🚀 go-pugleaf

                     REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)
               unmoderated group rec.autos.sport.rally

This is a formal call for debate about the idea of creating a new
newsgroup for discussions about rallying. In keeping with policy this
debate must be carried out in the newsgroup "news.groups" so if you
have a contribution please take the time to wade through that group
and make it. Opinions by e-mail to dcc@dcs.ed.ac.uk are also welcome.

RATIONALE

There are a number of reasons why a rally news group would be useful.

The rec.autos.sport group has recently split into a heirarchy with
specialist groups for Formula 1, NASCAR, IndyCar etc. This has largely
been a success, e.g. the amount of "Indy is better than F1! No it
isn't!" verbiage from rec.autos.sport has not carried over.

In the new heirarchy there is no real place for rally articles, with
most being consigned to obscurity in groups like rec.autos.sport.misc.
Most people with an interest in motorsport take an interest in
rallying, which is the world's most popular form of motorsport. The
level of rally traffic in rec.autos.sport.* does not currently reflect
this popularity. A specific rally group would concentrate exisiting
traffic in one place and encourage new growth.

The two road rally mailing lists have a strong and active membership.
A recent need for one of them to find a new host brought home the fact
that mailing list rely on the generosity of the owner of their host
site. After much debate the consensus seemed to be that the best
option was to find another site for mailing list, but that a UseNet
newsgroup would also prove popular.

There are two obvious possibilities for the name:
rec.autos.sport.rally and rec.sport.rally. There was an unfortunate
tendency for the now deprecated group rec.autos.sport to attract posts
about "sports models" of normal road cars, rather than motor sport,
which led people to suggest the latter name for this new group.
However, the split of the r.a.s group into a tree has made its intent
more obvious, and recent posters of this type of article have been
deliberately violating the charter. These kinds of post are impossible
to prevent. The former name would place the group together with groups
of a similar purpose and make it easier to find for less experienced
readers of UseNet.

DRAFT CHARTER

1. The group shall be named rec.autos.sport.rally

2. It shall be unmoderated

3. The term "rally" in this context is taken to mean any competition
in which a car of a road-going type and its crew of two or more people
attempt to follow a route to a set time schedule and in which driving
is expected to form a competitive element.

4. The group shall be a forum for discussion on any matter concerned
with any form of rallying, at any levels of cost and ability, and
involvement in all roles including spectating, marshalling
organisation and competing. This will include but not be limited to:

    - Technical aspects of rally cars; car preparation, special parts,
      suspension an engine tuning, safety equipment, tyres, lights,
      manufacturer and dealer support
    - Driving techniques
    - Navigational and co-driving techniques and equipment; pace
      notes, road reading, clue solving, time management, trip meters,
      map lights, tactics
    - Comparisons of different forms of rallying, the history and
      ethos of the sport, its social, economic and environmental
      impacts
    - Rules and regulations, their interpretation and effect
    - Organisation of rallies; route planning, cost management,
      logistics, sponsorship, safety
    - The FIA World Rally Championship and other premier rally series,
      works teams, their drivers, cars, management, etc.
    - Legal matters related to rallying
    - Event information for potential competitors, spectators or
      marshals

5. "Advertising" posts, offering cars, equipment or services for
sale will only be acceptable if they are directly relevant to the
subject matter of the group and their distribution is strictly
controlled with an appropriate "Distribution:" line

6. The following subjects in particular will NOT be welcome in the group
and will be actively discouraged:

    - Discussions about non-rally cars, e.g.
      "What headers do I use on my small block Chevy street rod?"
    - Advertising for non-rally cars, e.g.
      "Miata for sale, 28k miles"
    - Advertising for services unrelated to motor sport
    - Pointless "advocacy" and flame incitement postings, e.g.
      "Brand x cars are crap, brand y are brilliant"
      "Driver z is a complete ********"
    - Chain letters, pyramid schemes, spam posts, e.g. "MAKE.MONEY.FAST"
      and Olga's lonely hearts column



PROCEDURE

This RFD will be discussed for approximately a month in the group
news.groups, and the points raised used to improve the proposal. If
there is a significant change then another RFD will be drafted with a
further month of discussion.

After this time, a Call For Votes (CFV) will be posted, which will run
for about three weeks. Voting will be by e-mail only. Each user will
be allowed to cast one vote, in favour of the new group, against it,
or to register an official abstention.

If the vote is passed by a majority of 2/3 and more than 100 votes the
new group will be created.


DISTRIBUTION

news.announce.newgroups (moderated), news.groups,
rec.autos.sport.info (moderated), rec.autos.sport.misc,
rec.autos.sport.tech, rec.autos.sport.nascar, rec.autos.sport.f1,
rec.autos.sport.indy

Rally-l mailing list
UK Road Rally Mailing List

This proposal was drafted by David Crooke <dcc@dcs.ed.ac.uk> with help
from David Lawrence <tale@uunet.uu.net>, Tom Haapanen <tomh@metrics.com>
and Richard Miller <rick@crick.ssctr.bcm.tmc.edu>.