Re: Design Principles

Laura Carlson wrote:
> Hi David,
>
>   
>> Yes, indeed! It is nice to see my own opposition (which fell just short, alas, of a formal objection)
>>  preserved for posterity. I do wish I would have been a bit more eloquent
>>     
>
> You were quite eloquent when you voted no and predicted,
>
> "While it has been argued that these Design Principles may serve to
> present needless reiteration of previous discussions, I have not seen
> any evidence that they do. I have merely observed a large amount of
> time spent debating them (reiteratively), absent final "consensus" (to
> use the vernacular sense of the term), in the end. I have seen, on
> several occasions, design principles misused (even prior to their
> "approval") to quash dissent, and fear the same being done again. I
> strongly feel that, if recommended by the W3C, they are in need of a
> very strong disclaimer about their limitations, the presence of
> strongly felt dissent, the potential impossibility of consistent
> implementation of them, examples of proper and improper applications
> of them, and a need for a periodic and systematic review of the
> principles as well as the methodology for their debate and approval.
> In the long run, the tyranny of the majority, that the climate
> surrounding their debate fostered, had a chilling effect on the group
> overall. The humor with which I raised my original objections has
> largely vanished, but my opposition to them has not. It is not so much
> the individual principles (which I chose not to vote on for various
> reasons in October) but the whole package that troubles me.
> Collectively, they seem rather like the Galactic Federation posting a
> note on a nearby planet that your own planet is soon to be destroyed.
> But then, I can be a pessimist at times."
> http://www.w3.org/2002/09/wbs/40318/wdhdp/results
>
> Best Regards,
> Laura
>   

I second Laura's assessment of the eloquence of your objection.

Shelley

Received on Friday, 22 May 2009 14:19:37 UTC