-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD) This is a formal Request For Discussion (RFD) for the following changes in the uk.* Usenet hierarchy: create unmoderated newsgroup uk.rec.gps Newsgroup line: uk.rec.gps Discussion of the UK use of the Global Positioning System *** ALL DISCUSSION MUST TAKE PLACE IN UK.NET.NEWS.CONFIG *** This is not a Call for Votes (CFV); you cannot vote at this time. Further procedural details are given below. RATIONALE: uk.rec.gps The Global Positioning System (GPS) is run by the US Department of Defense using about 24 satellites in polar orbit. GPS receivers which now cost as little a GBP100 in a mobile phone sized case, use signals from these satellites to give a position accurate to a few meters. The more expensive versions may be combined with a mobile phone, personal organizer, palmtop, laptop computer, and may include map, car or person navigation software. GPS receivers are used in many recreational activities, walking, sailing, climbing, cycling, Geocaching, etc where it is useful to know where you are, and which direction to travel, speed etc. etc. in the middle of a moor, lake, sea, city or even motorway. Also such recreations as rocketry for altitude verification, tracking etc. Google groups shows that in uk.* newsgroups there have been more than 800 threads mentioning GPS in the past year. Geocaching is a relatively new recreation, where a cache of objects of little value are placed in a waterproof box at stated coordinates where others can find them by GPS. The new "Right to Roam" legislation together with improvement in accuracy and falling prices may well catalyze other GPS based recreations. It is expected that uk.rec.gps will have general GPS threads, in the same way as uk.food+drink.misc, and other uk.* groups will have threads specific to their own charters. As an example the "GPS versus map and compass" debate will continue on uk.rec.walking for the foreseeable future. It is hoped that it may become a repository for uk.* expertise on GPS. A thread subject "uk.rec.gps anybody" Raised 16 people in favour of this newsgroup, and many who wished to continue ???+gps threads on uk.???.???. The vast majority of GPS posts on uk.* are recreational, so positioning this group in the uk.rec hierarchy seems reasonable. The word "recreational" has however been omitted from the charter, so Professional and Scientific GPS posts will not be Off Topic. Various other ng names including satellite-nav have been suggested. Google groups lists only 40 uk.* threads mentioning satellite-nav in the past year, which indicates that British English usage is for GPS rather than satellite-nav. Also not all uses of GPS are navigational, for geocaching only a position is important. Various suggestions have been made about the effect uk.rec.gps would have on the uk.* hierarchy. I will have only one vote in any such developments, but I would prefer to see uk.rec.gps.garmin etc. but uk.rec.geocaching should anyone in the future see fit to raise such RFDs. There are various alt.* GPS groups with the usual alt.* USA bias and propagation problems, also sci.geo.satellite-nav for the scientific community. Also several national gps newsgroups. It is suggested that a uk newsgroup would be advantageous to discuss uk specific subjects, such as OS mapping, laws, regulations etc. The number of newsgroups this RFD should be crossposted to has caused problems because Control, understandably, objected to 29 group crossposting and insisted on only 6 newsgroups plus uk.net.news.announce, uk.net.news.config. I used google groups to count the number of threads mentioning GPG in the last year see below. I have chosen the six newsgroups with most threads mentioning GPS in the last year: uk.rec.cycling, 88 uk.rec.driving, 67 uk.rec.motorcycles, 117 uk.rec.sailing, 102 uk.rec.walking, 287 uk.telecom.mobile, 66 This means that many uk.* newsgroups which have demonstrated an interest in GPS will not be officially informed of this RFD. These are: uk.sci.astronomy, 50 uk.business.agriculture, 23 uk.radio.amateur, 32 uk.railway, 41 uk.rec.audio.car, 16 uk.rec.boats.power, 4 uk.rec.camping, 5 uk.rec.caravanning, 29 uk.rec.cars.4x4, 6 uk.rec.cars.maintenance, 20 uk.rec.cars.misc, 44 uk.rec.cars.modifications, 33 uk.rec.climbing, 6 uk.rec.models.engineering, 2 uk.rec.motorcaravans, 6 uk.rec.running, 18 uk.rec.scuba, 27 uk.rec.waterways, 18 uk.tech.rocketry, 8 uk.transport. 33 Importantly, a response to the previous thread "uk.rec.gps anybody" asked that one of the uninformed ones uk.tech.rocketry (8 posts) be informed of the thread. CHARTER: uk.rec.gps This newsgroup is for the discussion of general aspects of the UK use of the US Department of Defense Global Positioning System, (GPS) and any improvements, or extensions. GPS discussions may also occur on other uk.* newsgroups where they may be On Topic. Advertising Advertising is forbidden, with these exceptions: Suppliers of goods and services relevant to GPS in the UK may post an invitation to visit their web site or request details. It should be of four lines or fewer and not posted more than once every 3 months. The subject line should begin "ADVERT: ", except for vacancy adverts, when it should begin "JOB: ". Advertisements of Geocaches are allowed, the Subject: field should be of the form "GEOCACHE: " <8 or 10 figure National Grid Reference of cache> Followed by a short description of its position etc. Binaries & Formatting Encoded binaries (e.g. pictures, compressed files, etc.) are forbidden. Such material belongs on a web or FTP site to which a pointer may be posted. Cryptographic signatures (e.g. PGP) may be used where authentication is important and should be as short as possible. Posts must be readable as plain text. HTML, RTF and similarly formatted messages are prohibited. To see how to make some common newsreaders comply with this, read <http://www.usenet.org.uk/ukpost.html>. Warning. Anyone posting contrary to this charter may be reported to their "postmaster" and/or Service Provider. END CHARTER PROCEDURE: This is a request for discussion, not a call for votes. In this phase of the process, any potential problems with the proposal should be raised and resolved. The discussion period will continue for a minimum of 10 days, starting from when this RFD is posted to uk.net.news.announce (i.e. until October 3rd) after which a Call For Votes (CFV) may be posted by a neutral vote taker if the discussion warrants it. Alternatively, the proposal may proceed by the fast-track method. Please do not attempt to vote until this happens. This RFD attempts to comply fully with the "Guidelines for Group Creation within the UK Hierarchy" as published regularly in uk.net.news.announce. Please refer to this document if you have any questions about the process. DISTRIBUTION: This RFD has been posted to the following newsgroups: uk.net.news.announce uk.net.news.config uk.rec.cycling uk.rec.driving uk.rec.motorcycles uk.rec.sailing uk.rec.walking uk.telecom.mobile Proponent: Dave Fawthrop <hyphen(at)hyphenologist.co.uk> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 5.0i Charset: noconv iQCVAwUBQVGAjGOfGXkh8vHZAQGRmAQAg4gBUHCXVQbLchofQUdi9ePMgr8YREPP bk8dDmJbVmkG/iCxoh5Tsjn1hu0PjEsynzKmsap2vvzNtHW9HEOMtfHBSwIvOwZs +aq2PAaiWiREg2gY6jxNAXIupYOIJx1t0kj9ZrFVPiJyceFAeaVf5eL4l+hnfuXg rpWd4ob3qXk= =ROAF -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Geocaching? Feck me. Don't we have enough sad nerds in this country with the likes of train spotters, plane spotters, Trekkies and people who post the registrations of alleged bad drivers? Also, the charter has nothing in it about top posting. Mikey
