Hello:

Some of you may be familiar with the problems that pretty much destroyed
rec.ponds during the past 2 years.

There is now a proposal (RFD) before the Big-8 Management Board to create
a new group called rec.ponds.moderated. This is RFD #2, a revision of the first
rfd that was submitted on 12-14-06

The proposal can be found and read in news.announce.newsgroups, rec.ponds.
and, of course, in news.groups.proposals.

If you have any thoughts or opinions about the creation of this new
moderated newsgroup, please go to news.groups.proposals to share your views.

(News.groups.proposals is a new newsgroup established by the Big-8 for the
purpose of discussing the creation of new groups.)

If your news provider does not carry this group (n.g.p), please ask them
to. You can also access news.groups.proposals via google.

My name is Ron Schompert, and I am one of the proponents of the RFD to
create rec.ponds.moderated.

The "official" discussion of this RFD, and of the possible creation of
rec.ponds.moderated, is taking place on n.g.p.

__________________________

All these initials & names can be confusing. Here's a summary:

news.groups
-don't go there. That group is no longer being used by
the Big-8 Management Board, effective this past November.

news.groups.proposals
-a new group, just created by the Big-8. It is the officially
recognized newsgroup for the discussion of the creation of new groups.

rec.ponds
-the old pond group that was destroyed by trolls, trash and flooding..

rec.ponds.moderated
-the new group that has been proposed by myself and others.
Discussions about this group are being held on news.groups.proposals. (n.g.p)

RFD - Request for Discussion
This is the "application form" for the creation of the new
rec.ponds.moderated. Copies of the RFD can be found in
rec.ponds, news.announce.newsgroups, and news.groups.proposals

___________________

If some of the members of r.a.f.plants would be interested in seeing
a new "rec.ponds.moderated" newsgroup created, please read the RFD #2 and
then share your thoughts in N.G.P.
The more positive responses that the Big-8 sees in N.G.P, the more likely
they will be to favor the creation of the new pond group. We expect the vote by
Big8 to be within the next couple weeks, so please share your thoughts soon!

One final comment: N.G.P is itself a moderated group, so anything you
post there may take a few hours to show up.

Thank you for reading this. I hope that some of you will be interested in
supporting this project.

If you have any questions, please email me. I would be very happy to
discuss this in more detail with you

Ronald Schompert