From: gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us (Gary S. Trujillo)
Subject: VOTE RESULTS: "alt.out-of-body" newsgroup name passes!
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 04:27:06 GMT

The electronic polls are now closed, and the votes are in.  Following are
the votes.  The column headings represent the newsgroup names (1=alt.oobe,
2=alt.out-of-body, 3=alt.consciousness.out-of-body, 4=alt.paranormal.out-
of-body).  Numbers alongside names indicate which choice that newsgroup
represents for each voter (e.g., Benn voted for alt.consciousness.out-of-body
as his first choice, and alt.oobe as his second choice):

                                                             1   2   3   4  no
access.digex.com!bkobb                    Benn Kobb          2       1
ae.ge.com!news_for                        Paul Joslin                        1
atlantis.cs.orst.edu!kruegek                                             1
cc.curtin.edu.au!svenning                                    1
code3.code3.com!aaronl                    Aaron Langevin         1
cs.joensuu.fi!jlavi                       Jarkko Lavinen                 1
cs.yale.edu!warren-matthew                Matthew S. Warren              1
dadd.ti.com!alanj                         Alan Jones         1       2
dsd.mentorg.com!garyk                     Gary Kaminski          1
eagle.wesleyan.edu!jtulli                 Jude               2   1   3
eng.sun.com!James.Mangin                  James Mangin       1
eng.sun.com!Szu.Sun                       Szu-Cheng Sun                  1
engin.umich.edu!carney                    Kelly Lynn Carney  2   1
ere.umontreal.ca!mcnichol                 Andre McNichols    2   1
gnosys.svle.ma.us!gst                     Gary Trujillo      2   1   3
gte.com!ai!tomf                           Tom Fawcett        1
gte.com!seb3 1/1
gvl.unisys.com!markw                      Mark H. Weber              1
hasler.ascom.ch!hedlund                   Hedlund M.         1
hplb.hpl.hp.com!rik                       Richard Beckett    1   1
iastate.edu!adwright                                       1/2 1/2
iis.ethz.ch!kiwi                          Rene Mueller           1
informatik.uni-wuerzburg.dbp.de!dittmann  Rainer Dittmann        1
kolob.byu.edu!eggettj                     James L. Eggett    3   2   1
kuhub.cc.ukans.edu!sloane                 Bob Sloane                         1
lindblat.cc.monash.edu.au!int766m         S Malnovic         1   3   2
lux.latrobe.edu.au!9125113g               Mitch Davis        1
massey.ac.nz!S.P.Pandey                   Surya P. Pandey    1
morwyn.uucp!root                          Forrie Aldrich         1
mprgate.mpr.ca!spani                      Leonard Spani                  1
netcom.com!tomrice                        Tom R. Rice        1   2
nsma.arizona.edu!bill                     Bill Skaggs                        1
ntb.ch!milsom                             Paul Milsom                    1
opus.sim.es.com!bseagull                  Brad Seagull           1
pail.rain.com!ralex                       Randy Alexander            1
pap.univie.ac.at!schreib                  Erich Schreiber    1
phys.physics.ucf.edu!jep                  Jason Epel                     1
plxsun.plx.com!thomas                     Thomas Leibold         2       1
prodigal.psych.rochester.edu!ken          Ken Shenkman       2   1
psuvm.psu.edu!srk8                        Kumar              1
raven.alaska.edu!mike                     Mike Kienenberger          2   1
rpi.edu!aultj                             Jim Ault                       1
sdf.lonestar.org!bryce                    Bryce Hamm         1
sim.es.com!khatch                                                1
tamzeus.bitnet!wdb3926                    Dan                2   1       3
tcad05.intel.com!bongalon                 Ben Bongalon           1
triton.mathcs.carleton.edu!brosked        David Broske           1
tsoft.sf-bay.org!bbs.techie               Robert Mc Daniel                   1
u.washington.edu!mtakacs                  Tak                2   1
u.washington.edu!pul                      Arbaline               1
ucl.ac.uk!ucsatsd                         Big Bad Bob        2   1
usit.uio.no!o.e.aurbakken                                                1
uu.psi.com!wisper!sherman                 Peter Sherman    1/2 1/2
uunet.uu.net!pseudo!mjn                   Murray Nesbitt                     1
uunet.uu.net!uhura1!bryan                 Bryan Curnutt          1
virginia.prpa.philips.com!yen             Yen C. Lee             1
wam.umd.edu!angelai                       Angela I.          1
wyatt.ksu.ksu.edu!lazarus                 Bart -Laz- Smith                   1
xstacy.enet.dec.com!jlundon               James A. Lundon            1
yfn.ysu.edu!ae553                         David Jameson          1
(Anonymous Voter)                                                            1
(Anonymous Voter)                                                1

[ Note: The votes designated as "1/2" represent those who voted for two
        newsgroups, but did not indicate which was their first preference. ]


The totals I get are:

   choice                                  first   second   third

   1. alt.oobe                             14-16     9-11       1

   2. alt.out-of-body                      23-25      3-5       1

   3. alt.consciousness.out-of-body            5        3       2

   4. alt.paranormal.out-of-body              11        0       3

   5. (no new newsgroup)                       6

( These numbers are within 2-3 votes of the numbers that Jude got in an
  independent count in which he did not exclude duplicates, except in
  one case, so I think we can be fairly confident in the numbers, but I
  do encourage anyone who feels I've made an error in registering his/her
  vote to contact me immediately to make a correction.  Thanks to Jude
  for his help in counting the votes. )

As I indicated previously, the plan was to accept the votes of those who did
not vote for either of the first ranked two choices, which are alt.oobe and
alt.out-of-body, and add them in.  Doing so only gives alt.out-of-body one
more vote (that of Jim Eggett, who did not vote for either of the two top-
ranked names as a first choice).  That means that there are actually between
24 and 26 votes for alt.out-of-body.  The uncertainty caused by the two votes
in the "1/2" category doesn't make a difference, since even conceding both
votes as first-choice votes for alt.oobe gives a score of 15 for alt.oobe to
24 for alt.out-of-body.

So it looks to me as if we have a winner, and it's alt.out-of-body!

I'll wait until Friday morning before sending out a control message to
create the new newsgroup, giving anyone who cares to a chance to contest
these results on any grounds whatsoever, which you should do as a followup
to this article, so that we can all evaluate your comments.

I feel that even after the new newsgroup has been created and is firmly
established, we should wait a period of a month or so before destroying the
alt.oobe newsgroup, just to make sure that alt.out-of-body is well-established
on systems around the world.  During the period of overlap, I would suggest
that everyone cross-post to both alt.oobe and alt.out-of-body once the latter
newsgroup has appeared at your site (but you shouldn't expect it to appear
until sometime close to next weekend).

I think also that the "alt.out-of-body" name will attract additional
attention to the newsgroup (let's hope it's the right kind), which might
stimulate the interest of those who are only peripherally acquainted with
the phenomenon and who might not have recognized it under the OOBE acronym.

Thanks to everyone who voted.  It was a close vote, but I think it gives us
an added sense of legitimacy, so that no one can seriously contest the name
that has been chosen or the fact that this is a newsgroup whose time has come.

--
    Gary S. Trujillo                            gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us
Somerville, Massachusetts              {wjh12,bu.edu,spdcc,ima,cdp}!gnosys!gst
Newsgroups: alt.oobe