In news.groups John McCoy wrote:
wrote in :

The issue
at hand is whether an existing topic space, with existing readership,
can be made usable (again)

You have slightly jumped the gun here, ru. The question of whether
the existing topic space is unusable has not been determined (and
I would say the evidence is that the current group is very usable,
hence the trend to oppose creating a .mod group).

Ultimately, that is what this proposal would determine if it is
followed through. If there are enough people that vote for it's
creation, then that would indicate that enough people think the
existing group is not usable and that the proposed group should
be created. Basically, that's what matters most, barring
moderation issues. So in some sense, whether the existing
group is considered usable or not by a majority is irrelevant.

It doesn't hurt to have an idea of what the consensus is beforehand,
but generally that's to gauge what to write in the proposal
rather than if the proposal should go forward. In the face of
great opposition, yes, a proponent may consider withdrawing.
But I don't consider lack of interest or lack of need to be
adequate reasons to oppose a proposal... lack of YES votes should
take care of that. When I say opposition, I mean views along the
lines of the proposed group adversely affecting the readership of
the proposed group because of the way the proposal is composed,
or will adversely affect existing groups. Generally, if there
is a segment of usenet readers that want a group to read about
a topic with more focus or specialization, then opposers should
seriously consider if they are trying to prevent others from
creating a group of their own, and why. The converse is also
true, though; supporters should also seriously consider if they
are trying to help others get their group or help themselves
get their group (the former isn't really appropriate, while the
latter is), and why.

Having said all that, I'm waiting to hear from the proponents
about the moderation issues, because I think that will be their
stumbling block.

ru

--
My standard proposals rant:
Quality, usefulness, merit, or non-newsgroups popularity of a topic
is more or less irrelevant in creating a new Big-8 newsgroup.
Usenet popularity is the primary consideration.