Usenet Big-8 Management Board - Recent changes [en]

Minutes/2026-09-17

Tristan Miller — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 21:16:08 GMT

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:16, 21 September 2026
Line 9:		Line 9:
	** Website is currently being DDoS'd by AI scraper botnets. TM to apply mitigations after the meeting.		** Website is currently being DDoS'd by AI scraper botnets. TM to apply mitigations after the meeting.
	** E-mail from domain registrar asking us to confirm details. Agreed to defer until JE responds.		** E-mail from domain registrar asking us to confirm details. Agreed to defer until JE responds.
			** Agreed on a common format for e-mail and news messages ("Big-8 Management Board" in From header; standard signature; writer to sign off above signature)
	* Misc		* Misc
	** RL updated [[Web-to-news gateways]] in response to an e-mail from UsenetRewind.		** RL updated [[Web-to-news gateways]] in response to an e-mail from UsenetRewind.

	[[Category:Meeting minutes for 2026]]		[[Category:Meeting minutes for 2026]]

Board:Agenda for next Board meeting

Tristan Miller — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 21:14:10 GMT

Minutes/2026-09-17

Tristan Miller — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 21:13:59 GMT

Created page with "Present: RL, TM * Administration ** comp.ai.chatgpt: RL contacted the proponent again on 2026-09-17; awaiting response. ** {{news|rec.arts.anime.creative}}: Prospective moderator has responded with technical details. TM to reply asking about website and charter compliance. ** {{news|soc.sexuality.general}}: TM posted LCC on 2026-09-17. Board to vote from 2026-09-22 to 2026-09-28. ** {{news|talk.origins}}: David Greig responded on 2026-09-10, indicating that he determi..."

New page

Present: RL, TM

* Administration
** comp.ai.chatgpt: RL contacted the proponent again on 2026-09-17; awaiting response.
** {{news|rec.arts.anime.creative}}: Prospective moderator has responded with technical details. TM to reply asking about website and charter compliance.
** {{news|soc.sexuality.general}}: TM posted LCC on 2026-09-17. Board to vote from 2026-09-22 to 2026-09-28.
** {{news|talk.origins}}: David Greig responded on 2026-09-10, indicating that he determined the problem with bouncing submissions to be a TLS certificate issue, which he has now fixed.
* Infrastructure
** Website is currently being DDoS'd by AI scraper botnets. TM to apply mitigations after the meeting.
** E-mail from domain registrar asking us to confirm details. Agreed to defer until JE responds.
* Misc
** RL updated [[Web-to-news gateways]] in response to an e-mail from UsenetRewind.

[[Category:Meeting minutes for 2026]]

Nan:2026-09-17-lcc-soc.sexuality.general

Tristan Miller — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 21:18:15 GMT

Created page with "<pre> From: Usenet Big-8 Management Board <board@big-8.org> Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups.proposals,soc.sexuality.general Subject: 2nd RFD: Remove soc.sexuality.general - LAST CALL FOR COMMENTS Followup-To: news.groups.proposals Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2026 14:49:46 EDT Message-ID: <118hcme$lek$1@reader1.panix.com> Archive-Name: soc.sexuality.general This is a formal Request for Discussion (RFD) to remove the moderated newsgroup soc.sexuality.general. The B..."

New page

<pre>
From: Usenet Big-8 Management Board <board@big-8.org>
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups.proposals,soc.sexuality.general
Subject: 2nd RFD: Remove soc.sexuality.general - LAST CALL FOR COMMENTS
Followup-To: news.groups.proposals
Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2026 14:49:46 EDT
Message-ID: <118hcme$lek$1@reader1.panix.com>
Archive-Name: soc.sexuality.general

This is a formal Request for Discussion (RFD) to remove the
moderated newsgroup soc.sexuality.general.

The Big-8 Management Board plans to begin voting on this proposal
after five days. Please offer any final discussion or comments before
the end of this waiting period. Voting may take up to one week (seven
days); a result will be posted following the end of the voting period.

