mentat@walt.cc.utexas.edu (Robert Dorsett) (06/24/89)
From: milano!mentat@walt.cc.utexas.edu (Robert Dorsett) Bill Thacker, the moderator of sci.military, pointed out that a call-for-votes requires two weeks of public discussion. Thus, here's an edited copy of the call-for-votes, which touches most of the issues: > After consulting with several frequent posters to comp.risks and rec.aviation, > we concluded that it is desirable to have a separate newsgroup dedicated to > airliner technology, particularly concentrating on: safety, human-interface > issues (cockpit and otherwise, concentrating on the burgeoning role of > automation), operations, and general aeronautics. Many of these concepts have > crossover applicability to military and general aviation aircraft. > > The reasoning behind the need for the new newsgroup is based on three > longstanding observations: > > 1. The tendency of airliner technology discussions on comp.risks to > stray too far from the group's charter. > > 2. The tendency of rec.aviation to be oriented around general aviation > operational issues, rather than technology issues, and the consequent > reluctance of many people to avoid participating in rec.aviation. > > 3. The reluctance of some sites to import the rec.* stems, thus strangling > free discussion of what appear to be popular research issues. I should add another comment, since this is still in the discussion phase: The impetus behind sci.aeronautics was largely inspired by the success of sci.military. If someone had told me a year ago that the net could support a consistently high-level technical (non-computer) newsgroup, I wouldn't have believed it. Largely based on e-mail contacts, and the tendency of discussions on airliner issues on comp.risks to balloon until the moderator is forced to yank them, I'm willing to bet that there are enough people out there with interest in the issues that would be discussed in sci.aeronautics. Please direct all follow-ups to news.groups. Robert Dorsett Internet: rdd@rascal.ics.utexas.edu UUCP: ...cs.utexas.edu!rascal.ics.utexas.edu!rdd