsouth.net                         LORI MERRIMAN
Merriman [at] webmail.bellsouth.net                          Brian J. Merriman
kev [at] bright.net                                            Kevin Schroeder
dnewton [at] buffnet.net                              Dave Newton</FONT></DIV>
dilligaf [at] carolina.net                                          JAMES HART
tumbl [at] cei.net                                                Tom Brinkman
skid [at] cyberbeach.net                                          Jim Robinson
dapaxton [at] dbtech.net                                           Andy Paxton
champ [at] access.digex.net                                     Larry Champion
kplotkin [at] access.digex.net                                 Kenneth Plotkin
pbern7 [at] earthlink.net                                       Paul Bernhardt
pwandmo [at] earthlink.net                                              PhilCo
whackamole [at] earthlink.net                                      Billy Goode
fred [at] eatel.net                                   Frederick J. Barnett Jr.
429tjet [at] exis.net                                             John McManus
lmccomb [at] fgi.net                                                Liz McComb
etroll [at] flash.net                                         Eric O. Troldahl
filter1 [at] gte.net                                                    Mike =
mnc1 [at] gte.net                                                 Cindy Murray
pssmith [at] gte.net                                               Perry Smith
cornutt [at] hiwaay.net                                       David K. Cornutt
gmcgriff [at] hiwaay.net                                       Gary S. McGriff
pscampbe [at] mail.HiWAAY.net                                 Patrick Campbell
bagheeras [at] ibm.net
kward01 [at] ibm.net                                                Kathy Ward
tjwestdorp [at] ibm.net                                     Thomas J. Westdorp
sapotter [at] indy.net                                           Samuel Potter
jphelps [at] infi.net                                              John Phelps
skurz [at] norfolk.infi.net                                         Steve Kurz
wdossel [at] infi.net                                              Will Dossel
twohams [at] InfoAve.Net                                         Phil Flanagan
crs1208 [at] inforamp.net                                        Doug Chambers
merriman [at] inweb.net                                      Clifford Merriman
rsteve [at] iquest.net                                               Ron Steve
rusty2 [at] magicnet.net                                         George  Cayro
deven [at] Mcs.Net                                           Deven D. Atkinson
pgravel [at] mcs.net                                          Philip L. Gravel
dlcook [at] mediaone.net                                         David L. Cook
gglaser [at] minn.net                                            Ginger Glaser
elkins [at] mis.net                                                Sean Elkins
hbelkins [at] mis.net                                              H.B. Elkins
renegade [at] myriad.net                                          James Storrs
esiska [at] netrax.net                                             Ellen Siska
jochurch [at] norwich.net                                      Joyce N. Church
Dalefans [at] prodigy.net                                          Karen Adams
mccollom [at] prodigy.net                                   Steven R. McCollom
barney [at] rahul.net                                             GARY UYEHARA
doc [at] rr1.net                                              Gloria Koshinski
spynx [at] diamond.sierra.net                                       Jack Durst
tucked [at] swbell.net                                         David D. Tucker
jtmartin [at] teleplex.net                                         John Martin
dbutler [at] telplus.net                                     Douglas J. Butler
bulrogue [at] tiac.net                                               Tim Bulin
true [at] together.net                                             Tammie True
tsuitor [at] together.net                                           Tom Suitor
btwohig [at] total.net                                                   Barry
lynnh [at] voyager.net                                        Lynn Hershberger
adwiz [at] webtv.net                                             William Allen
floridananny [at] webtv.net                                     Patricia Kraus
floridapoppy [at] webtv.net                                          Ken Kraus
racefan6 [at] webtv.net                                          Glenda Morgan
mnielsen [at] worldramp.net                                       Beth Nielsen
jan [at] haar.ddns.org                                                Jan Haar
Hammy [at] croila.demon.co.uk                                      Hamish Bell
desert_rat [at] ridgecrest.ca.us                                  Harry Krabbe
bob_woody [at] co.benton.wa.us                                       Bob Woody

Voted NO
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
chriseb [at] nortel.ca                                          Chris Ebenezer
SheetNFire [at] aol.com                                             John Amble
SomeBetch [at] aol.com                                               Don Lucas
stainles [at] bga.com                                             Dwight Brown
tjmc [at] enteract.com                                                    tjmc
jason [at] gaydeceiver.com                                       Jason Steiner
celticwiccan [at] hotmail.com                                      Peter Byron
jacobchase [at] hotmail.com                                        Jacob Chase
swm33philly [at] hotmail.com                                        Philly Guy
ken [at] intranet.com                                                 Ken Piel
kiteworks [at] juno.com                                      Franklin Benjamin
rocklobster97 [at] juno.com                                        Wayne Gomes
thenutz [at] lvcm.com                                            Darlene Blair
rherby [at] mindspring.com                                       Rich Herbison
olav [at] viking.mv.com                                        Olav Nieuwejaar
collect [at] netaxs.com                                            Eric Norris
tgm [at] netcom.com                                       Thomas G. McWilliams
dc [at] panix.com                                            David W. Crawford
suekz [at] servtech.com                                     Susan Klimowicz| =
bobaboooey [at] yahoo.com                                           Bob Abooey
Ekkehard.Uthke [at] gmx.de                                      Ekkehard Uthke
brsweene [at] indiana.edu                                     Brian P. Sweeney
ellis [at] ftel.net                                                 Rick Ellis
icefish [at] pottsville.infi.net                                  Chris Pauley
jceman [at] mediaone.net                                         Jack R. Ceman
wakelyn [at] pinn.net                                              Tom Wakelyn
mcook [at] prodigy.net                                               Mark Cook
vhamrick [at] snip.net                                       Victor Hamrick| =
gordon.fan [at] usa.net                                       Jefferson Thomas
StephenD [at] ASU.uswest.net                                  Stephen Dorrough
AlanLivingston [at] acm.org                                 Alan J. Livingston
pb10003 [at] cus.cam.ac.uk                                      Paul Bolchover

Abstained
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JKing1823 [at] aol.com                                           Jeff Kingsley
chris [at] kzim.com                                Christopher Robin Zimmerman
bjcox [at] jax-inter.net                                           Barbara Cox

Invalid votes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hotater* [at] magiclink.com                                          Jack Belk
    ! Vote based on non-votetaker ballot distribution
Sebf [at] Normandnet.Fr                                              Sebastien
    ! No vote statement in message
tpc [at] indigo.ie                                                Tom Cosgrave
    ! No vote statement in message
twdixon [at] usa.net                                                 Tom Dixon
    ! Undeliverable address (user has cancelled account)


-- 
Neil Crellin, UVV <neilc@stanford.edu>

