A couple of you may remember me from a couple weeks back when I stuck my head in briefly to see how all y'all felt about getting a formal RFD/CFV going on this group to make it an "official" part of the Big-8.
The response was clearly "No, thanks," and I want you to know that I honored that. Unfortunately, someone else has not.
It looks like one "Bob Officers" (who apparently has a long history of being a troll, flame provoker, etc.) may have been the person responsible for agitating for this group to become official, as he has just posted an RFD on rec.crafts.scrapbooks.
I am well aware you like your corner of the net the way it is; however, you may be in danger of losing it now. The discussion on this topic is in news.groups; please come show that despite the traffic levels (typically the yardstick used by many to determine whether a given group should be formed), rec.crafts.scrapbooks is not the typical case and does not need to be shoved into "official" status against the wishes of its users when the proponent does not appear to be one of them, nor have they ever before posted anything to Usenet about wanting to use the group.
I am terribly sorry about the fuss, but luckily it is not now in the formal vote phase, so there is still time to gather your opposition to this proposal. I suspect that the proponent will ignore any criticism by trying to claim that this is a matter of providing "fair" access to a "nice" group for scrapbookers everywhere, so if you do come add your voice to the discussion, please remember to be clam, reasoning, and above all point out how easy it has been for your regulars to get this group despite its lack of "official" status. I also suspect that the proponent will move to get this vote going as quickly as they possibly can.
Again, I am sorry; this is precisely the kind of event I didn't want to happen.