CHARTER: misc.kids.family-life
Misc.kids.family-life is a lightly moderated newsgroup intended to provide a relatively civil forum for people to discuss a broad range of topics related to family life. The goal of moderation is to remove spam, eliminate blatantly malicious trolls, and maintain a level of civility. The moderators do not apply topic restrictions.

1. Charter Standards
On-charter posts should have some relevance to family life. The moderators do not apply topic restrictions, but posters are encouraged to stay on-charter. Users may encourage ending discussions that drift extensively.

Posts violate this charter if they:
a. denigrate, demean, or discriminate against other posters.
b. promote or defend pedophilia or any form of child endangerment or abuse.
c. qualify as spam (examples: unsolicited commercial posts, ads for sex/pornography, and multi-level marketing offers).
d. are intentionally abusive (examples: repetitive ad hominem attacks, posts that show gross intolerance or viciously attack any other person, posts that include personal information about other users without their expressed permission where malice is apparent).
e. are blatantly malicious trolls (attempts from outside the community to provoke all or particular members of the community).
f. extend discussions of contentious topics that have run their course.

2. Cross posting
Cross posting is generally discouraged and in certain cases not allowed. Cross posted messages may be hand moderated or rejected based on the number of groups and the groups included. See the moderation policy for requirements.

3. Moderators
The community elects five to 11 moderators to serve two year terms. Moderators who have completed a two year term may run for reelection, immediately transfer to the policy board, or step down from service. For discussion and moderation functions, moderators utilize a mailing list which is also available to the policy board. While one moderator may approve any post, a simple majority (more than 50%) is required to reject any post.

4. Policy Board
The policy board is composed of ex-moderators who have completed at least one term and creation team members. The policy board administers annual moderator elections, semi-annual policy assessments, charter and moderation policy changes, and votes of no confidence. It also provides technical assistance to moderators in applying the charter. A mailing list is maintained for policy board discussions and to complete policy board functions. Members may leave the policy board, but must serve a moderator term to return. Policy board members must resign in order to run for moderator.

5. Elections:
The policy board announces open moderator seats and administers annual elections and emergency elections.

Annual Elections:
Moderators elected in annual elections serve a two year term. The policy board will open the remaining two moderator seats in the first annual election in addition to filling any seats that have been vacated.

Emergency Elections:
The policy board announces an emergency election, beginning a period of candidacy, within one week of any moderator resignation or removal that reduces the number of moderators below five. Moderators elected through emergency elections serve until the next annual election following their election.

General Election Rules:
The policy board tags all posts relating to elections with [ELECTION]. Users are encouraged to tag all posts relating to elections with [ELECTION] in order to call the attention of the community. In order to qualify for candidacy, a user must qualify to vote AND have participated in a policy assessment, election, or the mkfl CFV. Moderator candidates volunteer during the 14 day "period of candidacy." The policy board posts a short description of each candidate at the end of the period of candidacy. The "voting period" begins one week after the period of candidacy and continues for 14 days. In order to vote a user must have posted directly (not cross posted in) to the group at least two times within the previous six months AND/OR have registered with the robomoderation software prior to the period of candidacy. A FAQ is posted monthly to encourage users to qualify to vote. Voting users may vote for as many candidates as they wish, keeping the moderation board at the uppermost limits of 11. The candidates receiving the most votes (minimum of 15) are appointed as moderators.

6. Policy Assessment:
The policy board conducts semi-annual policy assessments to evaluate charter and moderation policy efficacy and application by the moderators. The policy board tags all posts relating to the policy assessments with [MOD]. Users are encouraged to tag all posts relating to the policy assessments or concerns about policies with [MOD] in order to call the attention of the community. If the assessment indicates a need to make changes to the charter or moderation policy, the policy board leads a public discussion lasting 21 days, presents up to three plausible solutions, and conducts a vote. Votes are collected by the policy board for 14 days. In order to vote in a policy assessment change, a user must qualify to vote AND have participated in a policy assessment, election, or the mkfl CFV. If at least 25 votes are cast on a given change, and at least 75% of those votes favor that change, the moderators implement it.

7. Vote of No Confidence
If any member of the community who has participated in a policy assessment, election, or the mkfl CFV believes a moderator or policy board member is unfit, the member may make a post calling for a vote of no confidence. The policy board posts a responding confirmation to begin a 14 day period of discussion. During this discussion period, anyone may comment, but only those who have participated in a policy
assessment, election, or the mkfl CFV may vote. The Policy Board collects votes during the 14 days following the end of the discussion period. A minimum of 50 votes and a 75% majority of those votes is required to remove a moderator or policy board member. If removed by a vote of no confidence, a moderator is not eligible to serve on the policy board. If a successful vote of no confidence drops the number of moderators below five, an emergency election is held. A vote of no confidence is taken no more than twice against any moderator per term and no more than four times between elections. Each member can request a vote of no confidence no more than two times each year.

8. Contingency
If for any reason the moderation board is not properly functioning (for example, fewer than five moderators are available to moderate the group) and the policy board is not able to stabilize the group, moderation reverts to robomoderation software until the moderation team is functioning. In the event that the group reverts to robomoderation software only, group users may be required to register their email address in order to post to the group.

