alt.discuss.books:

      Group Read Rules

      Creating the Category Rotation List Rules for Categories The Official Group Reads

      Creating the Category Rotation List

      1. alt.discuss.books' official listmaker will open nominations by starting a thread with a post entitled NOMINATIONS HERE. All participants must post nominations, seconds, and thirds to this thread to be included. Any nominations not in this thread will be ignored.

      2. Each participant will be allowed to nominate one category of books. He/She should choose a category that he/she enjoys thoroughly and that he/she will feel comfortable taking a leading role in discussing.

      3. The participant who first nominates a category will be the original nominator. This will be determined by the upper post position in the nominations thread.

      4. Participants may second one category and third one other without giving up the right of one nomination. Seconds, or in extreme cases thirds, will take over the nominator's responsibilities if he/she is no longer posting when the category comes up in rotation.

      5. After one week of nominations, the official listmaker will close nominations by posting a message to the nominations thread entitled NOMINATIONS CLOSED.

      6. Once that post appears, the official listmaker will 'randomize' the nominated categories and post the resulting order to a.d.books under the subject CATEGORY ROTATION LIST FOR GROUP READS.

      7. Any participant's nomination that did not show up in the thread before the NOMINATIONS CLOSED notification may, if he/she still wishes and his/her choice is not objected to by the group, have the category added to the bottom of the established list. See Rule 16 under The Official Group Reads.

      Categories

      1. Categories should be as specific as possible. For example, a participant nominating mysteries should clarify this with a sub-category such as "Female P.I.s" or "Police Procedurals". Since the names of sub-categories are not, for the most part, standardized, if a participant is unsure what a specific sub-category is called, he/she should post -- not in the nominations thread -- a description and include examples of specific titles that fit the unnamed sub-category. The group can then offer suggestions and the most commonly used, or the most descriptive term, can then be adopted by the nominator. The participant must then post to the nominations thread to have his/her category included.

      2. If a category seems too broad or too narrow, the nominating participant may be asked -- not in the nominations thread -- to explain the scope he/she intended and to add or remove sub-categories from the nomination. The participant need not comply but should weigh commentary carefully before deciding.

      3. No category can be nominated more than twice, despite the number of possible sub-categories. If more than two people nominate the same category, the two uppermost posts in the NOMINATIONS thread will be counted.

      4. Authors with more than ten individual titles to their name may be used as a sub-category, or in rare cases, as a category. Only the first book of a series may be counted as one of the ten. The participant should consider carefully before nominating an author. If, on the first time through the list, no one else seems to like the author's work, there will be a noticable lack of participation when the author comes up again.

      5. Nonfiction categories are acceptable and may be broader in scope than fiction nominations.

      6. Erotica, Politics, and Religion will not be allowed as categories or sub-categories.

      The Official Group Reads

      1. Group reads will be done in the order of the Category Rotation List.

      2. If the original nominator of a category is unavailable, the seconder, if any, takes over running the category's read. If the seconder isn't available or lead the last read, or is scheduled to lead the next, the third will take over. Should neither the nominator, the second nor the third be available, the official listmaker will post asking for volunteers to lead the category. If, in the next three days, more than one person volunteers, the official listmaker will make a random choice. If no one volunteers during the next three days, the official listmaker may either A. take the category herself; B. decide to skip to the next category on the list; or C. arbitrarily choose and lead a category herself.

      3. The original nominator of a category may appoint someone else to lead the category in his/her stead as long as the appointee is not scheduled to be the leader of the next upcoming category and did not lead the previous category. The orginal nominator retains the rights and responsiblities for subsequent reads of his/her category.

      4. For the purpose of these rules, anyone who comes to be the leader of a category through rules 2 or 3, will be called 'the leader' of the category.

      5. When its turn comes, the leader of a category will post spoiler-free plot synopses of three books of his/her choice from said category to be voted on as the new group read.

      6. Participants may only object to a title on the grounds it violates book selection guidelines. If the objection is upheld by a panel of three (the leader from the read before, the leader for the next upcoming read, and the official listmaker), the leader must select a new title.

      7. Participants may comment, pro and con, on the titles selected, as long as they refrain from posting spoilers, and adhere to general a.d.books guidelines.

      8. Three days after the posting of the selections, the official listmaker will start a new thread with a post entitled VOTE HERE. All votes must be posted to this thread to be counted. Votes not in this thread will be ignored.

      9. After one week of voting, the official listmaker will end voting by posting a message to the thread entitled VOTING CLOSED. Any vote that appears below this notification will not be counted.

      10. Once the official listmaker announces the winning title, the leader announces the date to begin discussion, the official abbreviation of the title, and posts a reading schedule, being sure to leave time for those wishing to participate to track down copies.

      11. All group read posts should start with the official abbreviation of the title.

      12. All posts about, or during, group reads should adhere to alt.discuss.books guidelines.

      13. The leader is responsible for occasionally re-posting the schedule and for trying to keep the discussion going and on-topic.

      14. When a group read only has two weeks left in its schedule, the official listmaker will remind the leader of the next category on the list to start the process of choosing the next title. If the original nominator can't be reached, refer to Rule 2.

      15. When the last category on the list is finished, the next read will be the category at the top.

      16. Anyone joining alt.discuss.books after the Rotation List is created may nominate a unique category to be added to the extreme bottom of the list by posting it to the group. The category must adhere to the rules listed under Categories. After three days, if there are no objections the category will be added by the official listmaker. If there is any objection and a panel of three (last, current, and next read leaders) agree, the category will not be added.

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