Re: Managing Public Comments to the RDF WG

I appreciate the difficulty that is caused by having so many messages 
sent to public-rdf-wg@w3.org , but the practical implications of the 
policy below seem problematic.

When a comment or proposal is sent to the public-rdf-comments@w3.org 
list, frequently there are important followup questions and 
explanations.  If those are posted to "semantic-web@w3.org, 
public-lod@w3.org, other mailing lists", how would the commenter be 
assured that the working group would see them?

I think the root of the problem is the fact that the regular RDF working 
group mailing list is only open to members of that group.  Other than 
the public-rdf-comments@w3.org list, there *is* no other public 
communication channel available for people who are not WG members to 
communicate with the RDF working group.  That is a problem.  I believe 
it was an unintended consequence of the decision to limit the 
public-rdf-wg@w3.org list to working group members (to avoid spam?).

CONCRETE PROPOSAL: (a) Change the subscription and posting policy of the 
public-rdf-wg@w3.org list to allow people who are not working group 
members to subscribe to that list and post to that list.  (b) When a 
comment or proposal is sent to public-rdf-comments@w3.org, encourage 
followup discussion to take place on the public-rdf-wg@w3.org list.

Thanks,
David Booth

On 06/19/2013 11:43 AM, David Wood wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> The purpose of the public-rdf-comments mailing list is to ensure that
> members of the public may suggest changes to or raise concerns about
> specifications managed by the RDF Working Group.  Importantly, the
> RDF WG has a requirement to ensure that each public comment is
> formally addressed.  That is very hard for us to accomplish when
> detailed and long-running design discussions take place on that
> list.
>
> We discussed the management of the public-rdf-comments list during
> today's telecon and decided that long-running conversations should
> not take place on that list.  Members of the public wishing to hold
> such discussions are encouraged to do so on semantic-web@w3.org,
> public-lod@w3.org, other mailing lists or via interpersonal
> communications.
>
> Members of the public should therefore limit traffic on
> public-rdf-comments to concrete proposals to change RDF WG
> specifications.  The public-rdf-comments mailing list should not be
> copied on messages to other mailing lists.
>
> Members of the RDF WG should refrain from replying to
> public-rdf-comments without permission of the WG chairs.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Regards, Dave -- http://about.me/david_wood
>
>
>

Received on Wednesday, 19 June 2013 18:03:58 UTC