Sent from: chris@ego.psych.mcgill.ca (Chris Westbury) I was intrigued to find that the creation of newsgroups is seen as a free-speech issue. I must admit that I (who forwarded the item to the fringeware list) had not thought of it that way, although perhaps that it is a correct viewpoint. The idea that voting against the creation of a newsgroup amounts to an infringement of the right to free speech is clearly equivalent to saying that there should be no vote on the creation of news groups. If you believe that it is immoral (or, rather, a straight-forward violation of a constitutionally-guaranteed right, and so: illegal) to vote against the creation of a newsgroup, then the vote is not just a formality which can be done away with, but an actual incitement to right violation. The free speech argument apparently implies that anyone who wants to start a news group MUST be allowed to. My question, then, is: Why IS there a vote for the creation of newsgroups? Does anyone know? I am just wondering if this issue is really as straight-forward as the recent posts have made it out to be. Chris