Newsgroups Line:

soc.sexuality.general Human sexuality in general. (Moderated)

Distribution:
news.announce.newgroups
news.groups.proposals
soc.sexuality.general

Pointers directing readers to this RFD will be posted in the following
groups: alt.polyamory, alt.sex, alt.sex.bondage, soc.bi, soc.motss,
soc.subculture.bondage-bdsm

Proponent: Usenet Big-8 Management Board <board@big-8.org>

Charter:

The group soc.sexuality.general is a moderated forum for the mature
discussion of sexuality, both in a personal or a political manner.
Suitable topics for discussion include, but are not limited to social
issues, discussions of lifestyles both "alternative" and "mainstream",
questions, and advice.

Soc.sexuality.general will be moderated by software and a backup team
of human moderators. The purpose of moderation will not be to
determine which views will be expressed, but to maintain the newsgroup
as a viable avenue for the mature discussion of human sexuality.
Moderators are volunteers who wish to serve the general USENET
community.

The newsgroup is _not_ for the purpose of posting binaries, requesting
binaries or advice on how to find binaries, personal ads or posts for
the sole purpose of soliciting meetings, erotic fiction, or commercial
advertisements, except as noted below. Off-topic messages, flames,
and trolls are also not appropriate. See below for details.

The newsgroup will be moderated by software coupled with a team of
human moderators. The moderation team will rely as much as possible
on software to moderate the newsgroup, but we recognize that given the
ever-changing nature of Usenet, we will use hand-moderation when
necessary to maintain the viability of the newsgroup.

The moderation team will be structured as follows: a Moderator Board
will be responsible for maintaining the moderation software and the
elaboration and implementation of moderation policies. Additional
moderators may be appointed or dismissed by the Board, and the Board
may appoint or dismiss Board members as necessary. The composition of
the Moderator Board will be posted regularly on the newsgroup and made
available on the World Wide Web.

The following types of messages are inappropriate for the newsgroup,
and may be grounds for rejection by the moderators or the moderation
software. This does not imply that they _will_ be rejected.

1. Messages that fit the profile the moderation software is configured
to automatically reject.

2. Messages that are excessively or inappropriately cross-posted, or
reposted.

3. Binaries or ASCII art, requests for binaries or ASCII art, or
announcements for the availability of such. (Messages that contain
short binary sequences, such as PGP signatures, are acceptable.)

4. Commercial ads, except for products that primarily serve an
educational, historical, or advocacy function. Advertisements may
also be rejected if they are of excessive length, or posted too
frequently. Posts that are advertisements should make it clear in the
subject line.

5. Stories, or other works of erotic fiction.

6. Personal ads, or the solicitation for penpals or face-to-face
meetings of a personal nature.

7. Off-topic posts, and posts on topics that, while related to
sexuality, are more appropriate to other newsgroups. (For example, an
argument on the ethics of abortion would most likely belong on
talk.abortion.)

8. Posts that are adequately addressed by the newsgroup FAQ
("Frequently Asked Questions") or other on-line resources. We will
maintain a list of such resources.

9. Flame wars (defined for the purposes of this charter as message
exchanges for the primary purpose of trading insults).

10. Trolls (defined for the purposes of this charter as messages
posted for the sole purpose of disrupting the newsgroup).

11. Posts from bogus addresses or domain names. (Addresses that are
deliberately munged to confuse spam e-mail software is acceptable, as
long as moderators can figure out how to unmunge the address, if
necessary. Posters who munge their address, and who plan on posting
to the newsgroup regularly, are requested to munge their address
consistently.) This clause should not be interpreted as excluding
anonymous or pseudonymous posts.

12. Messages from posters or sites that are on the moderation
software's "automatically reject" list. The policies for being placed
on the "automatically reject" list are as follows:

a. Advertisements for photographic or XXX BBSes or web sites, for
phone sex or escort services, singles cruises or introduction
services, are not welcome on this newsgroup. Posters of such messages
will be immediately placed on the "automatically reject" list.
Commercial sites that are known to frequently and heavily advertise
themselves inappropriately on Usenet will be placed on the
"automatically reject" list. Posters or sites who are placed on the
"automatically reject" list for any of the above reasons will remain
on the list permanently unless they successfully appeal to the
Moderator Board.

b. Posters who use the newsgroup as a source of e-mail addresses for either
harassment or mass commercial mailings may be put on the "automatically
reject" list, in which case they will remain on the list permanently unless
they successfully appeal to the Moderator Board.

c. Posters who violate other charter provisions may be placed on the
"automatically reject" list if the Moderator Board determines that
they have violated the posting guidelines twice within 60 days of
being warned of an infraction. The poster remains on this list for up
to 30 days. Repeated infractions may then result, with each
successive offense, of being placed on the "automatically reject" list
for up to 60 days, one year, and then permanently.

