Click here for a rundown of the ausadmin commands.

Overview of the process

This is the process which ausadmin follows, from start to finish. The components of the process are:
  1. Receive email from users and reply with prompt, accurate advice
  2. Decide whether suggested newsgroup names are acceptable
  3. Receive RFD from proponent, store online and post RFD
  4. Update newsgroup info from proponent
  5. Create Call-For-Votes (CFV) and post
  6. Check vote tally for forgeries, remove all forgeries
  7. Create final result message and post
  8. Issue newgroup messages for groups which passed their vote

Receive email from users

Users have been told to send email to ausadmin@aus.news-admin.org. This address is forwarded according to the instructions in ~ausadmin/.qmail-ausadmin.

When you reply to a message, set your From address to so that any replies will go to that address.

Decide whether suggested newsgroup names are appropriate

The basic rules to use here are:

  1. Is the newsgroup name valid?

    Valid groups contain only the letters a-z, the numbers 0-9 and the dash - between each component of the newsgroup name. The length of each component should be 14 characters or less (although this is no longer mandatory, it is preferred).

  2. Is there already an aus.* newsgroup which discusses substantially the same topic?
  3. Does the group's immediate parent exist, or does a sibling exist?

    Ausadmin will only create groups where a parent group already exists or other groups already exist which have the same (missing) parent group.

    (This rule doesn't apply for 2nd-level groups, e.g. aus.history). For example, somebody suggests aus.sport.tennis.umpires. Does the group aus.sport.tennis exist? Alternately, do other subgroups (e.g. aus.sport.tennis.coaches) exist?

  4. Does the topic of the parent of the proposed newsgroup include the topic suggested?

    The topics discussed by newsgroups are supposed to become more specific at lower levels, so if a parent group already exists, its topic should be more general than the topic of the proposed new group.

  5. If the newsgroup is a 2nd-level group, is the topic of sufficient generality or wide interest?

    2nd-level newsgroups (aus.something) should be about quite general, fundamental topics. Good examples of this are science, history, sport, politics.

  6. Is the topic too specific?

    As a newsgroup hierarchy deepens, topics should become more specific, but not radically so. For example, aus.sport.cricket.shane-warne is probably too specific. To approve that name would imply that every cricketer, past and present, deserves their own newsgroup.

If a proposal passes all these tests, it is probably ready to go to the RFD stage.

Receive RFD from proponent, store online and post RFD

The RFD is a text document with certain required sections. These are:

When the RFD is received by E-mail, store it using this command:

		new-rfd newsgroup-name rfd-file

new-rfd will parse the RFD into its component sections (and die with an error message if anything important is missing) and store them in the newly-created vote/newsgroup directory. At this point the RFD will be listed on the aus.news-admin.org website as being "in discussion".

Examine the files in the vote/newsgroup directory to be sure that the RFD has been parsed correctly.

Do the following to post the RFD:

  1. Edit the vote/newsgroup/rfd file and set Subject, From and Newsgroups headers:
    Subject: RFD (Request For Discussion): newsgroup-name
    From: ausadmin@aus.news-admin.org
    Newsgroups: the comma-separated list of groups in the distribution
    
  2. Post the RFD with bin/post.pl < vote/newsgroup/rfd

Update newsgroup info from proponent

The 21 day discussion period may evoke some changes required to the original proposal. Accept any changes from the proponent, update the RFD (and re-parse it using bin/parse-rfd.pl). If large changes occurred it might be worthwhile to re-post the RFD.

Create Call-For-Votes (CFV) and post

If you want to add your own note to the CFV, put it in vote/newsgroup/cfv-notes.txt before doing the following step.

This script sets up the vote, creates and PGP-signs and posts the CFV:

	mkvote newsgroup-name

Check the CFV to ensure that you posted the right thing (if not, oops, too late!)

Now there's nothing to do but sit back and wait until the vote finishes.

Check vote tally for forgeries, remove all forgeries

I need to get an update from DF on how he detects forgeries.

Create final result message and post

I haven't got this far yet.

Issue newgroup messages for groups which passed their vote

I haven't got this far yet. It's probably like the old instructions:

gennewgroup.pl newsgroup-name