From: Jim Meehan
Subject: CFV: comp.lang.lisp.mcl
Date:
Message-ID: <c4#l4rb@rpi.edu>
**************************************************
CALL FOR VOTES * CALL FOR VOTES * CALL FOR VOTES
**************************************************
This is the FIRST call for votes for the creation of the newsgroup
comp.lang.lisp.mcl.
Please read all of this article carefully prior to voting. The proposed
group is as follows:
NAME:
comp.lang.lisp.mcl
STATUS:
unmoderated
CHARTER:
The purpose of this newsgroup will be to provide a forum for talking
about any and all aspects of Macintosh Common Lisp (MCL). MCL is,
specifically, the software product from Apple, an implementation of
Common Lisp for the Macintosh. This is NOT intended as a forum for
discussion of other implementations of Common Lisp for the Mac.
VOTING PROCEDURE:
Mail your vote to: ······@src.dec.com
Do *not* post your vote to the net. The wording must be explicit and
unambiguous. I would prefer that your message use one of the following
Subject lines:
comp.lang.lisp.mcl: YES
comp.lang.lisp.mcl: NO
DEADLINE:
Mail your vote on or before Monday, July 8, 1991. Votes received after
that date will not be counted.
COMMENTS:
The protocol for creating a newsgroup requires that there be 100 more
YES votes than NO votes, and that at least 2/3 of the valid votes be
YES votes.
During the discussion, which started on June 4th (see news.groups),
two concerns were raised by several people.
First, discussions of MCL currently take place via a mailing list,
········@cambridge.apple.com [to which this Call For Votes is also
being mailed]. The list is maintained by the Apple/Cambridge
office. Some members of that mailing list are unable (or prefer
not) to receive news, and they expressed concern about losing access
to MCL discussions, the implication being that the mailing list
and the newsgroup were mutually exclusive.
In fact, both can exist, and this proposal says nothing about
shutting down the mailing list. (Nor, indeed, could it).
Practically speaking, however, no one wants two separate forums
for this discussion. Fortunately, several of the responses to the
RFD pointed out various ways to "link" the mailing list and the
newsgroup, and the Apple office fully intends to do so, so that
no one will be cut off from the discussion simply because they don't
receive the news. Since the size of the mailing list has grown
dramatically, they are indeed hoping that there will be a newsgroup
and that most of people now on the list will not need to remain
on it.
The second concern was for the name of the group. I received
several good suggestions for placing the proposed group in the
comp.sys.mac... hierarchy. However, there was no agreement on
exactly what the full name should be. Many readers of the
comp.sys.mac... groups found the name "mcl" to be confusing, or
at least not informative, and they suggested "lisp" as an
alternative suffix. But others pointed out that "lisp" would invite
discussion of other implementations of Lisp for the Mac, and that
is NOT the purpose of this newsgroup. A very long name, such as
comp.sys.mac.programmer.lisp.mcl, would probably be specific enough
for all concerned, but the length was a problem for some. In the
end, I stuck with the original name, which I felt had fewer problems
than the alternatives.