The moderators will endeavor to ensure that the actions listed above
will not be applied to users who commit infractions inadvertently or
because of misunderstandings of newsgroup policy (except as outlined
in part a above). All decisions to place a poster on the
"automatically reject" list may be appealed to the Moderator Board.

Rationale for removal:

The group currently has no moderator address assigned and hasn't seen
any posts since 2017.

In the years immediately prior to this, most posts were about the
amount of postings in the group, with only very few on-topic posts.
This shows that even when the moderation system was working, there
wasn't much interest in the group.

It brought to the Board's attention in 2025 that the moderation system
was not operational. Since May 2025 the Board has made contact with
several former moderators, and attempted to contact several more, but
this has not resulted in anyone volunteering to operate the moderation
system.

As the group is unusable in its current state, it is reasonable to
remove it.

Discussion so far:

No comments were received in response to the first two RFDs to remove
the group.

History of the group:

1997-06-09: 1st RFD (create)
1997-07-28: 1st CFV
1997-08-11: 2nd CFV
1997-08-21: Result: soc.sexuality.moderated passes 270:38

Procedure:

Those who wish to comment on this request to remove this newsgroup
should subscribe to news:news.groups.proposals and participate in the
relevant threads in that newsgroup.

To this end, the followup header of this RFD has been set to
news.groups.proposals.

All discussion of active proposals should be posted to
news.groups.proposals.

If desired by the readership of closely affected groups, the
discussion may be crossposted to those groups, but care must be taken
to ensure that all discussion appears in news.groups.proposals as
well.

For more information on the newsgroup removal process, please see
https://www.big-8.org/wiki/Removing_newsgroups

History of this RFD:

2026-08-13: 1st RFD (remove)
2026-08-27: 2nd RFD (remove)
2026-09-17: Final RFD / Last Call for Comments

--
Usenet Big-8 Management Board
https://www.big-8.org/
board@big-8.org
</pre>

Announcements

Tristan Miller — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 21:17:30 GMT

* 2026-09-17: 2nd RFD: Remove soc.sexuality.general - LAST CALL FOR COMMENTS

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:17, 17 September 2026
Line 1:		Line 1:
			* 2026-09-17: [[Nan:2026-09-17-lcc-soc.sexuality.general\|2nd RFD: Remove soc.sexuality.general - LAST CALL FOR COMMENTS]]
	* 2026-08-27: [[Nan:2026-08-27-2nd-rfd-soc.sexuality.general\|2nd RFD: Remove soc.sexuality.general]]		* 2026-08-27: [[Nan:2026-08-27-2nd-rfd-soc.sexuality.general\|2nd RFD: Remove soc.sexuality.general]]
	* 2026-08-13: [[Nan:2026-08-13-rfd-soc.sexuality.general\|RFD: Remove soc.sexuality.general]]		* 2026-08-13: [[Nan:2026-08-13-rfd-soc.sexuality.general\|RFD: Remove soc.sexuality.general]]

Web-to-news gateways

Rayner Lucas — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 13:26:56 GMT

Corrected hyphenation of Usenet-Rewind, and slightly expanded the description

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:26, 17 September 2026
(One intermediate revision by the same user not shown)
Line 18:		Line 18:
	== Read-Only Archives ==		== Read-Only Archives ==

