🚀 go-pugleaf

                         REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION
                         ----------------------
             unmoderated newsgroup can.arts.sci-fi.general

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
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Please keep all discussions within one or more of these news groups:
    can.config, ont.sf-lovers, or rec.arts.sf.misc
or E-Mail to: jbotte@achilles.net and a summary will be posted to the
groups listed above. FYI: Group creation in the can.* hierarchy does not
require a vote (much like the alt.* hierarchy), but sufficient interest
and no major objections must be shown before the group is likely to be
picked up by news admins who carry the can.* groups.

CHARTER:
--------
can.arts.sci-fi.general is to be used by Canadians and others wishing to
explore the Canadian experience. It is to be used to inform and network
fans, pros, institutions, groups, and industry. It is a place for
discussions about the history, the current state of, and the future of
Canadian speculative arts and literature (science-fiction, fantasy,
horror, alternate histories, utopian/dystopian fiction, etc.;
television, radio, performance, etc.; and fiction, reference works,
biographies, magazines, etc.). Announcements of national and regional
(provided the subject is prefixed with "LOCAL:") events are encouraged
as well as FAQs about institutions and groups from across Canada.

NEWSGROUPS LINE:
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can.arts.sci-fi.general  Discussions about Canadian speculative fiction

RATIONALE:
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The idea of a Canada-wide newsgroup devoted to science-fiction comes up
every once in a while in ont.sf-lovers. Canada is a large and diverse
country where fans and pros are scattered geographically and do not get
much chance to get together in person and discuss things from a national
perspective. Thus, the best we can do is keep tightly knit regional
groups communicating within themselves, with occasional communications
with other regional groups. There is increasing effort to build national
groups and have more people find out the "bigger picture" of the
Canadian scene (examples include The Friends of the Merril Collection,
The Society for Canadian Content in Speculative Arts and Literature, The
Canadian Science-Fiction and Fantasy Foundation, magazines such as On
Spec, Solaris, Transversions, Under the Ozone Hole, Beyond the Oort
Cloud, NorthWords, and many many more). can.arts.sci-fi.general can be
a common gathering place for people from all across Canada where they
can discuss matters of national scope or of regional interest so
everyone can get a taste of what is going on in the various corners of
our country, and so nobody loses touch with the Canadian community.

A few notes on the choice of a name... I chose to use "sci-fi" instead
of just "sf" because of my experience with ont.sf-lovers. All too
frequently, some over-enthusiastic person goes a grep on a global
listing of newsgroups and spams the net looking for "single
females". Since the name does not contain "sf" or "love", this should
not happen any more (thus reducing net.noise). A second motivation is
that this will create a can.arts hierarchy that other people can build
on. And thirdly, it builds a can.arts.sci-fi hierarchy so some day (if
traffic warrants) we can add a can.arts.sci-fi.announce moderated group.

DISTRIBUTION:
-------------
This announcement has been distributed to the following groups (where
Canadians are known to frequent):

    can.config              # Required for the CFD process
    can.general             # General discussions for all of Canada
    ab.general              # General discussions for the provinces
    bc.general
    man.general
    nb.general
    nf.general
    ns.general
    nwt.general
    ont.general
    pei.general
    qc.general
    sk.general
    ont.sf-lovers           # Currently Canada's only SF group
    rec.arts.sf.announce    # International news groups where many
    rec.arts.sf.fandom      #   Canadians currently hold discussions
    rec.arts.sf.misc

It was sent to all provincial "general" groups because I can think
of no other way of reaching regional groups. Once again, please limit
discussion to the groups listed at the top of this message.

Thank you for your time,

James Botte, President of The Society of Canadian Content in Speculative
    Arts and Literature, Inc.; co-founder of CAN-CON, QuadCon, and The
    Academic Conference on Canadian Content in Speculative Arts and
    Literature; and founder and publisher of NorthWords:Science-
    Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Magazine.