[comp.misc] IEEE Computer Society news group

mrb@sei.cmu.edu (Mario Barbacci) (03/27/88)

A few weeks ago I posted a message proposing the creation of a moderated
group to carry IEEE Computer Society news. My original proposal suggested
comp.org.ieee-cs as the name of the new group but after hearing from several
voters, I would like to amend it to comp.org.ieee.cs. This makes sense since
there are several societies in the IEEE.

A couple of people suggested the creation of comp.org.misc as an interim
step and then split it as the need arose. The problem I have with this is
that such a group is harder to moderate -- there might be too much work for
a single moderator and things could be confusing to the readers. I believe
the IEEE (and the ACM for that matter) are big enough and important enough
to the profession that they should not be in a mixed bag.

This brings me to my next point. The YES votes are in a majority (see tally,
below) but there are not enough votes to create the group. I find it
distressing that the creation of a group to carry news of a computing
professional society is not receiving the attention it deserves. A few
months ago there was a proposal to create comp.org.acm and the initiative
died for lack of votes. This is a sad precedent.

There is still time to vote and if you are interested in the welfare of the
profession you should vote for this initiative. If you are interested in
supporting this new group, please send mail to:

		mrb@sei.cmu.edu (internet)
		mrb%sei.cmu.edu@cmuccvma (bitnet)
		uunet!sei.cmu.edu!mrb (uunet)

Thanks

Mario Barbacci
Vice-chair, Technical Activities Board
The Computer Society of the IEEE
------------------------------------------------------------------------
dcoster@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (David Peter Coster)			yes
hoptoad!pozar@uunet.UU.NET (Tim Pozar)					yes
ibrahim@p.cs.uiuc.edu (R. Mustafa Samik Ibrahim)			yes
Chuck Weinstock <weinstoc@SEI.CMU.EDU>					yes
rfm@Sun.COM (Richard McAllister)					yes
tom@uts.amdahl.com (Tom Goodwin)					yes
alpert@harvard.harvard.edu (Rich Alpert)				yes
Bjorn Lisper <lisper@YALE.ARPA>						yes
bsu-cs!dhesi@uunet.UU.NET (Rahul Dhesi)					yes
Jeff Wallace <jeffw%scheme.Berkeley.EDU@berkeley.edu>			yes
rja <steinmetz!rja@edison.ge.com>					yes
Ed Tecot <tecot@Apple.Com>						yes
david@dhw68k.cts.com (David H. Wolfskill)				yes
Dominic Dunlop <mcvax!sphinx.co.uk!domo@uunet.UU.NET>			yes
Anne Louise Gockel <ag4@vax1.ccs.cornell.edu>				yes
David S. Wise <dswise@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu>				yes
rick@seismo.CSS.GOV (Rick Adams)					yes
kraut@emx.utexas.edu (Werner Uhrig)					yes
abhg!misko@lll-lcc.llnl.gov						yes
						19 YES votes

jeff@gatech.edu (Jeff Lee)						no
david@Sun.COM (David DiGiacomo)						no
yeongw@nisc.nyser.net (Wengyik Yeong)					no
justin@inmet.inmet.com (Mark Waks)					no
webber@aramis.rutgers.edu (Bob Webber)					no
max%eros.Berkeley.EDU@cad.Berkeley.EDU (Max Hauser)			no
moss!codas!ki4pv!tanner@rutgers.edu					no
tower@buita.BU.EDU							no
cc1@CS.UCLA.EDU (Ken Bartlett)						no
						9 NO votes


--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mario R. Barbacci, (ArpaNet:barbacci@sei.cmu.edu)
Software Engineering Institute, CMU, Pittsburgh PA 15213, (412) 268-7704

pjh@mccc.UUCP (Peter J. Holsberg) (03/28/88)

Here's a YES vote.
-- 
Peter Holsberg                  UUCP: {rutgers!}princeton!mccc!pjh
Technology Division             CompuServe: 70240,334
Mercer College                  GEnie: PJHOLSBERG
Trenton, NJ 08690               Voice: 1-609-586-4800

max@arches.uucp (Max Hauser) (03/28/88)

In article <4749@aw.sei.cmu.edu> mrb@sei.cmu.edu (Mario Barbacci) writes:
>A few weeks ago I posted a message proposing the creation of a moderated
>group to carry IEEE Computer Society news. ...

>This brings me to my next point. The YES votes are in a majority (see tally,
>below) but there are not enough votes to create the group. I find it
>distressing that the creation of a group to carry news of a computing
>professional society is not receiving the attention it deserves. ...

>There is still time to vote and if you are interested in the welfare of the
>profession you should vote for this initiative. ...


I would not have responded but for these statements. Again with respect
for the sincerity and good intentions of the proponent, the whole reason
we solicit votes and discussion on a proposal is to find OUT how much
"attention it deserves," rather than leaving this up to the proponents
alone to decide, which would certainly give us a lot of groups that 
seemed like great ideas but didn't receive much ultimate following.
(In fact we get plenty of those now).  Once again, a mailing list is a
flexible, positive alternative, requiring no one's approval, and readily
parlayed into a newsgroup if the volume proves out. From the vote totals,
the size of such a mailing list would seem easily manageable.

I should not have to point out that one can be interested in the welfare
of the profession and still legitimately disagree with the proposal. 
Indeed, to paraphrase the final pph above, there is still time to vote and
if you are interested in the welfare of the net you should vote against
this initiative. Note that I've set followup to news.groups, per protocol.

Max Hauser / max@eros.berkeley.edu / ...{!decvax}!ucbvax!eros!max