OLDSmobility.com - The 1967 Oldsmobile Cutlass and 442 Resource - The Beginnings of alt.autos.gm.olds-cutlass

I originally came up with the idea for creating the newsgroup, I decided to call this group "alt.autos.cutlass-442". Here is the original group proposal submitted to alt.config for review:

Deja.com message: Proposal: newgroup alt.autos.cutlass-442 (dated 10/2/99)

Comments:
I am Keith Dickson and my aim is to create an unmoderated Cutlass/442 newsgroup for the millions of enthusiasts out there.

For your newsgroups file:
alt.autos.cutlass-442 This newsgroup is for Olds Cutlass and 442 enthusiasts.

Charter:
This newsgroup would be for people who would like to talk, learn or announce anything about the Oldsmobile Cutlass and 442.
Spam or immature messages are discouraged.
Binary posts are discouraged.

Justification of Readership:
Oldsmobile's Cutlass and Cutlass Supreme (and the high-performance version 442) is one the the top-selling and longest-running automobile model series of all time. Literally millions of these cars are on the road at any time, and car enthusiasts are increasingly turning to these cars as an alternative to the over-priced exotic sports/luxury cars being currently produced.
This newsgroup would give the millions of enthusiasts worldwide an opportunity to learn more about their cars, exchange their views, meet other fans on different corners of the globe, find parts for their restorations, and it would certainly prove to be very efficient in announcing any Cutlass updates eg: events, carshow dates, fan-clubs or advertising newly created (Oldsmobile/Cutlass/F-85-related) homepages. A powersearch on October 2, 1999 on Deja News returned 89 matches for simply searching for "olds oldsmobile" between 8/5/99 and 10/2/99, so I believe there would be substantial interest in this newsgroup.

Comments made in alt.config:

Deja.com message: Re: Proposal: newgroup alt.autos.cutlass-442 (dated 10/2/99)

From barbara pattist <pattist@ix.netcom.com>
1. Binary posts are not permitted. Post pictures to alt.binaries.pictures.autos with a pointer posted to the text group.
2. Deja showed "exactly 828 matches for search cutlass" between 7/1/99 and 10/1/99, limited to the groups *auto*. (I took out the marketplace group.) Limiting the group to the 442 gave only 42 posts.
alt.autos.cutlass would be a better name. alt.autos.gm.olds-cutlass might be even better from a naming point of view.

Deja.com message: Re: Proposal: newgroup alt.autos.cutlass-442 (dated 10/2/99)

From -= Hawk =- <hawk@lart.com>
1. Umm, guy, that's somewhere around 1.5 posts per day about the entire Oldsmobile line, you really need 10+ per day (on the specific topic) to ensure newsgroup survives and propagates, your justification also showed NO reason for a Cutlass specific newsgroup, hell it's not even enough to justify a general Oldsmobile newsgroup, let alone a specifc group for the 442 crowd.

Using the above suggestions, I then modified and resubmitted my proposal as follows:

Deja.com message: Proposal: newgroup alt.autos.gm.olds-cutlass (dated 10/3/99)

Comments:
I am Keith Dickson and my aim is to create an unmoderated Cutlass/442 newsgroup for the millions of enthusiasts out there. I submitted this for your consideration earlier, but am now submitting this revision, with a more appropriate name and hierarchy and minor revisions to the Charter.

For your newsgroups file:
alt.autos.gm.olds-cutlass For Olds Cutlass and 442 enthusiasts.

Charter:
This newsgroup would be for people who would like to talk, learn or announce anything about the Oldsmobile Cutlass and 442.
The posting of SPAM is prohibited.
The posting of off-topic material is prohibited.
Cross-posting between related newsgroups is strongly discouraged. Cross-posting to non-related newsgroups is strictly prohibited.
Binary posts are prohibited.

Justification of Readership:
Oldsmobile's Cutlass and Cutlass Supreme (and the high-performance version 442) is one the the top-selling automobile models of all time, and one of longer-running series. Literally millions of these cars are on the road at any time, and car enthusiasts are increasingly turning to these cars as an alternative to the over-priced exotic sports/luxury cars being currently produced.
This newsgroup would give the millions of enthusiasts worldwide an opportunity to learn more about their cars, exchange their views, meet other fans on different corners of the globe, find parts for their restorations, and it would certainly prove to be very efficient in announcing any Cutlass updates eg: events, carshow dates, fan-clubs or advertising newly created (Oldsmobile/Cutlass/F-85/Cutlass) homepages.

