jsq@usenix.org (John S. Quarterman) (10/01/90)
Submitted-by: jsq@usenix.org (John S. Quarterman) The USENIX Board of Directors met 24-25 September. They approved continuation of the USENIX half of funding of the EUUG/USENIX ISO Monitor Project, which supports a representative to the ISO/IEC JTC1 SC22 WG15 ISO POSIX committee meetings, and written reports about them. This is contingent on matching funds from EUUG. However, due to reduced discretionary funds, a proposal for continuance of other USENIX standards activities was not funded. Instead, $15,000 was approved for other standards activities for USENIX fiscal year 1991 (December 1990 through November 1991). This money has not yet been specifically allocated, but is intended for the snitch reports. Proposals for funding of standards activities will be entertained if received in time for the January board meeting; they must be sent to the Berkeley USENIX office (Attn: Ellie Young, 2560 9th St, Suite 215, Berkeley, CA 94710 or to ellie@usenix.org) by December. The following USENIX standards activities will cease at the end of the present funding, i.e., in November 1990: Institutional Representation to IEEE/CS TCOS (including POSIX working group attendance, proposals, ballots, and procedural monitoring), membership in U.S. TAG to WG15, liaison about standards with other user groups (such as UniForum, AUUG, and JUS, although EUUG liaison may continue through the WG15 project), moderation of newsgroup comp.std.unix and mailing list std-unix@uunet.uu.net, and general standards political activity and correspondence. John S. Quarterman, USENIX Standards Liaison Volume-Number: Volume 21, Number 154
Don_Lewine@dgc.ceo.dg.com (10/02/90)
Submitted-by: Don_Lewine@dgc.ceo.dg.com In article <106937@uunet.UU.NET>, jsq@usenix.org (John S. Quarterman) writes: |> Submitted-by: jsq@usenix.org (John S. Quarterman) |> |> The USENIX Board of Directors met 24-25 September. . . . |> The following USENIX standards activities will cease at the end of the |> present funding, i.e., in November 1990: . . . |> moderation of newsgroup comp.std.unix and mailing list std-unix@uunet.uu.net, This is a terrible idea! comp.std.unix is one of the best newsgroups on the net. The moderation seems to help a great deal. The overall signal/noise ratio is very high and the group is not flooded with flame wars. I don't know who to write and express my opinion, but I do want to protest. What does comp.std.unix cost per Usenix member? I would be happy to kick in my share. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Donald A. Lewine (508) 870-9008 Voice Data General Corporation (508) 366-0750 FAX 4400 Computer Drive. MS D112A Westboro, MA 01580 U.S.A. uucp: uunet!dg!lewine Internet: lewine@cheshirecat.webo.dg.com Volume-Number: Volume 21, Number 165
jsq@usenix.org (10/04/90)
Submitted-by: jsq@usenix.org In article <13100@cs.utexas.edu> From: Don_Lewine@dgc.ceo.dg.com >This is a terrible idea! comp.std.unix is one of the best newsgroups >on the net. The moderation seems to help a great deal. The overall >signal/noise ratio is very high and the group is not flooded with >flame wars. >I don't know who to write and express my opinion, but I do want to >protest. The address of the USENIX Executive Director was in the original announcement: Ellie Young USENIX Association 2560 9th St Suite 215 Berkeley, CA 94710 ellie@usenix.org The names and electronic addresses of each of the eight members of the elected Board of Directors is in each issue of ;login:. > What does comp.std.unix cost per Usenix member? I would >be happy to kick in my share. The relevant items in the budget proposal that was rejected were: Newsgroup: 4,800 Mailing list: 1,500 This was for fiscal 1991, for a total of $6,300 proposed for these items. I derived these numbers from time actually spent this year. The division between newsgroup and mailing list is somewhat arbitrary: basically, if I had to edit /usr/lib/aliases, I marked it as mailing list, otherwise as newsgroup. There are about 4,000 USENIX members, which would mean about $1.75 per member annually to support the newsgroup and mailing list. However, the financials don't really work that way, due to multiple sources of funds (also including conference and tutorial registration fees) and various offices, expenses, and projects for the Association to support. In the end, funding decisions are up to the judgement of the Board of Directors. While you or I may not agree with a given decision, please keep in mind, especially in any correspondence with them, that they were only doing their job. John S. Quarterman, USENIX Standards Liaison Volume-Number: Volume 21, Number 178
overby@plains.uucp (Glen Overby) (10/04/90)
Submitted-by: overby@plains.uucp (Glen Overby) In article <13100@cs.utexas.edu> Don_Lewine@dgc.ceo.dg.com writes: [on the cancellation of Usenix support for moderation of comp.std.unix] >This is a terrible idea! comp.std.unix is one of the best newsgroups >on the net. The moderation seems to help a great deal. The overall >signal/noise ratio is very high and the group is not flooded with >flame wars. I agree with Don that this group is high quality, and I appreciate the work that the snitches and others have done to create all the quality information we see here on a very timely basis. I would like to see this continue, even if Usenix does not want to pay for supporting it. If John is willing to continue as moderator on a volunteer basis, I applaud him. If not, I would like to see him call for a volunteer moderator before turning the group into an unmoderated zoo and flame fest. -- Glen Overby <overby@plains.nodak.edu> uunet!plains!overby (UUCP) overby@plains (Bitnet) Volume-Number: Volume 21, Number 180
jsq@tic.com (John S. Quarterman) (11/06/90)
Submitted-by: jsq@tic.com (John S. Quarterman) The previous USENIX funding for most standards activities expired on Halloween (see <106937@uunet.UU.NET>). The WG15 reports were funded as requested back in September. The snitch report editor has apparently made an arrangement for the interim until the next board meeting in January. Efforts are being made to produce proposals for funding other USENIX standards activities. However, since the USENIX board has expressed philosophical objection to funding moderation of a newsgroup, it is very unlikely that there will ever be support from them for comp.std.unix. For the moment, I have chosen to continue as moderator while seeking support from other quarters. Preliminary thanks to those who are already looking into it. If no funding materializes, I simply cannot afford to continue taking adequate time to moderate the newsgroup properly, and we will have to consider opening nominations for a volunteer moderator and voting on it by the usual USENET procedures. I strongly recommend keeping comp.std.unix moderated, because: 1) The original request for the newsgroup, from IEEE 1003 back in 1985 (the first article was posted 25 June 1985), made it clear that most standards participants would only read a moderated newsgroup. 2) Comparing 1989 (unfunded) to 1990 (funded), the increased signal to noise ratio and the increased number of interesting postings (partly attributable also to the snitch reports, themselves due to funding of editing) supports the original request. 3) See comp.unix.wizards for what is likely to happen to an unmoderated comp.std.unix. Meanwhile, there will be a guest moderator, John B. Chambers, while I am overseas 6-27 November. Please send submissions to the usual address, i.e., std-unix@uunet.uu.net. John S. Quarterman, moderator, comp.std.unix and std-unix@uunet.uu.net -- John S. Quarterman Texas Internet Consulting jsq@tic.com tel: +1-512-320-9031 701 Brazos, Suite 500 uunet!longway!jsq fax: +1-512-320-5821 Austin, TX 78701 Volume-Number: Volume 22, Number 19