RFD for sci.bio.paleontology has been posted

[stssram@st.unocal.com (Bob Myers)]

The following RFD for the newsgroup sci.bio.paleontology has now been posted.
Please conduct any discussion on news.groups.



Request for Discussion (RFD)

Newsgroup       : sci.bio.paleontology
Status          : unmoderated
Distribution    : Worldwide
Summary         : For discussion of paleontology
Proponent       : Bob Myers <stssram@st.unocal.com>

This is a formal Request For Discussion on the creation of a unmoderated
newsgroup, sci.bio.paleontology

This RFD has been posted in accordance with the Guidelines for Newsgroup
Creation.  Its language is based on previously submitted RFDs.  The RFD
is being cross-posted to the following relevant news groups:

        news.announce.newgroups
        news.groups
        sci.geo.geology
        sci.bio
        sci.bio.evolution
        talk.origins

It is also being sent to the following mailing lists: 

        Dinosaur 
        Palaeobotany
        Micropaleontology discussion
        Pollination and Palynology List

CHARTER

This newsgroup will be open to discussion on scientific topics
concerning paleontology. All paleontological topics are welcome, such
as discussions of extinct animals and plants, their physiology and
phylogeny, fossils, paleoecology, extinction events, and recent
discoveries. 

RATIONALE

There is a large and active mailing list for discussion of dinosaurs and
other extinct mega-fauna, and there are also several other mailing lists
for other paleontological topics.  We believe this is sufficient to
demonstrate interest in a paleontological newsgroup.  

UNRESOLVED ISSUES

Issues that should be resolved during this RFD:

* Name hierarchy - should it go under sci.geo instead?  It would fit
  about as easily.  There's also some support for sci.paleontology in light
  of the geo/bio confusion, but this should probably be avoided. 

* What about the dinosaur mailing list?  Do we want to have a gateway
  between the mailing list and the newsgroup?  This will probably be hashed
  out in the dinosaur mailing list.  

FUTURE CALL FOR VOTES

After a discussion period of 21-30 days, if there are not
overwhelming objections to any of the proposed groups, there will be
a Call For Votes (CFV) posted to the same groups as this RFD.  The
voting period will be at least 21 days.  Each group that passes, by
receiving 100 more YES votes than NO votes *and* twice as many YES
votes as NO votes, will be created.


-- 
Bob Myers                               Unocal Information Systems Support
Internet: Bob.Myers@st.unocal.com       P. O. Box 68076
Phone: [714] 693-6951                   Anaheim, California  92817-8076