Deja showed "exactly 828 matches for search cutlass" between 7/1/99 and 10/1/99, limited to the groups *auto*, so I believe there would be substantial interest in this newsgroup.

I waited the customary week, and since I then needed to submit a control message with additional message headers that my current newsreader was unable to produce, I asked a regular in alt.config to post this control message for me. He posted this in alt.config:

Deja.com message: Re: Proposal: newgroup alt.autos.gm.olds-cutlass (dated 10/9/99)
scottzf <scottzf@my-deja.com> wrote:

Were there any suggestions to this proposal?
If not I was going to send the control message for the proponant.

His post received the following response:

Deja.com message: Re: Proposal: newgroup alt.autos.gm.olds-cutlass (dated 10/9/99)
wadda <wadda@goahead.com>
He just sent the proposal the other day. Boy that was a quick "discussion period".

...to which he replied:

Deja.com message: Re: Proposal: newgroup alt.autos.gm.olds-cutlass (dated 10/9/99)
ScottZf <scottzf@dwave.net>
The date he sent it was Oct 2 (the original proposal), one week ago. I checked DejaCom and saw only 2 replies to his proposal, he then sent a revised proposal.
I have seen no suggestions for improval since.
I was going to send it for him tomorrow if there were no further suggestions. I have no connections to the propanant other than an email request to send the cmsg.

Another reply:

Deja.com message: Re: Proposal: newgroup alt.autos.gm.olds-cutlass
barbara pattist <pattist@ix.netcom.com> (dated 10/9/99)
Looks fine to me. He made the changes I suggested....BarB

He then sent the following control message:

Deja.com message: cmsg newgroup alt.autos.gm.olds-cutlass (dated 10/9/99)
ScottZf <scottzf@dwave.net>

For your newsgroups file:
alt.autos.gm.olds-cutlass For Olds Cutlass and 442 enthusiasts.

Comments:
I am sending the control message for the proponant below.
This newsgroup was discussed in alt.config during 10/99, its message ID is 37F77827.6F96CBFB@hotmail.com . I am Keith Dickson savage200@hotmail.com and I submitted the proposal. My aim is to create a Cutlass/442 newsgroup for the millions of fans out there.

Charter:
This newsgroup would be for people who would like to talk, learn or announce anything about the Oldsmobile Cutlass and 442.
The posting of SPAM is prohibited.
The posting of off-topic material is prohibited.
Cross-posting between related newsgroups is strongly discouraged. Cross-posting to non-related newsgroups is strictly prohibited.
Binary posts are prohibited.

Justification of Readership:
Oldsmobile's Cutlass and Cutlass Supreme (and the high-performance version 442) is one the the top-selling automobile models of all time, and one of longer-running series. Literally millions of these cars are on the road at any time, and car enthusiasts are increasingly turning to these cars as an alternative to the over-priced exotic sports/luxury cars being currently produced.
This newsgroup would give the millions of enthusiasts worldwide an opportunity to learn more about their cars, exchange their views, meet other fans on different corners of the globe, find parts for their restorations, and it would certainly prove to be very efficient in announcing any Cutlass updates eg: events, carshow dates, fan-clubs or advertising newly created (Oldsmobile/Cutlass/F-85/Cutlass) homepages.

Deja showed "exactly 828 matches for search cutlass" between 7/1/99 and 10/1/99, limited to the groups *auto*, so I believe there would be substantial interest in this newsgroup.

The group 'alt.autos.gm.olds-cutlass' then showed up on Deja the following day (10/10/99) and received it's first post on that day.

Want to propose a newsgroup? Browse these links for help:
http://www.faqs.org/usenet/alt/
http://www.angelfire.com/tx/calame/create.html
http://www.gweep.bc.ca/~edmonds/usenet/good-newgroup.html
http://nylon.net/alt/newgroup.htm
For Help with Deja keyword search:
http://www.deja.com/help/help_lang.shtml
For Deja Power search:
http://www.exit109.com/~jeremy/news/deja.html

Creating New Newsgroups - Links to newsgroup creation guides.
So You Want to Create an Alt Newsgroup - Guide to creating Usenet groups in the alt.* hierarchy.
How To Write a Good Newgroup Message - Explains those control messages which create new newsgroups and what you need to do before you can send one.
Beginners guide to creating new alt.* groups - A page which tries to simplify the creation process for alt.* newsgroups for beginners to the process.
news.newusers.questions Official Home Page A good source of general help and information about newsgroups.