MODERATION POLICY
The goal of moderation in the misc.kids.family-life community is to reject spam, reject blatantly malicious trolls, and maintain a level of civility using a combination of robo- and hand moderation.

User Status:
Yellow light status:
New users with unrecognized identities are initially on yellow light (or "caution") status--meaning that any post from a user with an unrecognized identity is hand moderated for compliance with the charter. A copy of the charter is sent to the reply-to address. If the first post is borderline with respect to the charter standards or is cross posted, the moderators may delay advancing the poster to green light status. A poster whose first post is fully in accordance with the charter normally advances to green light status promptly.

Green light status:
If the first post is fully in accordance with the charter, the user advances to green light (or "go") status-- meaning that the user's subsequent posts are not hand moderated. Posters are encouraged to use a consistent identity in order to maintain green light status.

Red light status:
When more than 50% of the moderators agree that a post from a green light user violates the charter, the moderators send a warning about posting guidelines and the implications of hand moderation, including the slow appearance of posts. If a green light user receives three warnings in one month or develops a pattern of receiving two warnings each month for at least three months, the moderators put the user on red light (or "stop") status. A single post from a yellow light user which obviously violates the charter (and is rejected) can put that user on red light status. In extreme cases, any moderator may place a poster on temporary red light status for 24 hours, but the majority (more than 50%) of moderators must agree to retain a poster on red light status until they develop a clear pattern of on-charter posting. The moderators notify any poster who is placed on red light status that all their posts are hand-moderated. Posters on red light status may request a review of their status after one month of hand moderation, but remain on red light status until they develop a pattern of on-charter posting.

Robomoderation:
1. approves posts that are received from users on green light status that meet the technical requirements.
2. refers posts from yellow light users for hand moderation.
3. rejects cross posts to certain groups and refers posts for hand moderation that are cross posted to more than three groups. If other moderated newsgroups are included in the cross post, any approval will be done in coordination with the moderators of the other newsgroups. The moderators may add groups to or remove groups from the list for automatic rejection by unanimous agreement. At this time, the list includes:
alt.alien.vampire.flonk.flonk.flonk, alt.snuh, alt.romath, alt.flame, alt.fan.karl-malden.nose, alt.usenet.kooks, alt.sex.pedophilia.
4. either refers posts for hand moderation or rejects posts identified as spam.
5. strips binary files (e.g. jpegs), html and attachments of any kind from posts, rejects posts that contain only such material, and rejects other posts from which such material has been removed, or refers them for hand moderation. PGP signatures and similar small binaries are allowed at the moderators' discretion.
6. either refers posts for hand moderation or rejects posts that contain more than 80 characters per line (limiting your lines to 72 characters per line is recommended).
7. either refers posts for hand moderation or rejects posts that have follow-ups directed to other groups not posted to.
8. refers posts from red light status posters for hand moderation.
9. either refers posts for hand moderation or rejects posts that fall into a category of measures needed to maintain the usability of the group and/or protect the moderators (for example: a website begins dumping large quantities of messages into the moderation queue).
10. rejects posts that remain in the moderation queue for more than 5 days due to moderation oversight.

Human Moderators:
1. participate in the group.
2. modify poster status (red, yellow, or green light) whenever appropriate.
3. maintain an active list of users who violate the charter.
4. review all posts from yellow light users to verify adherence to the charter.
5. review all posts from red light users to verify adherence to the charter.
6. reject off-charter posts that have been referred for hand moderation.
7. do not screen posts for topic, but may encourage discontinuing contentious topics that have run their course--meaning that less than five people are participating and the same arguments are being repeated over and over again.
8. approve on-charter posts that have been referred for hand moderation.
9. post a queue report each week tagged [MOD]. The summary includes a record of all received posts, robomoderation rejections, moderator votes, and time outs; but does not include poster identities or references to any other users.
END CHARTER.

MODERATOR INFO: misc.kids.family-life
Moderators:
Aula came to USENET relatively recently after her husband caught her responding to a post on one of his mailing lists and introduced her to USENET in 1997. Aula quickly found alt.mothers, which she continues to regard as her "home" group, although she is active in several other groups including misc.kids, misc.kids.moderated, rec.crafts and alt.support.child-protective-services. Until recently Aula posted the alt.parenting.solutions FAQ at least monthly. Aula was one of the leaders in the recent reactivation of misc.kids. Married later than many, Aula and her husband have one wonderful child, DS, who is 7. Aula works days, while her husband works evenings, and both share in the homeschooling of DS, currently in first grade [late birthday]. Although Aula enjoys her work in children's mental health she hopes to retire as soon as she hits the Lotto [estimated to be in about 2092] and spend much more time with her family and working on the many crafts she enjoys and snarfing down tim tams straight from downunder!