			* [https://www.usenet-rewind.com/ Usenet-Rewind] - A searchable archive from 1981 to the present. Usenet-Rewind is a research archive run by Erie Data Systems LLC, and is continually updated with new data.
			* [https://www.usenetarchives.com/index.php Usenet Archives] - a searchable archive with posts dating back to the 1980s.
			* [https://usenet.id Usenet Article Lookup] - find a Usenet article if you know its Message-ID.
			* [https://olduse.net olduse.net] - as well as the time-shifted newsfeed service, the site offers an [https://article.olduse.net article lookup by Message-ID].
	* [https://narkive.com Narkive] - no longer has search functionality and the list of groups accessible from the front page has been greatly reduced. However, it is still possible to see archives for other groups: to find the archive URL for a specific group, take the group name and append ".narkive.com" to it (so to see the archives of comp.lang.python, go to [https://comp.lang.python.narkive.com https://comp.lang.python.narkive.com]).		* [https://narkive.com Narkive] - no longer has search functionality and the list of groups accessible from the front page has been greatly reduced. However, it is still possible to see archives for other groups: to find the archive URL for a specific group, take the group name and append ".narkive.com" to it (so to see the archives of comp.lang.python, go to [https://comp.lang.python.narkive.com https://comp.lang.python.narkive.com]).
	* [https://www.usenetarchives.com/index.php Usenet Archives] - a searchable archive with posts dating back to the 1980s.
	* [https://yarchive.net Yarchive] - a collection of useful or interesting Usenet articles sorted by topic.		* [https://yarchive.net Yarchive] - a collection of useful or interesting Usenet articles sorted by topic.
	* [https://usenet.id Usenet Article Lookup] - find a Usenet article if you know its Message-ID.
	* [https://olduse.net olduse.net] - as well as the time-shifted newsfeed service, the site offers an [https://article.olduse.net article lookup by Message-ID] like the Howard Knight archive.

Board:Agenda for next Board meeting

Tristan Miller — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 18:44:38 GMT

Minutes/2026-09-10

Tristan Miller — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 18:42:07 GMT

Created page with "Present: RL, TM * Administration ** {{news|rec.arts.anime.creative}}: No response yet on {{news|news.groups.proposals}} from the prospective new moderator. TM to try e-mailing them directly. ** {{news|soc.sexuality.general}}: No responses to the 2nd RFD. TM to post LCC. * Infrastructure ** RL to inform TM once he is ready to set up the web and mail server on Panix; TM to purchase the VPS subscription at that time. * Software/funding ** Noted correspondence between Tho..."

New page

Present: RL, TM

* Administration
** {{news|rec.arts.anime.creative}}: No response yet on {{news|news.groups.proposals}} from the prospective new moderator. TM to try e-mailing them directly.
** {{news|soc.sexuality.general}}: No responses to the 2nd RFD. TM to post LCC.
* Infrastructure
** RL to inform TM once he is ready to set up the web and mail server on Panix; TM to purchase the VPS subscription at that time.
* Software/funding
** Noted correspondence between Thomas Hochstein and {{news|news.lists.misc}} moderator Russ Allbery indicating that Thomas is free to start posting his Big-8 usage statistics there.
* Misc
** TM to write to JE asking him to reconsider his proposal to retroactively resign from the Board, but agreeing to accept it if that's what he wishes.

[[Category:Meeting minutes for 2026]]

Board:Agenda for next Board meeting

Tristan Miller — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 18:42:04 GMT

Minutes/2026-09-03

Rayner Lucas — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 20:08:20 GMT

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:08, 10 September 2026
(One intermediate revision by the same user not shown)
Line 7:		Line 7:
	** {{news\|comp.compilers}}: John Levine has now whitelisted Ivo Gandolfo's moderation relay, and Ivo is now allowing relaying to John's mail server again. The reported problems should therefore now be resolved.		** {{news\|comp.compilers}}: John Levine has now whitelisted Ivo Gandolfo's moderation relay, and Ivo is now allowing relaying to John's mail server again. The reported problems should therefore now be resolved.
	** {{news\|rec.arts.anime.creative}}: No response yet on news.groups.proposals from the prospective new moderator.		** {{news\|rec.arts.anime.creative}}: No response yet on news.groups.proposals from the prospective new moderator.
	** {{news\|soc.sexuality.general}}: TM posted 2nd RFD. No responses so far.		** {{news\|soc.sexuality.general}}: On 2026-08-27 TM posted the 2nd RFD (trimmed to 5 cross-posts) and pointers to it from the trimmed groups. No responses so far.
	** {{news\|talk.origins}}: ~~TM has contacted~~ the ~~moderator of talk~~.~~origins~~ to ~~report that submissions are bouncing in an apparent repeat of~~ the ~~problems from 2024 (see [[Minutes/2024~~-07-~~05]]~~ and ~~[[Minutes/2024-07-12]]). No reply so far~~.		** {{news\|talk.origins}}: Still no response from the ediacara postmaster about bounced submissions. TM wrote directly to the moderator, David Grieg, on 2026-09-03 and is awaiting a response.
	* Infrastructure		* Infrastructure
	** TM wrote to the Panix admins to ask whether they have had any problems with AI scraper botnets. Panix admins responded that they have not, and that they understand our concerns but cannot offer any guarantees.		** TM wrote to the Panix admins to ask whether they have had any problems with AI scraper botnets. Panix admins responded that they have not, and that they understand our concerns but cannot offer any guarantees.

