# Subject: Re: RFD process on hold / Call For Ideas
## Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2006 17:08:52 -0700

From: mcc...@medieval.org (Todd Michel McComb)
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups
Subject: Re: RFD process on hold / Call For Ideas
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Thank you to everyone who has contributed to making the Big-8 group
list a better list.

Since I declared the October 1st deadline to sunset the previous
NAN Team, I feel compelled to make a few remarks at this time.

I congratulate the Board for doing many good things, and for taking
important steps to move the Big-8 process forward.  I am pleased
to hand over maintenance of the group list and related tasks to
them.

Regarding the details of what they were initially charged with,
Russ has many more things to say about the relative significance
of various topics, but I want to make clear the impetus of the
announcements last fall:  I was attempting to balance a need for
details on what volunteers were being asked to do, so that they
could make informed decisions on whether to volunteer, and another
need not to dictate a bunch of details to volunteers.  Ultimately,
I am very pleased with the Board from a broad perspective, and am
not going to get hung up on details.

That said, let me just echo Russ's comments on the critical need
to find a way to renew the Board and keep people fresh.  The Board
has indicated to me that they are ready to take some more steps in
that area, and I certainly wish them luck.  I had earlier tried to
sketch my ideas on how to do this, but at the moment, any ideas I
might have are ultimately unimportant.  They must find what works
for them.

I also want to re-raise another topic, one which was surprisingly
unpopular given the technical orientation of news.groups, and that
is on measurable data to drive decisions.  While many complications
were raised, I still believe that -- with some creativity -- there
is value to be gained from injecting quantifiable metrics into the
decision-making process.  I had hoped to contribute in that area,
but ultimately realized that it was best for everyone if I simply
bowed out.

Hopefully these things can be discussed -- by others -- in constructive
fashion.  I will not be reading followups.  Perhaps I should add
one other comment in response to something I saw posted:  There's
no such thing as a "partial success."  Either we are handing this
over to the Board or we aren't, and we are.

Thank you again to everyone who has helped foster Usenet and the
Big-8 over the years.  And an individual thank you to Bill Aten,
especially for his hard work in keeping the UVV operating while
under constant attack in its final days.

Todd McComb