From: kaminski@netcom.com (Peter Kaminski)
Subject: RFD: misc.health.alternative
Followup-To: news.groups
Organization: The Information Deli - via Netcom / San Jose, California
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 13:18:26 GMT

This is a formal Request for Discussion on the creation of a new
newsgroup called "misc.health.alternative", which would be used for the
discussion of alternative health care issues.  This RFD grew out of
(and supersedes, I believe) an earlier RFD entitled "RFD Alternative
Medicine" by Gordon Banks <geb@cs.pitt.edu>, article <16764@pitt.UUCP>.

This announcement is cross-posted to newsgroups whose readers may have
interest in the discussion about the new group; follow-up discussion
will take place in "news.groups".  Suggestions, comments, or problems
may also be emailed to me at <kaminski@netcom.com>.


PROPOSAL:

I propose creation of an unmoderated newsgroup called
"misc.health.alternative", a newsgroup for the discussion of health,
health care, and therapies which are alternative, complementary, or not
commonly accepted by Western scientific medicine.

A main hierarchy was chosen for best propagation; "misc" is the best
main hierarchy for a general group about health.  Note that "health"
fits in well with the other "misc" groups: "consumers", "education",
"fitness", "jobs", "kids", "legal", "taxes", etc.

Possible topics include (but are not limited to) acupuncture, ayurveda,
biofeedback, chiropractic, herbalism, holistic medicine, homeopathy,
hypnosis, macrobiotics, megavitamin therapy, naturopathy, osteopathy,
reflexology, shiatsu, and yoga.


DISCUSSION:

Alternative approaches to health care are clearly of interest to many
readers, but there is currently no group in which general non-technical
discussions would be appropriate.  Discussions do occur in "sci.med",
but are generally counter to that newsgroup's purpose, as readers there
have noted.  "sci.skeptic" is an appropriate newsgroup for scientific
investigation of alternative therapies, but not for general discussion.

Creation of "misc.health.alternative" would also create by implication
the sub-hierarchy "misc.health.*", presumably for discussions about
health and health care.  Since there are currently no newsgroups
dedicated to general non-technical discussions of health care,
creation of additional "misc.health.*" newsgroups might be
appropriate, although that discussion is beyond the scope of this RFD.


NEWSGROUP NOT MODERATED:

In the previous RFD, some posters wondered if such an alternative
health newsgroup should be moderated, since some of the material
presented may be controversial.

I believe moderation is not necessary, and that there will be enough
on-topic discussion to drown out the (probably inevitable) flames.

Flames, name-calling, and abusive behavior in general (from either
side) will be discouraged, but constructive criticisms and arguments
will be encouraged, with the caveat that "misc.health.alternative" is
to be a generally non-technical discussion group.  ("sci.skeptic" or
"sci.med" would be more appropriate for extended technical discussions,
but technical discussions would be welcome in
"misc.health.alternative", as well.)

Scientific proof or verificability of facts will *not* be required in
"misc.health.alternative", although posters should keep their
credibility in mind.  Even though verificability will not be required,
posters are urged to post only what they believe to be true, and to
post or be prepared to post citations, references, sources, etc.


SUMMARY:

"misc.health.alternative", unmoderated, would provide an appropriate
forum for general non-technical discussions of alternative approaches
to health care.

Presuming no problems arise during the RFD period, a Call for Votes
(CFV) for this newsgroup will be posted to the same newsgroups to
which this announcement was posted.  Email addresses for voting will
be included in the CFV post, and the voting period will run for 31
days.

After the voting period, if 100 more valid "YES/create" vote are
received than "NO/don't create" AND at least 2/3 of the total number
of valid votes received are in favor of creation, the newsgroup will
be created.

Thanks for your interest!
-- 
Peter Kaminski
kaminski@netcom.com
Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,news.groups