Starting a new Usenet Newsgroup in the rpi.* hierarchy

To start a new Usenet Newsgroup in the rpi.* news hierarchy, you will need to write a "charter" for the group. The charter describes the purpose of the group and defines acceptable use of the group.

A charter template for rpi.* groups is included at the end of this overview. Please use the template to write your charter.

Newly created rpi.* newsgroups will be named using the following scheme:

    rpi.alumni.*                - Alumni News Network
    rpi.campus.*                - General interest
    rpi.comp.*                  - Computing
    rpi.courses.Fallxx.*        - Fall semster courses, 19xx.
    rpi.courses.Springxx.*      - Spring semester courses, 20xx.
    rpi.courses.Summerxx.*      - Summer courses, 19xx.
    rpi.courses.Yearxx-yy.*     - Year long courses, 19xx - 20yy.
    rpi.culture.*               - Various cultures
    rpi.dept.*                  - Department specific
    rpi.renss-u.*               - Rensselaer Union sponsored organizations.
    rpi.rcs.*                   - Rensselaer Computing System (RCS) issue
    rpi.talk.*                  - General discussion

Within a category, newsgroups may have any appropriate name chosen by the sponsor.

When your charter is completed, return it via e-mail to usenet@rpi.edu.

Sample Charter

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
                         rpi.xxxx                                     
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Name: rpi.
----

Purpose:
-------

    The reason this group is desired.

Uses:
----

    A definition of the appropriate use of the group.

    For a course news group,this should explain what students should and/or
    should not post. Would it be OK for students to post solutions to
    homework problems?

    For other groups, some indication of what would be considered
    appropriate. For example a group called rpi.rides, whose purpose
    is an electronic ride board might say that postings should be
    either for OFFERRING rides or REQUESTING rides. All other uses
    are inappropriate. This would preclude discussions of whether
    a particular destination was a good or bad place, etc.

Sponsor:
-------

    Rensselaer organization sponsoring the group (department, club, etc.)

Contact:
-------

    The name and e-mail address of the person to contact regarding the group.

Moderator:
---------

    If this group is to be a moderated group, provide the e-mail address of
    the moderator. This may be the same as the contact. NOTE: Most groups are
    NOT moderated. In a moderated group, people cannot post articles directly
    to the group - instead ALL postings are sent, via e-mail, to the
    moderator who must decide whether to post the article. If the article is
    to be posted, the moderator forwards it to a special e-mail address.

    Please DO NOT specify a moderator UNLESS you want a moderated group.

Item expiry:
-----------

    Number of days after posting that an article will expire.

    The default expiration period for groups in the rpi.* hierarchy is 120
    days.

    Articles in course news groups, those groups in the rpi.courses.*
    hierarchy, WILL NOT have article expiry times unless requested. The
    articles will be kept until 30 days after the end of the semester
    or year for which the group was created.

    If the default is acceptable, please specify "DEFAULT" as the item
    expiry.

Group expiry: June 30, 1995
------------

    Date on which the group itself expires. Groups in the rpi.* hierarchy
    will expire annually on June 30.  The contact will be notified when a
    group is about to expire and can renew the group for another year.

    Groups in the rpi.courses.* hierarchy will expire at the end of the
    semester or year for which they were created.

    If you would like this group to expire BEFORE June 30, please specify the
    expiration date here.

Created:
-------

    Date on which the group was created ... completed by ACS.

    New groups are usually created on the same day the charter is received.
    Depending on other workload, it can take up to seventy two hours for
    a group to be created.

    New course group requests received BEFORE the first day of classes will
    be processed by 8:30 AM of the first class day.

Charter last updated:
--------------------

    Date the charter was last updated.


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