Does Grex need a new fair-witness for the Poetry conference?

Dec 23 15:43 UTC 1995

I recently sent the following letter to peacefrg@cyberspace.org ...

 Dear James,

 Hello! Please allow me to inroduce myself. I am Robert Lawson, a Grex users,
 helper, and frequenter of the Poetry conference in which you are named the
 fair-witness. I was thinking about enter an item in the Co-op conference
 about this matter but I decided that I should speak with you first.

 I think the Poetry conference needs a new fair-witness if you are not on
 Grex enough to maintain your fair-witness duties. Then again, for the Poetry
 conference, do we really need a fair-witness?

        A fair-witness is a person who is supposed to
        be "responsible" for the contents of the conference.

        The fair-witness's primary job is to keep people on
        track by encouraging useful responses and at the same
        time encouraging less useful discussions to move to
        other more appropriate conferences.

        Of less importance, a fairwitness can also kill items
        and maintain the login, logout, and index files.
 
 I don't see a need for someone to delete items in this conference and login
 and logout files don't need to be "maintained", they're there and they work
 fine. I still think that so much more can be done with that conference and
 you are just not around to do those things. I, therefore, think that Grex
 needs a new fair-witness for its Poetry conference. Please, I'd like to
 hear your response and whether you agree or disagree. And if you are acting
 as "phantom" fair-witness and just not responding to items and making your
 appearance known, I'm truly sorry. I await your reply.
 
 - Robert

... and I did wait for a reply. One minute later, I got one. The address in
peacefrg's .forward file is peacefrg@m-net148.arbornet.org. I reply I got was
from MAILER-DAEMON@m-net.arbornet.org saying that peacefrg was an unknown user
and so the mail was returned to me. However, I do think we need a new fair-
witness in the Poetry conference. Does anyone agree? Disagree? How would I
go about taking this matter any further?

response 2 of 88:

Dec 23 16:00 UTC 1995

   Well, it probably needs a steward to some extent, as most conferences
do.  You can start that by moving it along, espically if James isn't here
often any more.  You can become the effective FW before FWship is actually
transferred.

response 4 of 88:

Dec 23 19:21 UTC 1995

Also, this discussion really concerns the Poetry conference more than anything
else, so it might be a good idea to have this discussion there, or at least
link it there.

response 6 of 88:

Dec 23 21:39 UTC 1995

Someone mentioned that the poetry conference had over 400 items.  Sounds like
it might be due for a re-start.  Generally it's the fair witness's decision
to ask for a re-start...

response 8 of 88:

Dec 24 00:59 UTC 1995

Right, it certainly doesn't need any help in the "move it along"
department. It sprouts new items at a faster rate than Agora.
Has a nice personality to it too. There's a group of enthusiastic
amatuer poets that have settled in there and are having a grand
time. I don't see that there's any big problem with it that needs
to be fixed. I'd almost consider it proof that some conferences
don't need fairwitnesses.

response 10 of 88:

Dec 24 01:40 UTC 1995

I'm not sure if I made myself clear in #0; however, I have no wish to become
the f-w of the Poetry. I merely noted that peacefrg has not been active in
that conference and was wondering what should be done. I'm trying to look at
this from all perspectives and I quite agree that, in some ways, the Poetry
conference does not need a fair-witness.

If possible, could someone with root powers link this item into the Poetry
conference so that other could voice their opinions and concerns? Thank you.

response 12 of 88:

Dec 24 05:49 UTC 1995

Is the "problem" only that the fw is not in evidence? I am a fw of several
cfs in which I have done nothing because nothing appears needed (or 
requested). So far, they don't seem to need a fw, and perhaps as remmers
notes, perhaps neither does poetry.

response 14 of 88:

Dec 24 12:45 UTC 1995

You might send mail to otter and wolfmage; they know peacefrg personally and
might have some idea where to find him.

response 16 of 88:

Dec 24 18:17 UTC 1995

gregc should be the fw of poetry. He understands your needs.

response 18 of 88:

Dec 25 03:04 UTC 1995

I wonder- is this item at all linkable without James' assistance?

response 20 of 88:

Dec 25 06:57 UTC 1995

Anyone with root *can*, but I'd rather have it done by one of the cfadms
(I think they all have root, but not everybody with root is also a cfadm).

response 22 of 88:

Dec 25 19:50 UTC 1995

Hello, The little devil is found :)
I lost access to a terminal recently and I haven't been able to log on more
than once a month. When I started the Poetry conf I hoped that it would go
over good. It appears that it has so I don't want to see it die because I
can't keep up as FW. So, since you guys know the poetry conf regulars better
than I do, please elect somebody new as FW so this conf can get back to
healthy status. Thanks for your concern.

James

response 24 of 88:

Dec 25 21:32 UTC 1995

I wouldn't mind seeing Dan Hoppe (bubu) as f-w, if he is at all interested.
I would recommend John Remmers (remmers) I don't think he has the time as he
just resigned, to my understanding, as f-w of the reality cf because he didn't
have the time. So, there's my .02 worth.