Minutes/2026-09-03

Rayner Lucas — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 20:02:39 GMT

Page creation

New page

Present: RL, MM

Apologies: TM

* Administration
** comp.ai.chatgpt: RL still to try contacting proponent again to ask him to re-submit the RFD with correct formatting.
** {{news|comp.compilers}}: John Levine has now whitelisted Ivo Gandolfo's moderation relay, and Ivo is now allowing relaying to John's mail server again. The reported problems should therefore now be resolved.
** {{news|rec.arts.anime.creative}}: No response yet on news.groups.proposals from the prospective new moderator.
** {{news|soc.sexuality.general}}: TM posted 2nd RFD. No responses so far.
** {{news|talk.origins}}: TM has contacted the moderator of talk.origins to report that submissions are bouncing in an apparent repeat of the problems from 2024 (see [[Minutes/2024-07-05]] and [[Minutes/2024-07-12]]). No reply so far.
* Infrastructure
** TM wrote to the Panix admins to ask whether they have had any problems with AI scraper botnets. Panix admins responded that they have not, and that they understand our concerns but cannot offer any guarantees.
** During our correspondence with John Levine, he mentioned that IP ranges operated by our current mail host are being abused for spam. MM and RL decided that no action was required at present, as we are not aware of any issues delivering mail to any other recipients, and it will be a moot point in any case if we move our mail server to Panix.
* Software/funding
** MM has been in correspondence with Thomas Hochstein, who is offering to generate posting statistics for the Big 8 hierarchies. MM to suggest that he post them to {{news|news.lists.misc}}, perhaps contacting the moderator (Russ Allbery) first to confirm that they would be on-topic.
* Misc
** JE confirmed the e-mail from the background screening company is legitimate, so TM sent a response.
** E-mail from JE suggesting that, due to his recent lack of activity on the Board, we consider him to have stepped down as of earlier this year. TM suggested by email that we reply to confirm that he's sure about this, in case he wants to resume Board activities in the coming months. RL and MM agreed with this but are otherwise happy to accept JE's proposal.

[[Category:Meeting minutes for 2026]]

Board:Agenda for next Board meeting

Tristan Miller — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 16:08:56 GMT

Board members

Tristan Miller — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 19:38:25 GMT

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:38, 31 August 2026
Line 1:		Line 1:
	==Current membership (~~May 8~~, ~~2020~~)==		==Current membership (February 28, 2026)==

	* [[User:Jason Evans\|Jason Evans]]
	* [[User:Rayner Lucas\|Rayner Lucas]]		* [[User:Rayner Lucas\|Rayner Lucas]]
	* [[User:Tristan Miller\|Tristan Miller]]		* [[User:Tristan Miller\|Tristan Miller]]
Line 88:		Line 87:

	Elected [[Nan:2020-04-30-board-membership\|April 25, 2020]]:		Elected [[Nan:2020-04-30-board-membership\|April 25, 2020]]:
	* Jason Evans		* [[User:Jason Evans\|Jason Evans]]
	* Tristan Miller		* [[User:Tristan Miller\|Tristan Miller]]

	Elected May 8, 2020:		Elected May 8, 2020:
	* Rayner Lucas		* [[User:Rayner Lucas\|Rayner Lucas]]

	Elected August 2, 2024:		Elected August 2, 2024:
	* Marco Moock		* [[User:Marco Moock\|Marco Moock]]

			Resigned February 28, 2026:
			* Jason Evans

	[[Category:Big-8 Management]]		[[Category:Big-8 Management]]

Nan:2026-08-27-2nd-rfd-soc.sexuality.general

Tristan Miller — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 01:56:31 GMT

Created page with "<pre> From: Big-8 Management Board <board@big-8.org> Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups.proposals,soc.sexuality.general Subject: 2nd RFD: Remove soc.sexuality.general Followup-To: news.groups.proposals Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2026 21:55:01 EDT Message-ID: <116qpmu$dc$1@reader1.panix.com> Archive-Name: soc.sexuality.general This is a formal Request for Discussion (RFD) to remove the moderated newsgroup soc.sexuality.general Newsgroups Line: soc.sexuality.genera..."

