To the MEMS community:

I've seen a suggestion to start a newsgroup on the Usenet regarding MEMS
discussions. I think this is an excellent idea. I've been looking into taking
on this task for over a year now, and it's not an endeavour to be taken
lightly. In order to take care of all the administrative tasks necessary to
start a newsgroup, at least 3 hours per day for 2 months is needed (and that's
just to get the group started!). This is a simple fact and is part of the
reason why it's taken me so long to get motivated!

First a Request for Discussion (RFD) needs to be posted to appropriate groups
(including news.announce.newgroups and news.groups). A one month debate over
things like the group naming convention, moderated vs. unmoderated and other
matters must then take place in news.groups. In fact, it's strongly recommended
that one read news.groups for at least six months before attempting to start a
newsgroup on the Usenet.

After one month of debate, if a consensus over particulars can be reached, the
initiator of the RFD issues a Call For Votes (CFV). At this time, the person
spearheading this effort should have an embryonic Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQ) file ready to go with the CFV.

The vote taking process proceeds for one month. With the help of vote taking
software that is available there must be 100 more yes votes than no votes cast
and 2/3 of the votes must be yes votes.

If this criteria is met, a control signal is issued that most system
administrators will honour, and the news group will be propagated to roughly
90% of the Usenet. This would _really_ open up discussion on MEMS issues, which
is of course, very exciting.

There is a very strict set of rules to follow in this process. If they are
deviated from in the least, the group will not be propagated and the process
may not start again for six months.

I wrote up a request for discussion sometime ago, but did not prepare any of
the other documents necessary for the process (FAQ, CFV). I am taking a trip
that will last until November 17th, but I am fully prepared to take up the task
of creating a news group for MEMS on the day I return.

One last thing. Some brave soul started the newsgroup: "sci.nanotech" about two
years ago. Since its creation, there have been 4687 messages posted! Many of
them "junk" messages to be sure, but there are two things to consider:

1) News readers can easily filter or "kill file" certain types of messages.

2) A *moderated* group called "sci.nanotech.research" could be created and the
same could go for our group once it was created and established.

Again, I volunteer my services, and if the consensus here is positive I will
proceed in late November.

Sincerely,

Christopher Raum
[email protected]