I currently subscribe to soc.genealogy.britain myself and am aware of 
various newsgroups, rootsweb messageboards etc.
However, I am considering setting up a specific surname group concentrating 
on the UK

I would welcome thoughts on setting up a newsgroup along the lines of
uk.people.sheldon  or
uk.people.surname.sheldon
uk.genealogy.sheldon

I would consider a moderated board so I could have the facility to delete 
spam.
Any helpful suggestions ?