New page

<pre>
From: Big-8 Management Board <board@big-8.org>
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups.proposals,soc.sexuality.general
Subject: 2nd RFD: Remove soc.sexuality.general
Followup-To: news.groups.proposals
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2026 21:55:01 EDT
Message-ID: <116qpmu$dc$1@reader1.panix.com>
Archive-Name: soc.sexuality.general

This is a formal Request for Discussion (RFD) to remove the
moderated newsgroup soc.sexuality.general

Newsgroups Line:

soc.sexuality.general Human sexuality in general. (Moderated)

Distribution:
news.announce.newgroups
news.groups.proposals
soc.sexuality.general

Pointers directing readers to this RFD will be posted in the following
groups: alt.polyamory, alt.sex, alt.sex.bondage, soc.bi, soc.motss,
soc.subculture.bondage-bdsm

Proponent: Usenet Big-8 Management Board <board@big-8.org>

Charter:

The group soc.sexuality.general is a moderated forum for the mature
discussion of sexuality, both in a personal or a political manner.
Suitable topics for discussion include, but are not limited to social
issues, discussions of lifestyles both "alternative" and "mainstream",
questions, and advice.

Soc.sexuality.general will be moderated by software and a backup team
of human moderators. The purpose of moderation will not be to
determine which views will be expressed, but to maintain the newsgroup
as a viable avenue for the mature discussion of human sexuality.
Moderators are volunteers who wish to serve the general USENET
community.

The newsgroup is _not_ for the purpose of posting binaries, requesting
binaries or advice on how to find binaries, personal ads or posts for
the sole purpose of soliciting meetings, erotic fiction, or commercial
advertisements, except as noted below. Off-topic messages, flames,
and trolls are also not appropriate. See below for details.

The newsgroup will be moderated by software coupled with a team of
human moderators. The moderation team will rely as much as possible
on software to moderate the newsgroup, but we recognize that given the
ever-changing nature of Usenet, we will use hand-moderation when
necessary to maintain the viability of the newsgroup.

The moderation team will be structured as follows: a Moderator Board
will be responsible for maintaining the moderation software and the
elaboration and implementation of moderation policies. Additional
moderators may be appointed or dismissed by the Board, and the Board
may appoint or dismiss Board members as necessary. The composition of
the Moderator Board will be posted regularly on the newsgroup and made
available on the World Wide Web.

The following types of messages are inappropriate for the newsgroup,
and may be grounds for rejection by the moderators or the moderation
software. This does not imply that they _will_ be rejected.

1. Messages that fit the profile the moderation software is configured
to automatically reject.

2. Messages that are excessively or inappropriately cross-posted, or
reposted.

3. Binaries or ASCII art, requests for binaries or ASCII art, or
announcements for the availability of such. (Messages that contain
short binary sequences, such as PGP signatures, are acceptable.)

4. Commercial ads, except for products that primarily serve an
educational, historical, or advocacy function. Advertisements may
also be rejected if they are of excessive length, or posted too
frequently. Posts that are advertisements should make it clear in the
subject line.

5. Stories, or other works of erotic fiction.

6. Personal ads, or the solicitation for penpals or face-to-face
meetings of a personal nature.

7. Off-topic posts, and posts on topics that, while related to
sexuality, are more appropriate to other newsgroups. (For example, an
argument on the ethics of abortion would most likely belong on
talk.abortion.)

8. Posts that are adequately addressed by the newsgroup FAQ
("Frequently Asked Questions") or other on-line resources. We will
maintain a list of such resources.

9. Flame wars (defined for the purposes of this charter as message
exchanges for the primary purpose of trading insults).

10. Trolls (defined for the purposes of this charter as messages
posted for the sole purpose of disrupting the newsgroup).