Karen Glaesemann <karengmann@yahoo.com> has been on USENET since sometime around 1993 and posting in the misc.kids hierarchy since 1999 (misc.kids, misc.kids.pregnancy, misc.kids.breastfeeding, and misc.kids.moderated) and moderates a mailing list. She holds a B.S degree in Chemistry and was formerly employed as an agricultural chemist. She and her husband were married at a very young age and put off having children until their late twenties. Currently, Karen spends a fair amount of time doing marketing communication and lives on the left coast. She has three children under the age of four.

Barbara Foster Williams <bafoster@mindspring.com> is currently a SAHM to her son Jamie, born July 2001. She has a B.A. in history and theatre, a minor in women's studies, and a ABT M.A. (All But Thesis!) in British History, none of which she is currently using! Barbara has been on USENET in some form or another since 1995, and is currently most active in misc.kids, m.k.breastfeeding, and m.k.pregnancy, although she occasionally posts to several others. In addition, she currently holds moderator status on several email lists. Barbara has been married since April of 2000 and lives in Delaware. Her other interests include singing (all sorts, but particularly barbershop music with her Sweet Adeline chorus), reading, and needlecrafts.

Brian Edmonds <brian@gweep.ca> is a longtime USENET reader, poster, moderator and admin, currently changing the diapers of his new daughter. He currently moderates over a dozen newsgroups ranging in topic from Computer Science technical reports, to Japanese animation fan fiction, to music reviews, to keeping ferrets as pets.

Victoria Kelsey-Frerichs <kerinda@ix.netcom.com> is a reformed Data Systems Analyst, who now spends most of her time teaching young children (not necessarily her own). She has been on USENET since 1996. She has moderated several groups, particularly support groups which involve infertility and/or medical issues. She was married in 2000, had her first son in June of 2001, and her second son in July of 2002.

Daye Omega <brendana@labyrinth.net.au> is a Pagan parent to Jayan (6/01). She has been married to her Australian husband since 1997. She is an American, but currently lives in Australia. She has been active on USENET since 1996 and on misc.kids.pregnancy since 2000. She remains a permanent fixture on alt.music.monkees, as well as actively posting on several newsgroups. She is college educated and majored in Criminal Justice and English. Her interests include music, writing and comparative religions. Currently, she is a SAHM, as well as continuing her quest to learn more about our connection with Deity.

Jeff Utz <jeffutz@netzero.net> is a former pediatrician who has switched careers and works as software engineer. Although he has no children of his own, he is involved in mentoring children in New York City as well as a soccer program in the suburbs where he lives & is a proud uncle. He is a Mad Scientist (www.madscientist.org) and posts to several newsgroups. In his spare time, he takes computer courses in the School of Continuing and Professional studies at NYU.

Barbara (Circe) F <guavaln@yahoo.com> is the mother of three children and a self-confessed USENET junkie. She began posting to the misc.kids hierarchy (and USENET in general) shortly after her first child was born in 1997. She received a BA in Classical Studies from UC Santa Cruz and MA in Classics from the University of Chicago. Her plans to pursue a PhD in Classics were cut short by the early '90s recession, and she works (primarily from home) as an instructional designer for a software company. She and her husband, an architect, have been married for 13 years.

Cheryl V <clvt@optusnet.com.au> has hung around Usenet pretty much ever since she got her first computer in mid 1997. She is married to a serving member of the Royal Australian Navy who is away for several months at a time, and is currently a SAHM to 3 children. Her middle son has multiple heart defects and is due for his (hopefully) last operation in late 2004. This has put any plans to return to paid work on the back burner for the time being, so she had another baby instead. Her main reading/lurking/posting groups include alt.gossip.celebrities, alt.mothers, misc.kids.* and rec.arts.sf.written with others that pop on and off the list depending on time constraints.

Policy board:
Teresa C <ralig@netzero.net> is a 20-something crunchy attachment parent. She has been a USENET user since 1996, and has posted to misc.kids and misc.kids.breastfeeding since the birth of her firstborn son in 2001. Her turn-ons include her husband, literature, and history. In fact, she has her B.A. in two out of the three! She is currently busy at home raising her son and continuing her lifelong quest for omniscience.

Noreen Cooper <ncooper@wahoo.sjsu.edu> is an older mom who has traveled for the past seven years with her DH Bill on that wild roller-coaster ride called Parenting. Noreen has experience parenting a child with special needs--her son was born with a mild neurological disorder--and has way too much expertise in dealing with sleep problems in infants and toddlers. Noreen started reading misc.kids.pregnancy in 1994 and has since participated in all the misc.kids groups, including a five-year stint as a creation team member and advisor for misc.kids.moderated. She is currently active in many volunteer projects, including the formation of this new group and moderating a group on Yahoo. Noreen has a (yet unused) Master's Degree in Library and Information Science, specializing in medical librarianship, and plans to go back to work sometime in the near future.

Hillary Israeli <hillary@hillary.net> has been posting to Usenet since 1995, and is a contributor to misc.kids.pregnancy, misc.kids, and misc.kids.breastfeeding. Formerly a technical support and systems administration person at Philadelphia's first Internet Service Provider, Hillary is now practicing small animal veterinary medicine part-time, while also enjoying some time at home as primary caregiver for her toddler son and infant daughter. She is also an avid gardener and all-around nature lover.
END MODERATOR INFO.