From: Edward Vielmetti <emv@msen.com>
Subject: Re: Segmenting a newsgroup? 
Date: Tue, 03 Dec 91 20:57:05 -0500



Bob,

Moderators of a newsgroup get no special priveleges in creating new
newsgroups, not as far as I can tell from existing practice.  The
assembled multitudes still get their say.  For instance, there was a
vote on whether to change the status of comp.sys.sun.

If there's a reasonable spinoff-group (like the "telecom privacy"
group, the "computer underground digest", et al that have appeared out
of comp.dcom.telecom) with its own moderator, charter, and rules of
order, you can create that by fiat, announce it as a mailing list, and
then gateway the mailing list into usenet under the "inet" rules which
say in essence that an existing well-behaved mailing list can be
turned into a newsgroup without much hassle.  

However -- if there is some question what charter if any the new group
should ahve it's actually quite useful to open it up for talking in
news.groups.   You waste a month of your life arguing, but
occasionally something really good happens and you discover resources
and ideas out there you never saw before.  I'd recommend piecing
together a strawman proposal, finding a volunteer champion to see it
through the public hue and cry, and seeing what comes of it.
Segmenting an existing group often runs into well-founded opposition
by people who are happy with how things are, so you'll need to balance
those needs against your own.

--Ed