xml-dev - Re: W3C public lists (was Re: The Power of Groves)

[Daniel Veillard <Daniel.Veillard@w3.org>]

On Wed, Feb 09, 2000 at 09:03:47AM -0500, Simon St.Laurent wrote:
> The point isn't that I want specific answers to _my_ questions - the point
> is that public forums where the W3C has no obligation to answer discussion
> are more or less useless.  Why should I post to a comments list when the
> result, for more than a year, is silence?  Why should anyone post to those
> lists, except to tilt at windmills?

Silence doesn't mean ignoring. If this was the case I bet 80% of XML-DEV'er
should quit the list instead of filling a /dev/null in their machine.

> While it's vaguely gratifying to hear that someone read the messages, this
> barely sounds like a process, and does nothing to sustain the forum or
> public interest in the forum.  Even simple questions about the substance of
> specs - I guess they're design issues - rarely receive timely answers.
  
  yes as explained, because per the process a WG member can't just assert 
something publicly before being sure it's the WG opinion (he can do it as
an individual, but that wouldn't count as much). And design issues takes
time to get reviewed.

> probably isn't time or money for such work.  Making the public lists a more
> important part of the W3C development process might pay dividends, however.

  Time and money are not the problem. Human time is the most scarcy resource.
WG must answer to valid public comment list. When they don't do it, it's not
that they don't want to, but rather that other constraints keeps them busy
on other things. Not that it's a good thing.

Daniel

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