RE: Looking for more editors

I agree, that list of qualifications is a "wish list". While it is a great
list, I agree with the sentiment expressed by other that at this point, you
will have to accept anyone who steps up and volunteers, and see how it goes.
That list describes... what... a few *dozen* people on the planet maybe?
100, tops?

It is a shame that there is no funding for this. Only a very small number of
companies have enough care for HTML and the money to actually pay an
employee to be the editor, which in turn can lead to the *appearance* of a
conflict of interest.

I'm not normally a pessimist, but I think this is a no-win situation. From
my experience with hiring people (try hiring truly senior, "uber-nerd"
developers in Columbia South Carolina, if you want an impossible staffing
request), the best approach, as Charles and others have pointed out, it
might be time to go lateral with your thinking. Don't look at the
*experiences* that are needed, look at the *traits* and the *skills* that
are needed. From there, look for people that are technically minded, and
with at least enough understanding of HTML and the industry to not make a
mess. Let's get honest, it doesn't take an HTML/browser wizard to see if
paragraph 4.2.1.2a is in contradiction with subsection 7j. It just takes
someone with a really strong mind and a good grasp of logic and language.

I would suggest that if such a person were found and tricked into taking the
job... I mean... volunteered themselves... that they could split the work
with Ian (who has great tools and talent).

J.Ja

> -----Original Message-----
> From: public-html-request@w3.org [mailto:public-html-request@w3.org] On
> Behalf Of Julian Reschke
> Sent: Monday, September 01, 2008 6:16 AM
> To: Ian Hickson
> Cc: HTML WG
> Subject: Re: Looking for more editors
> 
> 
> 
> Ian Hickson wrote:
> > On Sun, 31 Aug 2008, Julian Reschke wrote:
> >> Anyway, if each feedback loop takes two years we have a serious
> problem
> >> that we need to fix, for instance by installing more editors [...]
> >
> > I've been asking for people to volunteer to actually take parts of
> HTML5
> > and edit them for years now. The problem is that very few people are
> > actually willing to invest the (large) amount of time and effort
> required.
> > There are a number of areas where we've actually tried finding
> editors:
> > ...
> 
> Ian,
> 
> as Philip, I agree with some of these, but not all of them. The way you
> describe the job it's unlikely you'll find somebody.
> 
> Furthermore, while I agree it would be good if parts of the spec could
> be moved into stand-alone documents, I don't think that this will be
> sufficient -- unless we really cut the spec into different parts for
> vocabulary, parsing, DOM and additional APIs.
> 
> I don't think I would qualify myself, mainly because my background
> doesn't include many things you're asking for, and also because I
> already have committed myself to the editor role on that other
> important
> spec.
> 
> BR, Julian

Received on Monday, 1 September 2008 14:59:08 UTC