CHARTER: misc.writing.moderated

Misc.writing.moderated is a forum for discussion of the process and
profession of writing.  It is a newsgroup where all participants are treated
as peers.  The focus in misc.writing.moderated is on developing as writers,
increasing writing income and/or discussing the process and business of
writing.

Misc.writing.moderated is inclusive in that discussion of all forms of
writing is considered appropriate, but it is exclusive in that all
discussion must be aimed toward the development of participants as writers,
or toward providing cooperative support for their writing and their writing
ambitions.  Questions of grammar and style are appropriate, but should be
sought in the FAQ.  Of greater interest are topics such as plotting
techniques, character or thematic development, research methods, industry
trends and news, market information, finding and dealing with an agent,
techniques for best marketing one's work, software tools, manuscript
formatting, how to avoid repetitive stress injury, and other such concerns
with which writers struggle.

Misc.writing.moderated accepts reasonable and timely announcements of
seminars, conferences, new markets, and other commercial ventures that may
be of interest to the practicing writer, though repetitive commercial
announcements are disallowed.  For the purposes of this charter,
"repetitive" is defined as more than
once per month.

While questions about writing problems are appropriate in
misc.writing.moderated, the posting of long excerpts from written works, or
of shorter works in their entirety, is expressly forbidden.  Participants
are free to quote from their work as part of a larger discussion within a
post.  This includes, but is not limited to, illustrations of writing
technique, questions of why certain passages do or do not work, and short
segments designed to spark a discussion about the art or craft of writing.
Those looking for critiques are welcome to post URLs where their work can be
found, or to post short, non-repetitive announcements that work is available
for critique.

Articles that exceed the bounds of common courtesy -- e.g., personal attacks
against other posters -- are never acceptable, no matter what the context of
the article and no matter how small a part of the article the attack may be.
Also unacceptable are articles that consist solely of "yahoos", birthday
greetings, and so on.

Signature files are subject to reasonable length restrictions, and may not
contain personal attacks against other posters.  A signature file may
contain non-writing-related URLs or personal advertisements.

Binaries with the exception of small cryptographic authentication such as
PGP signatures in non-binary messages are not acceptable.

This charter, or a URL pointing to it, is posted once a week to
misc.writing.moderated.

Misc.writing.moderated accepts no crossposts, except:  RFDs, CFVs, and
related administrative postings (as approved by the moderators of
news.announce.newgroups) with followups set to news.groups and/or
misc.writing.moderated, articles in response to such postings crossposted
only between news.groups and misc.writing.moderated, and FAQs and similar
informational postings (as approved by the moderators of news.answers).

Moderation

Misc.writing.moderated is moderated, which means that all articles to the
group pass through a review process before being posted.  The purpose of
moderation is to maintain focussed discussion in an atmosphere of mutual
respect.  To this end, the Moderators will strive to maintain both focus and
cordiality.

Moderation will be by a Moderation Board, consisting of a Head Moderator and
several Associate Moderators.  The number of Associate Moderators is set by
the Board, but the Board will make a good-faith effort to maintain a
membership of at least three Associate Moderators.  Only members of the
Moderation Board have the power to approve posts.

As technical expertise is required for continued functioning of the
moderation software, misc.writing.moderated calls upon the skills of a
Technical Administrator.  The Technical Administrator is charged with
installing and maintaining the moderation software (including any ancillary
software like procmail recipes), with making the moderation code publicly
available to all who wish to inspect it, with ownership (either actual or
delegated to a trusted third party) of the group submissions address, and
with communicating about technical problems with Moderators and
participants.  The Technical Administrator has no hand-moderation duties,
and is not a voting member of the Board.  A new Technical Administrator can
only be selected by an outgoing Technical Administrator, or, if the previous
Technical Administrator has abandoned the group, by a request to the Usenet
Moderators' mailing list.

The current moderation procedures and policies are described in the
Moderation Policy, which is maintained by the Head Moderator.  Any changes
to the Moderation Policy are subject to approval by a simple majority vote
of the Moderation Board.  The Moderation Policy shall be reviewed for
possible changes, and input for changes to the Policy shall be sought from
the readership of the group annually.

General complaints, dissatisfaction, and grousing about Moderators or the
Moderation Policy can be aired on a public, unmoderated mailing list.  That
list is open to all and will be read by at least one member of the Board.

The Moderation Policy, or a URL pointing to it, is posted once a week to
misc.writing.moderated.