REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)
            unmoderated group comp.lang.basic.visual.16bit
            unmoderated group comp.lang.basic.visual.32bit
          unmoderated group comp.lang.basic.visual.internet

This is a formal Request For Discussion (RFD) for the creation of
world-wide unmoderated Usenet newsgroups
comp.lang.basic.visual.16bit, comp.lang.basic.visual.32bit and
comp.lang.basic.visual.internet.  This is not a Call for Votes (CFV);
you cannot vote at this time.  Procedural details are below.

Newsgroup lines:
comp.lang.basic.visual.16bit    Discussion of 16bit versions of Visual Basic.
comp.lang.basic.visual.32bit    Discussion of 32bit versions of Visual Basic.
comp.lang.basic.visual.internet Discussion of internet programming with VB.

RATIONALE: all groups

Currently, the comp.lang.basic.visual.misc newsgroups carries most
discussion of matters relating to Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows,
and consequently receives an enormous amount of traffic - between 200
and 400 posts every day.

There are a number of different types of discussion on the existing
group - among the questions from beginners, there are discussions
relating to the Windows API and other more advanced topics, which
differ significantly between the 16bit versions of Visual Basic (VB1
to VB4/16) and the 32bit versions (VB4/32 to VB5 - and soon, VB6).
This means that posts relating to the 16bit versions of VB are not
usually relevant to those relating to the 32bit versions, and
vice-versa.

Also within the group are questions relating to programming Visual
Basic for use with the internet - questions about sending email from
programs, for example, and about using ActiveX programs on the WWW.

RATIONALE: comp.lang.basic.visual.16bit

16bit versions of Visual Basic are used for programming for versions
of Windows prior to Windows 95/NT3.51. Many people have upgraded their
versions of VB to version 5 by now, which means that many subscribers
to comp.lang.basic.visual.misc currently do not do any programming for
Windows 3.11 or lower. However, many computer users are still using
Windows 3.11 or lower, meaning that there are still a number of
developers programming for these versions of Windows. The recent
creation of alt.comp.lang.visualbasic.ver3 shows that there is still
a significant interest in the 16bit versions of VB, although this
group is not carried on all news servers. The new group is therefore
needed for matters relating only to programming 16bit versions of
Visual Basic.

RATIONALE: comp.lang.basic.visual.32bit

32bit versions of Visual Basic are used for programming for Windows 95
or later and Windows NT 3.51 or later and these versions boast a lot
of features that do not appear in the 16bit versions of VB - and in a
number of cases programming methods have changed, so there is now a
different way of doing some things in Windows 95 than there was in
Windows 3.1. This means that the discussion of 16bit and 32bit
versions of Visual Basic does need to be separated, as the versions
are so different - in many cases, programming techniques that worked
with Windows 3.1 will not work at all with Windows 95. The new group
is therefore needed for matters relating only to programming 32bit
versions of Visual Basic.

RATIONALE: comp.lang.basic.visual.internet

There are an increasing number of posts on comp.lang.basic.visual.misc
relating to programming Visual Basic for creating internet
applications. Many subscribers to comp.lang.basic.visual.misc do no
internet programming at all, however, and so these posts are not
relevant to these people - therefore, a new group is needed to
separate the discussions.

CHARTER: comp.lang.basic.visual.16bit

This newsgroup is a forum for the public discussion of all 16bit
versions of Visual Basic (versions 1 to 4/16) and their related
controls and programming techniques. It is a place where programmers
can meet and exchange ideas, source code and techniques, and a place
where available resources can be pointed out, specifically for 16bit
versions of Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows.

The group is intended for plain ASCII text or source code only. No
binaries are allowed. Advertising is restricted to third-party add-ons
and controls specifically relating to the 16bit versions of Visual
Basic for Windows. Advertising should not be posted more than once
per week.

Posts not relating specifically to 16bit versions of Visual Basic
(i.e. those relating to both 16bit and 32bit versions) should be
posted in comp.lang.basic.visual.misc.

END CHARTER.

CHARTER: comp.lang.basic.visual.32bit

This newsgroup is a forum for the public discussion of all 32bit
versions of Visual Basic (4/16, 5 and above) and their related
controls and programming techniques. It is a place where programmers
can meet and exchange ideas, source code and techniques, and a place
where available resources can be pointed out, specifically for 32bit
versions of Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows.

The group is intended for plain ASCII text or source code only. No
binaries are allowed. Advertising is restricted to third-party add-ons
and controls specifically relating to the 32bit versions of Visual
Basic for Windows.  Advertising should not be posted more than once
per week.

Posts not relating specifically to 32bit versions of Visual Basic
(i.e. those relating to both 16bit and 32bit versions) should be
posted in comp.lang.basic.visual.misc. Posts relating to the
programming of applications for the internet should be posted in
comp.lang.basic.visual.internet.

END CHARTER.

CHARTER: comp.lang.basic.visual.internet

This newsgroup is a forum for the public discussion of programming
internet applications with Visual Basic, and its related controls and
programming techniques. It is a place where programmers can meet and
exchange ideas, source code and techniques, and a place where available
resources can be pointed out, specifically for programming internet
applications with Visual Basic.

The group is intended for plain ASCII text or source code only. No
binaries are allowed. Advertising is restricted to third-party add-ons
and controls specifically relating to the programming of internet
applications with Visual Basic.  Advertising should not be posted
more than once per week.

Posts not relating specifically to the programming of internet
applications (i.e. those about Visual Basic in general) should be
posted in comp.lang.basic.visual.misc.

END CHARTER.

PROCEDURE:

This is a request for discussion, not a call for votes.  In this phase
of the process, any potential problems with the proposed newsgroups
should be raised and resolved.  The discussion period will continue
for a minimum of 21 days (starting from when the first RFD for this
proposal is posted to news.announce.newgroups), after which a Call For
Votes (CFV) may be posted by a neutral vote taker if the discussion
warrants it.  Please do not attempt to vote until this happens.

All discussion of this proposal should be posted to news.groups.

This RFD attempts to comply fully with the Usenet newsgroup creation
guidelines outlined in "How to Create a New Usenet Newsgroup" and "How
to Format and Submit a New Group Proposal".  Please refer to these
documents (available in news.announce.newgroups) if you have any
questions about the process.

DISTRIBUTION:

This RFD has been posted to the following newsgroups:

  news.announce.newgroups, news.groups,
  comp.lang.basic.visual.misc, alt.comp.lang.visualbasic.ver3,
  alt.lang.basic, comp.lang.basic.misc