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Charter of uk.business.telework

(Moderated)

uk.business.telework is a moderated newsgroup for the discussion and dissemination of information in the field of telework, as it relates to the United Kingdom.

The term 'telework' concerns the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to enable work to be carried out at a distance from where it is needed or where it may have conventionally taken place. Such a role may include (but is not limited to) :

Home-based telework, or telecommuting.
Mobile telework.
Telecentres.
Telecottages.
Relocated business functions.
Outsourcing.
Dispersed team working.
Governments, researchers and other interested individuals.

It is intended that the emphasis of newsgroup discussions will concern 'work-related' issues as opposed to 'technical' issues which may be more suitably answered in another newsgroup, however, this does not preclude technical issues from being raised if they relate to the field of telework.

This group will not accept postings which are:

related to specific hardware or software problems,
binaries,
solicitations for employment or job offers (which are more suitable for the uk.job.* hierarchies),
of a direct and commercial nature, which includes postings offering commercial products or services, or those containing self-promotion material,
not in English,
crossposted to more than 4 other newsgroups.

Moderation policy: uk.business.telework

uk.business.telework employs a combination of human and robomoderation.

The robomoderator will initially screen all posts, automatically rejecting *any* article which:

is crossposted to more than 4 other newsgroups
contains encoded binary files

The robomoderator will then forward all new poster's submissions to the moderation team, who will review them for compliance with the group's charter. If the moderation team approves their first post, the poster will be added to the robomoderators 'white list'.

Individuals who are placed on the 'white list' will have all further posts automatically accepted by the robomoderator, unless the article fails the robomoderators initial screening (above).

From time to time individuals may violate the charter of the newsgroup, in which case they will be removed from the robomoderator's 'white list' and all further posts forwarded to the moderation team for review.

The moderation team will reply to individuals regarding articles which have been rejected. However posters should be aware that if they are using an invalid Reply To: address, they should clearly state a valid address for correspondence within the article itself, in such circumstances the moderation team will make no extra effort to communicate with the poster.

The moderation team may cancel articles which have been posted to the group, due to forgery and errors in moderation scripts.

Appeal of rejected submissions: uk.business.telework

If you feel your article has been wrongly rejected you should reword your post and re-submit to the submission address <uk-business-telework@usenet.org.uk>.

If this article is also rejected, you may appeal directly to the support team at <uk-business-telework-request@usenet.org.uk> where your article will be considered for acceptance. If a majority of the ubt-team decides to accept the article, it will be forwarded to the newsgroup. If the article is rejected again, the person appealing the rejection will be sent a summary of the ubt-team's ruling.

Structure: uk.business.telework

The ubt-team is made up of four moderators who are collectively known as the 'moderation team' and five facilitators who are collectively known as the 'support-team'. They provide expertise and help with administrative tasks and other services which may be required to assist the moderation team.

Anyone may volunteer for the moderation team, should a position become available. Appointments can only be made by a majority decision of the full ubt-team.

Moderators may also be removed by a majority decision of the full ubt-team. Moderators wishing to retire/resign should make a statement to this effect on the newsgroup, giving at least one months notice so that a replacement may be appointed.

Positions on the support team are usually made by invitation only, to ensure a good mix of skills/experience is available in support of the group. However you may wish to register your interest with the ubt-team, so your skills/experience may be considered in the event of any vacancy.

Submission advice: uk.business.telework

Submissions may be posted directly through your news reader software (which will then be forwarded to the moderation team), or mailed directly to our submission address <uk-business-telework@usenet.org.uk>.

Please try to use a descriptive 'subject' field in your article, and only quote relevant text in follow-ups. Try starting a new thread, by changing the subject field when a topic has begun to wander. Please observe reasonable netiquette on signatures.

Moderation submission address

uk-business-telework@usenet.org.uk

The formal arrangements for modification established when the group was created have collapsed, and the moderation has now been taken over by Simon Reed, with the approval of the last remaining moderator from the original team. It is anticipated that a formal review of the charter will follow. The current moderator is

Simon Reed: <ukbt@sandj.demon.co.uk>

Moderator contact address

uk-business-telework-request@usenet.org.uk

Simon Reed

<ukbt@sandj.demon.co.uk>

Newsgroups line

uk.business.telework	Teleworkers and their employers (Moderated)