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

["Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@simonstl.com>]

At 03:51 PM 2/9/00 +0100, Daniel Veillard wrote:
>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.

XML-Dev has a much higher rate of sustained threads than any of the W3C
lists - www-style is the only list I've found with traffic or a response
ratio any place close to this forum.   XML-Dev has something most of the
W3C public lists lack: a community of interested people, talking back and
forth about issues that are important to them.

>From the outside, the difference between silence and ignoring is pretty
much nothing.  Without some kind of feedback, preferably public feedback,
those lists aren't ever going to attract a community.  That may well be
what the W3C wants, but it makes it hard to tell people to post their
concerns to these forums.

>  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.

Maybe it's time for the overall process to get reviewed.

Simon St.Laurent
XML Elements of Style / XML: A Primer, 2nd Ed.
Building XML Applications
Inside XML DTDs: Scientific and Technical
Cookies / Sharing Bandwidth
http://www.simonstl.com