From: nobody@vote.munitions.com
Newsgroups: alt.discuss,alt.discuss.config
Subject: IMPLEMENTED A.D CHANGE - Automatic Newsgroup Preproposal (modified 23 Jan 2000)
Followup-To: alt.discuss.config
Date: 23 Jan 2000 00:56:50 -0800
Organization: WebTV Networks, Inc.

The changes described below have been implemented and are now
in effect. The "New Rules" link on the voting page has not been
corrected to reflect these changes, but will be in the next day
or so. In addition:

1. There is a new link on the voting page that allows you to bring up
the proposals that are in the preproposal stage

2. When you revise a preproposal charter, you can also revise the
tagline.

3. Newsgroup taglines are displayed below the newsgroup name on the voting
page.

Proposed Modifications:

1. The proposal can be cancelled at any time during preproposal OR
during the vote. As before, the charter can only be modified during
the preproposal period and only 3 times.

REASON: the advice given during preproposal may be ignored until the
proposer sees "no" votes flowing in, or the advice given during preproposal
may not be an accurate reflection of the will of the voters.

2. When a user cancels a proposal, no account on that user's WebTV unit
will be able to propose a newsgroup with THAT NAME again for the next
180 days.

REASON: to prevent users from cancelling an ongoing vote and then
reproposing the same group to "erase the no votes".

3. The 180-day ban on re-proposal of a newsgroup name will be dropped.
Anyone who has not proposed a group in the previous 180-days could
propose it. For example, if someone proposed and then cancelled
alt.discuss.state.hawaii, anyone but the accounts on that proposer's
system would be able to propose alt.discuss.state.hawaii.

REASON: to prevent users from maliciously using the proposal cancellation
mechanism to deprive sincere proposers of a newsgroup name.

4. The 180-day lockout on a newsgroup name after a failed vote will be
dropped in favor of a rule preventing THE SAME USER who proposed the
failed group from proposing THE SAME GROUP again for 180 days. Anyone
else would be able to propose it immediately.

REASON: Same as #3 - currently a user can propose a newsgroup with
a reasonable name and an insane charter, and let it fail its vote because
of the charter, thus locking up the name for the voting period plus the
lockout period.

5. Changed "mandatory" to "automatic" to reflect the fact that the
preproposal part of the modified process will happen, uh, automatically,
and that no additional action is required on the part of the proposer.

PROPOSED CHANGE (modified 14 Jan 2000):
When a group is proposed at the new voting site, it will go
through an automatic 7-day preproposal period. This would add
7 days to the voting period, meaning that it would take a minimum
of 14 days to create a new alt.discuss newsgroup, and the process
could go on for a total of 37 days.

When the proposal is created, the proposal (including charter)
will be posted to alt.discuss and alt.discuss.config for discussion.
The Subject line will begin with "Preproposal:".

The proposal can be cancelled during either the preproposal
period or at any time during the voting period. Once a vote is
cancelled, a group with the exact same name cannot be proposed by
the previous proposer (any account on that WebTV unit) for the following
180 days.

During the preproposal period, the charter can be revised up to 3 times.
Each charter revision will be posted to alt.discuss and alt.discuss.config.
The proposal cannot be voted on during the preproposal period.

No WebTV unit can have more than one proposal in the system at a
time.

At the end of the 7-day preproposal period, any newsgroup proposal that
has not been cancelled will be automatically elevated to a real
proposal. Once this happens, the proposal can be voted on and can still
be cancelled, but the charter cannot be revised. The current voting
rules will apply to the proposal. The proposal containing the final
form of the charter will be posted to alt.discuss and alt.discuss.config.
These events will most likely occur as part of the routine 1 AM PST vote
tally run.

If the vote on the proposed newsgroup fails, the proposer (or any account
on that WebTV unit) will not be allowed to propose a newsgroup with that
same name during the following 180 days.

Using the voting system as a toy will result in the abuser being
permanently banned from use of the voting system. This includes
frivolously creating proposals as a means of anonymously attacking
other alt.discuss readers.