11. Posts from bogus addresses or domain names. (Addresses that are
deliberately munged to confuse spam e-mail software is acceptable, as
long as moderators can figure out how to unmunge the address, if
necessary. Posters who munge their address, and who plan on posting
to the newsgroup regularly, are requested to munge their address
consistently.) This clause should not be interpreted as excluding
anonymous or pseudonymous posts.

12. Messages from posters or sites that are on the moderation
software's "automatically reject" list. The policies for being placed
on the "automatically reject" list are as follows:

a. Advertisements for photographic or XXX BBSes or web sites, for
phone sex or escort services, singles cruises or introduction
services, are not welcome on this newsgroup. Posters of such messages
will be immediately placed on the "automatically reject" list.
Commercial sites that are known to frequently and heavily advertise
themselves inappropriately on Usenet will be placed on the
"automatically reject" list. Posters or sites who are placed on the
"automatically reject" list for any of the above reasons will remain
on the list permanently unless they successfully appeal to the
Moderator Board.

b. Posters who use the newsgroup as a source of e-mail addresses for either
harassment or mass commercial mailings may be put on the "automatically
reject" list, in which case they will remain on the list permanently unless
they successfully appeal to the Moderator Board.

c. Posters who violate other charter provisions may be placed on the
"automatically reject" list if the Moderator Board determines that
they have violated the posting guidelines twice within 60 days of
being warned of an infraction. The poster remains on this list for up
to 30 days. Repeated infractions may then result, with each
successive offense, of being placed on the "automatically reject" list
for up to 60 days, one year, and then permanently.

The moderators will endeavor to ensure that the actions listed above
will not be applied to users who commit infractions inadvertently or
because of misunderstandings of newsgroup policy (except as outlined
in part a above). All decisions to place a poster on the
"automatically reject" list may be appealed to the Moderator Board.

Rationale for removal:

The group currently has no moderator address assigned and hasn't seen
any posts since 2017.

In the years immediately prior to this, most posts were about the
amount of postings in the group, with only very few on-topic posts.
This shows that even when the moderation system was working, there
wasn't much interest in the group.

It brought to the Board's attention in 2025 that the moderation system
was not operational. Since May 2025 the Board has made contact with
several former moderators, and attempted to contact several more, but
this has not resulted in anyone volunteering to operate the moderation
system.

As the group is unusable in its current state, it is reasonable to
remove it.

Discussion so far:

No comments were received in response to the first RFD to remove the
group.

History of the group:

1997-06-09: 1st RFD (create)
1997-07-28: 1st CFV
1997-08-11: 2nd CFV
1997-08-21: Result: soc.sexuality.moderated passes 270:38

Procedure:

Those who wish to comment on this request to remove this newsgroup
should subscribe to news:news.groups.proposals and participate in the
relevant threads in that newsgroup.

To this end, the followup header of this RFD has been set to
news.groups.proposals.

All discussion of active proposals should be posted to
news.groups.proposals.

If desired by the readership of closely affected groups, the
discussion may be crossposted to those groups, but care must be taken
to ensure that all discussion appears in news.groups.proposals as
well.

For more information on the newsgroup removal process, please see
https://www.big-8.org/wiki/Removing_newsgroups

History of this RFD:

2026-08-13: 1st RFD (remove)
2026-08-27: 2nd RFD (remove)

--
Usenet Big-8 Management Board
https://www.big-8.org/
board@big-8.org
</pre>

Announcements

Tristan Miller — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 01:55:57 GMT

* 2026-08-27: 2nd RFD: Remove soc.sexuality.general

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:55, 28 August 2026
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			* 2026-08-27: [[Nan:2026-08-27-2nd-rfd-soc.sexuality.general\|2nd RFD: Remove soc.sexuality.general]]
	* 2026-08-13: [[Nan:2026-08-13-rfd-soc.sexuality.general\|RFD: Remove soc.sexuality.general]]		* 2026-08-13: [[Nan:2026-08-13-rfd-soc.sexuality.general\|RFD: Remove soc.sexuality.general]]
	* 2026-08-06: [[Nan:2026-08-06-2nd-rfd-rec.arts.anime.creative\|2nd RFD: Remove rec.arts.anime.creative]]		* 2026-08-06: [[Nan:2026-08-06-2nd-rfd-rec.arts.anime.creative\|2nd RFD: Remove rec.arts.anime.creative]]

