To: sml-list@CS.CMU.EDU, caml-list@margaux
Subject: 1st CFV: comp.lang.ml
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 93 13:49:06 EST
Message-Id: <18047.730493346@VACHE.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU>
From: Greg_Morrisett@VACHE.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU
Following the required discussion period, in which consensus appears to
have been reached, this is the first call for votes for the creation of
comp.lang.ml. This note contains information about the proposed group
and voting instructions. Please read the entire post before responding. In
particular, please read the "How to Vote" section before responding.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1st CALL FOR VOTES
Proposed Newsgroup: comp.lang.ml
------------------
Type: Moderated
----
Moderator: Greg Morrisett, Carnegie Mellon, jgmorris@cs.cmu.edu
--------- (submission address to be announced.)
Description: Discussion about the family of ML languages including
----------- but not limited to Standard ML, CAML, Caml-light, and
Lazy ML.
Charter:
-------
Comp.lang.ml is a moderated newsgroup exclusively for discussion
of ML. ML is a family of advanced programming languages with [usually]
functional control structures, strict semantics, a strict polymorphic type
system, and parametrized modules. It includes Standard ML, Lazy ML,
CAML, CAML Light, and various research languages. Implementations are
available on many platforms, including PCs, mainframes, most models of
workstation, multi-processors and supercomputers. ML has many
thousands of users, is taught at many universities (and is the first
programming language taught at some).
Topics for discussion would include (but are not limited to):
* general ML enquiries or discussion
* general interpretation of the definition of Standard ML
* applications and use of ML
* announcements of general interest (e.g. compiler releases)
* discussion of semantics including sematics of extensions based on ML
* discussion about library structure and content
* tool development
* comparison/contrast with other languages
* implementation issues, techniques and algorithms including extensions
based on ML
Moderation Guidelines:
----------------------
The moderator will maintain and post weekly and monthly frequently
asked questions (FAQ) lists. Moderation will be done according to
the following guidelines:
1. An article that has no relevance to ML will be rejected by the
moderator. However, the moderator will attempt to tell the
poster a more appropriate place for the article.
2. An article might be rejected if the poster asks a question that
is answered by the FAQ lists. However, the moderator will forward
the relevant portion(s) of the FAQ answers to the poster.
3. The moderator reserves the right to trim down quotations of
previous articles and to reject articles consisting essentially
of quotations.
4. The moderator reserves the right to send a "poorly" written article
back to the poster, requesting that it be re-written.
5. All other articles will be forwarded by the moderator.
6. The moderator might add his/her own comments at the end of an
article, such as [See the Commentary, pp.123-125] or
[This question has been asked several times in the past, and
never got an answer.]
Moderator Changes:
------------------
Guidelines for the removal or change of a moderator are as follows:
1. An RFD on the removal of the moderator must be posted to
news.announce.newgroups, news.groups, and comp.lang.ml.
with the follow-ups sent to news.groups.
2. Should there be a consensus that a vote is appropriate, a
CFV will be issued by a third party, to last not less than
two weeks and not more than 30 days. This ballot will include
the following options:
a. Should the moderator be removed? (Y/N)
b. The new moderator should be: (names)
3. If more than 2/3 of the voters agree that the moderator should
be removed, and there are no more than 100 no votes, then the
top name in section b becomes the new moderator. Each ballot
can contain a vote for one and only one new moderator.
Justification:
-------------
There is currently a group for ML in the alt hierarchy, alt.lang.ml.
This has the disadvantages of any alt group: narrow distribution
(especially outside the US, where much ML development goes on) and
fast expiration. Some discussion of ML has gone on in
comp.lang.functional and in comp.lang.misc. An ML-specific newsgroup
would concentrate these postings and provide a focus for people
seeking information about or discussion of the language.
There is also a moderated worldwide mailing list for Standard ML users
maintained at Carnegie Mellon University and a mailing list for CAML
users maintained at INRIA. There are now several thousand readers of
these lists. Currently several messages pass through these lists
each week. We do not propose the abandoment of these lists, but a
moderated newsgroup would take most of the traffic from each of these
lists and would provide a new forum for questions general to the
family of ML languages (not just SML or CAML).
People who cannot or do not want to read the newsgroup, can subscribe
to the SML-LIST. As maintainer of the list, I will cross-post messages
from the newsgroup to the mailing list and vice-versa.
We have chosen "comp.lang.ml" as a name, patterned after other newsgroups
that discuss programming languages, such as "comp.lang.scheme". We have
chosen the ".ml" suffix to remind people that the newsgroup is open
to all dialects of ML. While some readers might mistakenly assume
".ml" stands for "machine language" or "machine learning", the moderator
will prevent irrelevant posts from reaching readers and the FAQ lists
will clear up any confusion.
Voting Period:
-------------
Votes will be taken from 08:00:00 EST, February 23, 1993
until 23:59:59 EST, March 16, 1993.
How to Vote:
-----------
To vote "Yes", send mail to "jgmorris=yes@cs.cmu.edu".
To vote "No", send mail to "jgmorris=no@cs.cmu.edu".
Votes sent to these addresses are differentiated by mailing address
_only_; message contents and subject lines are ignored since the
votes are processed by an automated script.
If your mailer cannot handle one of these addresses, send your
vote to "jgmorris@cs.cmu.edu" making sure to clearly specify whether
you vote for or against the proposed newsgroup. Use the following
format in your message body:
"I vote [Yes/No] for comp.lang.ml."
If your message is ambiguous, it will not be counted (though I will
attempt to return your message to you, asking for an unambiguous vote.)
Your vote will be acknowledged by email.
Reminder of Voting Rules:
-------------------------
- One vote per person. If you vote more than once, only the most
recent vote will be counted.
- Votes must be mailed to one of the above addresses. No proxy
voting, forwarding, etc. Posted votes (to any newsgroup or
mailing list) will not be counted.
- I will not be able to discuss the vote results until after the
poll closes, so please do not ask how the vote is going.
- Votes received outside of the voting period will be ignored.
Thanks and remember that your vote counts!