Usenet Big 5 wrote:
> This is a formal Request For Discussion (RFD) for the reorganization of
> the unmoderated newsgroup, rec.food.cooking.
>
> This RFD is being posted to news.announce.newgroups, news.groups,
> rec.food.cooking, rec.food.drink, rec.food.historic, rec.food.recipes,
> rec.food.sourdough, rec.food.veg and rec.food.veg.cooking, with
> followups set to rec.food.cooking.
>
> Rationale: Rec.food.cooking has been a high-volume newsgroup for several
> years, and the subject of splitting has been brought up with a fair
> amount of regularity. Traditionally, rec.food.cooking has been an
> amazingly civil, calm and flame-free newsgroup, so a split never seemed
> to be justified.
>
> However, in recent weeks the noise level and number of inappropriate
> posts has skyrocketed, and polite pointers to the FAQs (which usually
> did the trick before) now go ignored or become targets for flames. I
> feel that splitting rec.food.cooking will help bring back the focus that
> it once had.
>
> Proposal: rec.food.cooking be split into 5 unmoderated groups:
>
> rec.food.cooking.misc rec.food.cooking.cookware rec.food.cooking.recipes
> rec.food.cooking.media rec.food.cooking.discuss
>
> Charters:
>
> rec.food.cooking.misc (unmoderated) What rfc used to be and should be.
> For general cooking discussion. This newsgroup will replace
> rec.food.cooking.
>
> rec.food.cooking.cookware (unmoderated) Bread machines, microwaves,
> crockpots, knives, cutting boards, glass-top stoves, barbecues, cast
> iron, woks, Calphalon, aluminum, dehydrators, pasta makers, rice
> cookers, etc.
>
> rec.food.cooking.recipes (unmoderated) Recipes and requests.
>
> rec.food.cooking.media (unmoderated) Cookbooks, cookbook authors, tv
> shows, movies.
>
> rec.food.cooking.discuss (unmoderated) For all the spam and tripe that
> currently plagues the group. For flames, rumors, controversial topics
> (such as food poisoning), the $250 cookie, and those threads that bear
> marginal relevance that seem to go on forever like, "What did you have
> for dinner last night?" "What is your favorite fast food restaurant?"
> "What is your least favorite fast food restaurant?" Etc, etc.
>
> Discussion will run for a minumum of 21 days. The newsgroups in this
> proposal are subject to change, and if major changes are necessary, the
> discussion period may be extended an additional 7 days.
>
> A Call for Votes (CFV) will be posted after the end of the discussion
> period. The vote will be run by a neutral third party.
>
> This RFD attempts to fully comply with Usenet newsgroup creation
> guidelines set in "How to Create a New Usenet Newsgroup". Please refer
> to this document if you have questions about the process.

This must be a joke. The group is basically what the participants
want it to be. To the degree that it is now, we are capable of
not reading or filtering.

--
Jean B.