karish@mindcraft.com (Chuck Karish) (02/27/91)
Submitted-by: karish@mindcraft.com (Chuck Karish) After withdrawals from candidacy by all the other volunteers, Sean Eric Fagan (seanf@sco.com) is the provisional replacement moderator for com.std.unix. If there's any objection to simply accepting him as the new moderator by acclamation, please speak up now, either by posting or by E-mail to me (karish@mindcraft.com). If I don't hear anything within a week of the time I see this posting come back from John, I'll send an announcement to news.announce.newgroups that the reins have been shifted. One of the other volunteers has expressed concern about perceptions of possible conflict of interest, in that Sean is an employee of a major UNIX vendor. I have several answers to this concern. First, the idea that anyone can be truly objective about anything is a polite fiction at best. We all try to be fair, and a good-faith effort in this direction is all we can hope for. If anyone thinks the moderator is showing bias, USENET offers plenty of channels to express dissatisfaction, both public and private. Second, all of us have our own axes to grind, as users, as vendors, or as service providers. The fact that a particular axe may be sharpened by the thought of commercial advantage doesn't make it any more or less legitimate than one that comes from a different set of preferences. I suggest that we use the approach that the POSIX committees use: Every participant is assumed to speak for her/himself. It's assumed that ALL participants have something at stake, or they wouldn't bother to do all that work. Third, Sean has agreed to post some sort of disclaimer cooked up with the help of his employer's legal staff. I hope I don't have to page past it too many times; I don't really think it's necessary. Chuck Karish karish@mindcraft.com Mindcraft, Inc. (415) 323-9000 Volume-Number: Volume 22, Number 132
peter@world.std.com (Peter Salus) (03/01/91)
Submitted-by: peter@world.std.com (Peter Salus) In article <18184@cs.utexas.edu> karish@mindcraft.com (Chuck Karish) writes: >Submitted-by: karish@mindcraft.com (Chuck Karish) > >After withdrawals from candidacy by all the other volunteers, >Sean Eric Fagan (seanf@sco.com) is the provisional replacement >moderator for com.std.unix. > >If there's any objection to simply accepting him as the new moderator >by acclamation, please speak up now, either by posting or by E-mail to >me (karish@mindcraft.com). I don't object to Sean, I just want to know why. I earlier posted a request as to the reasoning behind having a moderator at all. I received a response citing .wizards as an instance of a group that went out of control. But I note that the other std groups aren't moderated (e.g. international, c, mumps) and that they have not gone berzerk. Peter ------------------------------------------------------ Note: The Sun User Group's address is now Suite 315 1330 Beacon St. Brookline, MA 02146 -- The difference between practice and theory in practice is always greater than the difference between practice and theory in theory. Volume-Number: Volume 22, Number 133
jsq@tic.com (John S. Quarterman) (03/05/91)
Submitted-by: jsq@tic.com (John S. Quarterman) The first article in the newsgroup comp.std.unix (then known as mod.std.unix) was posted 25 June 1985. Members of the IEEE P1003 standards committee (there was only one such committee back then) had requested that the new newsgroup be moderated to avoid the noise level seen on other newsgroups. To date there has been only one moderator, me. However, I would like to thank all those who have served from time to time as guest moderators, particularly John B. Chambers and Fletcher Mattox. As noted in previous postings, I have decided to retire as moderator. Subsequent to my posting of 31 January 1991 calling for volunteers to be moderator, six people came forward by the deadline of 15 February (and a couple of others said they would volunteer if nobody else did). The last to definitely volunteer by the deadline was Chuck Karish, who, by the rules I had stated, then proceeded to determine which of the volunteers was to become moderator. He chose to do this by discussions among the volunteers for the position. I have been informed by both Chuck and by Sean Eric Fagan that Sean was chosen by the withdrawals from candidacy of all the other volunteers. Chuck announced this result in his posting to the newsgroup of 26 February. He also announced If I don't hear anything within a week of the time I see this posting come back from John, I'll send an announcement to news.announce.newgroups that the reins have been shifted. While I have deliberately given no advice as to who should be moderator or how the new moderator should run the newsgroup, and I deliberately did not participate in the decision process by which Sean was chosen from among the six candidates, I would nonetheless like to assert that the procedure outlined above was as I had requested. I have seen no objections to Sean Eric Fagan being the new moderator of comp.std.unix. Unless I see some or Chuck Karish <karish@mindcraft.com> informs me that he has seen some, I will post the final article in comp.std.unix Volume 22 before midnight CST Wednesday 6 March 1991. Sean Eric Fagan will take over Thursday as moderator of comp.std.unix. He is already in the aliases std-unix@uunet.uu.net (postings) and std-unix-request@uunet.uu.net (comments), and has apparently decided to keep those aliases, so there should be no lost submissions. The outgoing moderator hopes the new moderator has a successful newsgroup. John S. Quarterman jsq@tic.com +1-512-320-9031 fax: +1-512-320-5821 Texas Internet Consulting 701 Brazos Suite 500 Austin, Texas 78701 Volume-Number: Volume 22, Number 136
peter@world.std.com (Peter Salus) (03/06/91)
Submitted-by: peter@world.std.com (Peter Salus) In article <18289@cs.utexas.edu> jsq@tic.com (John S. Quarterman) writes: >Submitted-by: jsq@tic.com (John S. Quarterman) > >The first article in the newsgroup comp.std.unix (then known as mod.std.unix) >was posted 25 June 1985. Members of the IEEE P1003 standards committee >(there was only one such committee back then) had requested that the new >newsgroup be moderated to avoid the noise level seen on other newsgroups. >To date there has been only one moderator, me. However, I would like to >thank all those who have served from time to time as guest moderators, >particularly John B. Chambers and Fletcher Mattox. > >As noted in previous postings, I have decided to retire as moderator. As someone who has read nearly every posting in this group since early in 1986, I would like to publically and formally express my gratitude and appreciation for all John has done, for the standards and the UNIX communities. John, we will miss you. Peter -- The difference between practice and theory in practice is always greater than the difference between practice and theory in theory. Volume-Number: Volume 22, Number 142