On Fri, 18 Mar 2005 00:32:59 -0800, "Harold and Susan Vordos"
wrote:

Still, I have one question that troubles me. Is anyone in
charge of RCM?

It appears not, it's not a moderated ng.

Why does it exist?

I'd assume to do exactly what it's doing, bringing metalworking
aficionados together for discussion on said same topic. The exact
language would be in the original charter. A good question would be;
are there any original charter members still active here? That info
might be derived by checking the final CFV (Call For Votes) where rcm
was granted it's name and then seeing if any voters names are
familiar.

When one posts, or reads posts that
come from RCM, is there any one place where it is all on a hard drive
(besides Google)?

Nope. Heh, unless there's a super anal original charter member who's
saved every single one of them.

I trust by now you understand I'm totally confused as
to how the entire thing works.

If you get bored, there are quite a few ng's just for this proccess.
You'll see them near (above and below) the news.announce.newgroups.
(n.a.n) Note that's not newSgroups, it's newgroups. You get there
the same way you subbed here. All of the answers to your questions
are located therein. Look for any posts in n.a.n that start with RFD
(Request For Discussion) that's sort of where it all starts.

Someone, somewhere, one fine day must have
decided there should be an entity known as RCM------how did it come into
being?

It takes much more than a someone. There has to be a proven need for
a new ng, i.e, sufficient amount of interested people to validate
granting one in whichever hierarchy, alt, rec, etc...

It can get real nasty if a number of folks from say rcm decide they
want to form a subgroup and call it
rec.crafts.metalworking.noofftopicbs. When it's time for the CFV
(Call For Votes) and enough induhviduals vote no, rcmn could be
denied. For example, this happened in the rec.motorcycles.harley
split from rec.motorcycles. It turned out to be an all out war; rmh
won.

Does anyone have the authority to restrict anyone from posting?

Only in moderated ng's. In non-moderated ng's ones only recourse is
the almighty kill file, bit bucket (whatever you want to call it), or
given that tool isn't available, ignore them. One can complain to the
ISP's of particularly offensive induhviduals with the hope of them
losing access via that ISP, but they'll usually just get another one.

Can I assume it's nothing more than an address where everyone meets, but
there isn't any such place? I might liken it to a directory (on many, if
not all servers), under which anyone has access and adds their comments.
Something like that?

Sure, using your analogy, but that dictionary changes every second.
Some peoples versions retain entries longer than others is all. That
said, every single copy of the *dictionary* has the exact same name.

Usenet has been here much longer than the "web". It's the great
Grandpappy of Al Gore.