The procedures for creating a new nz.* group are similar to that of 
creating a 'Big Eight' (ie news.*,comp.*,soc.*..) group except they are on 
a smaller scale and less formal. Below is a recommended procedure for 
creating a new group.

NOTE: This is only a recommendation, their are *no* formal rules, however 
a group that passes using these procedures has a good chance of being 
accepted by administrators.

I would be very happy to help you if you have any questions.


(Borrowed from the Introduction to rec.arts.comics Newsgroups FAQ)

Any proposed split or new group will have to be well justified:

  A. Is the group easily and clearly defined? Given any post, would it 
     go in the new group or an existing one?

  B. Is current group traffic too high? Will the split reduce it?

  C. Will the split save time? There's no point in splitting if most 
     people will read both the old group and the new group.

  D. Is there sufficient traffic already about the topic? Usenet is not 
     "Field of Dreams".

  E. Will the topic exist for years to come? Newsgroups don't die so easily.

  F. Will at least a 2/3rds super-majority of voters want to create it?


1) Decide what you want exactly. 
================================

This means you should think about what sort of group you are after, 
answer to yourself questions like:

* Does it need to be moderated?
* Would a mailing list be a better idea?
* Does the traffic justify it? 
* Would an International group serve the topic better?
* Where should it roughly go?


2) Post a Request for Discussion (RFD)
=======================================

 This should be crossposted to at least nz.net.announce, nz.net.admin and 
nz.general to insure that everybody will see it. Try an include as much 
information about the group as you can including a possible charter. If 
you want ideas on what to write take a look at news.announce.newsgroups 
and read the various RFDs and CFVs that are posted there.

Note: nz.net.announce is moderated so there may be a delay of a couple
of days before your RFD is sent, the moderators of the group may also 
contact you about the RFD to check some points.

 Don't forget to set your follow-ups to nz.net.admin since all discussion 
should take place there

 With a bit of luck you will get half a dozen people following up your 
RFD with "good idea, go for it" type messages and no critism whatsoever.
However in the real world (or real Usenet in this case) you are likely to
get several people questioning points you raise, pointing out silly 
spelling mistakes and generally trying to pick holes in your proposal.

 The thing to remember is to take account of what these people say. If 
they suggest another name consider the possibility. If they say that your
charter is not clear enough on some point then try to make it clearer. 
Remember some people are naturally suspicious and will make the strangest 
assumptions from they see written in your RFD. The most important thing
to remember is that the RFD has to stand by itself without any other
explanations needed.

 At this point you might also like to consider finding some one to count 
the vote if you proposal goes that far. Ideally the person should be 
neutral on the topic(or at least seen to be), known to a few people other 
than yourself (a academic staff member is a good choice if you are at 
university) and familiar with the basic processes of Usenet and group 
votes.

To assist in deciding what to put in your RFD you might like to check out 
the documents at:

                             http://www.uvv.org/


3) 2nd RFD
==========

 If your proposal is pretty much accepted by everybody then you can skip 
this step and go straight onto the CFV. However usually you will have a 
few changes as a result of feedback from your first RFD. These should be 
incorporated in a 2ndRFD which is posted in much the same way as the first.

 Once again take account of any feedback and if need be you might even 
want to do a 3rd RFD if there are lots of changes in your proposal.


4) 1st Call For Votes (CFV)
===========================

 Once you have arranged everything with your vote-taker you should issue 
the first Call for Votes or CFV. Like the RFD(s) this should be 
cross-posted to nz.general,nz.net.announce and nz.net.admin (and other 
groups as necessary) with follow-ups directed to nz.net.admin. In 
addition the "Reply-To:" header should have the address of the 
vote-taker so people can send in their votes just be replying to the 
message. Take a look in news.announce.newgroups for examples of CFVs and 
how to structure them.


5) 2nd CFV
==========

 This should be sent out about a week after the first CFV and be pretty 
much identical. It is merely to ensure that people who missed the first 
CFV have a chance to vote.


6) Important points for the vote-taker
======================================

* All votes should be acknowledged by Email, this is so that the voter 
knows that his/her vote has got through and been counted by the vote-taker.
If a vote is not acknowledged within a day or two by the vote-taker the 
voter *must* assume that the vote has failed to get through and should 
re-vote. This should be spelled out in the CFV.

* The vote-taker must not tell anyone (including the proponent) about the 
number or nature of the votes received while the vote is taking place. If 
this is done so the vote is immediately null and void. Obviously is 
some circumstances it may be necessary to discuss the vote with other 
people (such as ones system administrator if possible forged votes are 
being administrated) but in all these cases no indication of the overall 
result should be given.

* Only one vote per person and one vote per account. Anonymous votes
should not be accepted, nor proxies or votes from 'system' accounts (such 
as root or postmaster) unless a name is attached. Also votes where the 
acknowledgement bounces should be treated with suspicion.

* It should be stated before-hand if votes from outside *.nz will be 
accepted.


7) The Result
=============

 After voting has closed the the vote-taker is satisfied as to the 
legality of the votes received (and discarded any illegal ones) he/she 
should determine the result.

Please note: The exact number of votes needed to create and nz.* group is
currently still under debate. These numbers given below are around those 
that have been suggested. In any case the exact numbers for needed for a 
particular vote to succeed should be listed in the CFV.

 The vote should be counted as having passed if the number of YES votes is 
at least twice the number of NO votes *and* there are at least 25 more 
YES than NO votes.

 After the result has been determined the vote-taker should post it to all 
the groups the the CFV was posted to (with appropriate follow ups) and 
list the names of all the voters and which way they voted. 

 If there are no major disputes the group(s) voted in favor of should be 
created.

To make sure you vote has the best chance of being created after a 
successful vote has occurred you should get Mark Davies 
<mark@comp.vuw.ac.nz> and root@usenet.net.nz to both send out messages 
to create the group.


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