When the planning committee for the proposed newsgroup was initially formed,
contact was made with the group mentors. As a result of discussions between
the group mentors and the planning committee, two principle names emerged:
misc.kids.issues.jewish, and soc.culture.jewish.parenting. Group mentors and
the committee both favored the misc.kids.issues.jewish version of the name, so
a draft request for discussion and moderation guidelines were written and
posted to misc.kids for review.

This resulted in a strong response from misc.kids. A number of regular
participants were upset with the misc.kids version of the name. Reasons that
were given included:

 o The proposed name might be perceived as an ethnic, religious, or cultural
   "split" of the group.  Many participants in misc.kids feel such a split is
   undesirable as it risks weakening the multi-cultural nature of the parent
   group.
 o The proposed name might open the door for other groups potentially
   detrimental to misc.kids.
 o The group's existance in the hierarchy might lead other ethnicities to feel
   they are unwelcome in the main misc.kids group.
 o The multicultural aspects of misc.kids might lead the group to be less
   focused on the concern of raising Jewish children, and more focused on
   interactions with Jewish children.
 o Being the sole "jewish" group in misc.kids would require that Judaism be
   interpreted as broadly as possible.

As a result, the planning committee conducted a straw poll of misc.kids,
soc.culture.jewish, and news.groups to determine if there was a preference for
the name. This poll showed:

  Yes:      151  Are you in favor of a moderated newsgroup for discussing
  No:        12  Jewish Parenting Issues with a charter similar to the one
  Abstain:    1  posted concurrently with this poll, providing it is proposed
  Don't Care: 3  with a name you consider acceptable?

  m.k.i.j:   41  What do you think the most appropriate name for the proposed
  s.c.j.p:   69  group is?
  no pref:   40
  Other:     11

  m.k.i.j:   37  Which of these names do you object to strongly enough that you
  s.c.j.p:    3  would vote against the group *solely on the basis of its name*
  both:       2  if it were proposed with the indicated name?
  neither:  115
  abstain:    1
  Undecided:  7

This indicated a strong support for the concept of the group, and a strong
positive feeling for the soc.culture.jewish version of the name. There was
also support for the misc.kids version of the name, but almost equal strong
negative feelings about it.

Thus, the planning committee selected the name SOC.CULTURE.JEWISH.PARENTING,
as it had the least negative opposition and the strongest support.

The underlying reasons for this decision were:

 o The Soc.Culture hierarchy is already divided on the basis of culture.
 o The Soc.Culture hierarchy is the appropriate place for cultural and
   religious discussions.
 o Placing the group in the soc.culture.jewish hierarchy might provide a
   stronger identification with Judaism.
 o Associating with soc.culture.jewish increases the acceptability of a
   stronger emphasis on religious practice, as contrasted to cultural practice
   within the group.
 o Associating with soc.culture.jewish increases the likelihood that it will
   be a place where Jews can talk to other Jews about Jewish issues [this
   implies nothing about the readership, other than it is likely to be heavily
   Jewish].
 o Placement in the soc.culture.jewish hierarchy is anticipated to reduce the
   need to explain Judaism and Jewish practices.
 o The group appears to be focused on Jewish issues in parenting, rather than
   parenting issues for Jews. In anticipated questions, the Jewish issues take
   precedence over the parenting issues.
 o The group has a closer tie to the soc.culture.jewish FAQ, as demonstrated
   by the fact that questions in the "Judiasm and Children" portion of the
   S.C.J FAQ will be accepted in the group, whereas questions typically found
   in the misc.kids FAQs would be unacceptable.
 o It takes a community to raise a child.   Placement of the new group within
   the s.j.c hierarchy may foster the sharing of that expertise for the
   raising of children within that community.
 o Many anticipated posters define themselves as Jews.
 o The group is likely to be of interest primarily to Jews, to people in
   relationships with Jews, and to people raising Jewish children.
 o Individuals looking for groups with Jewish content will be more likely to
   look in soc.culture.jewish than misc.kids.
 o Individuals knowledgable about Jewish culture and practice would more
   readily participate in a soc.culture.jewish.* newsgroup