icsds@cs.montana.edu (Denbigh Starkey) (02/18/91)
Proposed new groups: soc.college.grad soc.college.grad.d
Replaces proposal for misc.grad-schools
Summary of the proposed new groups:
soc.college.grad To be used exclusively for periodic announcements,
in standard form, describing graduate programs.
soc.college.grad.d To be used for discussions about graduate schools.
On January 29, 1991, I posted a CFD for a new group, and proposed that it
be named misc.grad-schools. The basic concept received strong support,
except for disagreements about the proposed name, about whether graduate
school discussions should be included, and about whether or not it should
be moderated. I'll cover my views on these in the next three paragraphs.
Nobody made any criticisms of the basic concept or of the specific
information that should be included in the standard informational postings.
Group name: There were a wide variety of comments about the hierarchy
and name that I selected, best summarized by Greg Kuperberg who said:
>It's a good idea but a bad name. soc.grad-schools would be a better name,
>and soc.college.grad would be better still. "misc" is a curse to the net.
Alternative hierarchies proposed by Greg and others were based on the
existing soc.college and misc.education hierarchies. Since soc.college
is read by an estimated 35,000 USENET readers, as compared to 14,000 for
misc.education, and is also received by 5% more sites (82% vs. 77%),
I selected the soc.college hierarchy for continued discussion.
Two groups: I now propose two new groups, soc.college.grad and
soc.college.grad.d, with soc.college.grad restricted to departmental ads
in specified format, and soc.college.grad.d for unrestricted discussions
of graduate schools. This decision seems to match the majority of the
comments that have been made.
Moderated or unmoderated: All people making comments have agreed that the
discussion group should be unmoderated. There is disagreement on whether
or not the main group should be moderated. My personal opinion is that
groups should only be moderated if the lack of moderation causes problems.
I suggest that soc.college.grad be unmoderated, but with a monthly READ
THIS BEFORE YOU POST posting which explains the differences between the
two groups, and the guidelines for posting to soc.college.grad. I
volunteer to post the monthly posting, and also to be responsible for
sending out polite e-mail reminders when users badly abuse the guidelines
or policy. If significant problems arise, then I suggest that we should
reconsider moderation at that time. Moderated groups have problems with
moderators taking vacations, getting busy, etc., and I hope that we would
be able to control the group without this extra bureaucracy. Moderated
groups also cause problems for a number of news posting systems
particularly if cross-posting is attempted. To remove some potential
problems with follow-ups, I've added a rule into the soc.college.grad
charter that followups must be directed to soc.college.grad.d.
Charter for soc.college.grad:
This news group will be restricted to the dissemination of information
about graduate programs. Currently there are a number of relatively
expensive (and often ineffective) ways for graduate schools to distribute
information including fliers, Peterson's Guides, professional society
student directories, etc. The proposed new group would provide an
additional, simple place for students who are looking for graduate school
information. In addition, for many international students it would
become the best way for obtaining information about universities in other
countries.
This will be an unmoderated group, but with a set of rules that are posted
each month. These rules would be designed to keep the group as effective
as possible as an official source of information for prospective
graduate students. There will be four conventions or rules:
1. Standard Subject line, listing the degree area and the university.
e.g. Subject: Computer Science, Montana State University
2. Standard format in the body of the proposal. Information to be
filled in should include:
(a) Name, e-address, phone, and snail-address for a contact point.
(b) Faculty names, degrees, interests, and e-addresses.
(c) Facilities available for graduate students.
(d) Availability of financial support.
(e) Degrees offered.
(f) Specific requirements. (e.g., GRE, TOEFL, TSE, etc.)
(g) Deadline for applications.
(h) Description of the university and location (150 words max).
3. No department will be able to post more than once each month.
4. All postings must specify a followup field of soc.college.grad.d
Charter for soc.college.grad:
An unmoderated group for the discussion of graduate school issues. Will
also act as the followup group for discussions initiated by announcements
in the misc.college.grad group.
This is a revised CFD for the proposed new groups. In addition to
soc.college, misc.education, and other similar groups, I have cross-posted
to some of the larger overseas soc.culture groups since their readers are
likely to benefit from the proposal, but following the normal USENET
guidelines for group creation, all followups are directed to news.groups,
where discussion should take place.
Denbigh S.
starkey@cs.montana.edu, starkey@mtsunix1.bitnet
406-994-4780 (work), 406-586-7614 (home)