Board:Agenda for next Board meeting

Tristan Miller — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 20:03:27 GMT

Minutes/2026-08-27

Tristan Miller — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 20:03:17 GMT

Created page with "Present: RL, MM, TM * Administration ** comp.ai.chatgpt: A misformatted RFD was received by the {{news|news.groups.proposals}} moderation system. RL rejected this and attempted to inform the poster by e-mail, but the message bounced. RL therefore informed the poster via a post to {{news|news.groups.proposals}}, but has not yet received a reply. MM managed to get our IP whitelisted from the poster's mail server; RL to re-send his original e-mail. ** {{news|comp.compil..."

New page

Present: RL, MM, TM

* Administration
** comp.ai.chatgpt: A misformatted RFD was received by the {{news|news.groups.proposals}} moderation system. RL rejected this and attempted to inform the poster by e-mail, but the message bounced. RL therefore informed the poster via a post to {{news|news.groups.proposals}}, but has not yet received a reply. MM managed to get our IP whitelisted from the poster's mail server; RL to re-send his original e-mail.
** {{news|comp.compilers}}: E-mails from Ivo Gandolfo reporting that his moderation relay server had been reported for spamming, apparently because of a {{news|comp.compilers}} submission (which does not seem to the Board to be spam at all). Ivo attempted to report the issue by e-mail to the {{news|comp.compilers}} moderator but their server is bouncing his messages. TM to try contacting the moderator on Ivo's behalf.
** {{news|rec.arts.anime.creative}}: Response to 2nd RFD from someone who may be interested in taking over moderation. MM has replied on {{news|news.groups.proposals}} and is awaiting a reply.
** {{news|soc.sexuality.general}}: TM to post 2nd RFD (trimmed to 5 cross-posts) and pointers to it from the trimmed groups.
** {{news|talk.origins}}: E-mails from Todd M. McComb reporting problems posting to the group, which seem similar to those discussed in [[Minutes/2024-07-05]] and [[Minutes/2024-07-12]]. MM attempted to contact the postmaster of the moderation system's domain but received no response. TM to follow up with the moderator.
* Infrastructure
** TM to ask Panix admins and users whether they have had any problems with AI scraper botnets.
* Misc
** E-mail from a background screening company asking to confirm employment details for a client. RL to e-mail JE to ask if this is a legitimate query.
** E-mail from someone interested in participating in the work of the Board. MM to reply.

[[Category:Meeting minutes for 2026]]

Board:Agenda for next Board meeting

Tristan Miller — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 19:30:54 GMT

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:17, 17 September 2026
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			* 2026-09-17: [[Nan:2026-09-17-lcc-soc.sexuality.general\|2nd RFD: Remove soc.sexuality.general - LAST CALL FOR COMMENTS]]
	* 2026-08-27: [[Nan:2026-08-27-2nd-rfd-soc.sexuality.general\|2nd RFD: Remove soc.sexuality.general]]		* 2026-08-27: [[Nan:2026-08-27-2nd-rfd-soc.sexuality.general\|2nd RFD: Remove soc.sexuality.general]]
	* 2026-08-13: [[Nan:2026-08-13-rfd-soc.sexuality.general\|RFD: Remove soc.sexuality.general]]		* 2026-08-13: [[Nan:2026-08-13-rfd-soc.sexuality.general\|RFD: Remove soc.sexuality.general]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:55, 28 August 2026
Line 1:		Line 1:
			* 2026-08-27: [[Nan:2026-08-27-2nd-rfd-soc.sexuality.general\|2nd RFD: Remove soc.sexuality.general]]
	* 2026-08-13: [[Nan:2026-08-13-rfd-soc.sexuality.general\|RFD: Remove soc.sexuality.general]]		* 2026-08-13: [[Nan:2026-08-13-rfd-soc.sexuality.general\|RFD: Remove soc.sexuality.general]]
	* 2026-08-06: [[Nan:2026-08-06-2nd-rfd-rec.arts.anime.creative\|2nd RFD: Remove rec.arts.anime.creative]]		* 2026-08-06: [[Nan:2026-08-06-2nd-rfd-rec.arts.anime.creative\|2nd RFD: Remove rec.arts.anime.creative]]