XPost: alt.lang.asm, news.groups.proposals

This is a formal Moderator Vacancy Investigation (MVI), begun because
the moderated newsgroup comp.lang.asm.x86 is not functioning,
and may have been abandoned by its moderator. This investigation will
attempt to verify the reasons for non-function, and may result in the
removal of the group or the selection and installation of a new
moderator. In practice, the Big-8 Management Board considers the third alternative--changing the status of the group from moderated to
unmoderated--as likely to cause more harm than good.

The Big-8 Management Board has been contacted by Robert AH Prins <robert(a)prino(d)org>, who has informed us that the moderator of comp.lang.asm.x86, Frank B. Kotler, recently passed away and that a new moderator would be needed.

Followups to this post have been set to news.groups.proposals, to ensure
that any resulting discussion can be followed in one place.


RATIONALE:

No new messages have appeared in comp.lang.asm.x86 since the end of
March 2024, despite light but frequent activity before that point.

The Board was recently contacted by Robert AH Prins, bringing our
attention to a recent thread in alt.lang.asm (see Message-ID: <valg59$34glp$1@dont-email.me>). It unfortunately appears that the
moderator of comp.lang.asm.x86, Frank B. Kotler, died in May of this
year:

https://www.brewittfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Frank-B-Kotler?obId=
31619052

This is deeply sad news, and we are grateful to Mr. Kotler for
generously volunteering his time and expertise as a group moderator. He
will surely be deeply missed, and we send our condolences to everyone
who knew him.

With this in mind, it seems to be established that a vacancy exists and
that a new moderator could be appointed.


VOLUNTEERS:

While investigating the situation, the Board contacted Terje Mathisen,
whose personal domain tmsw.no hosts the mailbox for submissions to comp.lang.asm.x86. As a result of this contact, Mr. Mathisen volunteered
to take over the role of moderator.

Mr. Mathisen would seem to be particularly well placed to moderate the newsgroup, as:

* He already administers the submissions mailbox.
* He is already a contributor to the group.
* He has the technical skills to take on the role of moderator.

Therefore, the Board proposes that Mr. Mathisen take over moderation of comp.lang.asm.x86, unless any compelling reason arises to do otherwise.

The Board notes that Mr. Prins has also expressed an interest in
moderating the group if it can be done as part of a team, in Message-ID: <vbcq64$e50t$1@dont-email.me>. Mr. Prins also has technical experience
and a history of contributing to the group. We encourage the prospective moderators to work together to form a moderation team if possible, as
this is a far more resilient solution than having a single moderator.


NEWSGROUPS LINE:

comp.lang.asm.x86 Bulletin Board and Q&A for x86 assembly language
topics.
(Moderated)


HISTORY OF THE GROUP:

comp.lang.asm.x86 was proposed by Michael J. Averbuch <mikeaver@firefly.prairienet.org> in July 1994.

comp.lang.asm.x86 passed its vote 253:18 on 21 September 1994.

A proposal to convert comp.lang.asm.x86 to a moderated group was put
forward in May 1997, due to the group becoming overwhelmed with flames
and off-topic posts.

The proposal to convert comp.lang.asm.x86 to moderated passed its vote
198:19 on 01 Aug 1997.


CHARTER:

[From http://www.faqs.org/faqs/assembly-language/x86/general/part1/]

The moderated newsgroup comp.lang.asm.x86 will be open to discussions on
all topics related to assembly language and low-level programming on any machine using a x86 processor or its clones. Appropriate topics would
include, but not be limited to:

Assembly language code tips, tricks, and techniques.
MASM, TASM, and other commercial assemblers
NASM, and other non-commercial assemblers
Graphics, sound, and other hardware programming
Assembly language related utilities commercial/share/free-ware
Linking assembly language with other languages
Inline x86 programming utilizing assembly emulators in higher level
languages
Propagation of non-commercial Internet x86 resources
Any question/discussion of the direct programming of the x86
Etc...

Topics that will be filtered are:

Flames about "{Language X} is {better/worse} than ASM"
Flames like "{Assembler 1} is {better/worse} than {Assembler 2}"
Flames, personal attacks, insults, etc.
HLL code, except when used for low-level hardware programming.
Product comparisons except when presented in an unbiased fashion. Advertisements unrelated to assembly programming or utilities.
Posts in languages other than English will be examined for approval
if any of the moderators can read the language in question. There
is no guarantee of approval for a post in any language other than
English.


DISTRIBUTION:

news.announce.newgroups
news.groups.proposals
comp.lang.asm.x86
alt.lang.asm


PROPONENT:

Robert AH Prins <robert(a)prino(d)org>


PROCEDURE:

Those who wish to comment on this moderator vacancy investigation should subscribe to news.groups.proposals and participate in the relevant
threads in that newsgroup.

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

For more information on the MVI process, please see

http://www.big-8.org/wiki/Moderator_Vacancy_Investigations


CHANGE HISTORY:

12 September 2024: Moderator Vacancy Investigation

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

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)