REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)
unmoderated group comp.text.xml

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                     REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)
                   unmoderated group comp.text.xml

This is a formal Request For Discussion (RFD) for the creation of a
comp.text.xml newsgroup.  This is not a Call for Votes (CFV);
you cannot vote at this time.  Procedural details are below.

Newsgroups line:
comp.text.xml		The Extensible Markup Language (XML)

RATIONALE: comp.text.xml

Abstract

A newsgroup for the discussion of the Extensible Markup
Language (XML); including, but not limited to the specifications
and syntax, document creation and editing, interchange, software,
processing and database integration. This applies not only to XML
itself but also the Extensible Linking Language (XLL), the Extensible
Style Language (XSL), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) as applied to XML
documents, and to document types and applications of XML.

Justification

XML is a new language, and it appears that it will be extremely
popular.

Over the past few months, traffic on the XML-DEV and XML-L mailing lists has 
grown rapidly.  With the release of the W3C Recommendation for XML 1.0, 
developer interest is growing rapidly.  A newsgroup would make it much easier 
for a wider audience to participate in and benefit from these discussions.

While it may appear at first that comp.text.sgml is appropriate, there will
be those interested in XML who do not care about the arcana of SGML, and
there will be those interested in SGML who do not care to see many basic
questions about XML.

CHARTER: comp.text.xml

comp.text.xml shall be an unmoderated newsgroup for
the discussion of the Extensible Markup Language (XML) and its
application.

This includes, but is not limited to the specifications
and syntax, document creation and editing, interchange, software,
processing and database integration. This applies not only to XML
itself but also the Extensible Linking Language (XLL), the Extensible
Style Language (XSL), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) as applied to XML
documents, and to document types and applications of XML.

Policy on Advertising

We encourage discussion of the merits and shortcomings of
commercial products. A certain amount of advertising (both objective
and advocative) is to be expected and this is to be encouraged as
long as the products and services relate directly to XML and the
announcments are brief. Company representatives are expected to
participate in discussions of their product that they themselves did
not initiate.

Please refer to the widely available Internet literature on the
subject of common net abuses (indiscriminate newsgroup spamming,
multiple advertisement posting, and chain letters being among the
most frequent).

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 proposed newsgroups
should be raised and resolved. The discussion period will continue for
a minimum of 21 days (starting from when the first RFD for this
proposal is posted to news.announce.newgroups), after which a Call For
Votes (CFV) may be posted by a neutral vote taker if the discussion
warrants it. Please do not attempt to vote until this happens.

All discussion of this proposal should be posted to news.groups.

This RFD attempts to comply fully with the Usenet newsgroup creation
guidelines outlined in "How to Create a New Usenet Newsgroup" and
"How to Format and Submit a New Group Proposal". Please refer to
these documents (available in news.announce.newgroups) if you have
any questions about the process.

END PROCEDURE.

DISTRIBUTION:

This RFD shall be posted to the w3c-xml-sig, XML-DEV and XML-L mailing lists
and to the following newsgroups:

comp.text
comp.text.sgml
alt.etext
alt.hypertext
comp.infosystems.www.announce
comp.infosystems.www.authoring.html
comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc
comp.infosystems.www.authoring.stylesheets

Please see the newsgroup news.groups for discussions about this
RFD, as mentioned above.  Readers of the additional newsgroups
listed in this section shall be referred to
news.announce.newgroups for the eventual Call For Votes (CFV).

END DISTRIBUTION.

Proponent: James Tauber (jtauber@jtauber.com)
With assistance from Chris Maden, Simon St Laurent and Susan Lesch