Greetings all,

After posting the proposed Request for Discussion for the creation of a MEMS/
MST newsgroup to the various MEMS/MST mailing lists, I took it to a group that
double checks newsgroup proposals.

Their one big problem was with the name. As proposed it would be
"sci.microsystems". The group thought it belonged one level down, however, in
the sci.engr (engineering) hierarchy. In other words: sci.engr.microsystems.

One mentor felt that because it is "the creation of systems and it is
engineering" it shouldn't have its own sci. hierarchy. If microsystems had its
own hierarchy underneath sci, it should show, by number of posts on existing
mailing lists, that it would support other groups. I.e.
sci.microsystems.actuators, sci.microsystems.sensors, etc..

While I admit that there is only enough traffic to warrant one newsgroup, I
wanted the top hierarchy because I wanted to encourage people other than
engineers to post to the group. I strongly feel that as the science matures,
while engineers will remain facilitators of the technology, other scientific
groups will be the main users. Placing the group in the engineering hierarchy
might deter some non-engineers from contributing to the group. A loss to
everyone to be sure.

Therefore as a compromise to satisfy both the perceived need to fulfill the
"engr" name space requirement, and the goal of getting more people involved
with the science of microsystems and MEMS, I propose that the newgroup be
entitled:

sci.engr.micromachining

I believe that as novices and laymen search through the listing of over 9000
currently available newsgroups, people will be more easily drawn to
"micromachining" than "microsystems" (even though the later may be more
accurate in terms of nomenclature).

I will wait one week for comments and suggestions, and if it appears that there
is no great opposition to this compromise, I will begin the newsgroup creation
process. I'm hoping that the people here can show support for the group at this
time in news.groups.

Regards,

-Chris
--
.+'''+. |Christopher Raum - craum@robinhood.engg.uregina.ca|
R A U M |Faculty of Engineering, University of Regina      |
`+.,.+' |Regina, Saskatchewan, S4S-0A2, Canada             |
        |Tel: (306)565-2960 Fax: (306)585-4855             |