Re: Second International Symposium on Invisible XML

Dear Norm,

If you can cite where I suggested "XML" or "iXML" -- either the names or
the things -- be removed from iXML or the name of iXML, I'd be obliged. I
don't think I did recommend that and if I did, I would now repudiate the
old Wendell as obviously making no sense.

Indeed, all my remarks on naming the conference have assumed that it is, in
fact and in future, an iXML conference (the same way as Balisage was an XML
conference), even if it welcomes outsiders and curious interlopers, as I
hope it does.

I too am baffled by the back and forth on this issue! When was a simple
'yes' vote by a non-voting community supporter so contentious?

As for your last point, if you change the noun "influencer" (which is
apparently odious) to "friend" (maybe less so), maybe the idea of having a
curly-bracer at the conference would be less distressing. The question (the
question under the question) is really who do we want to feel welcome -- or
not.

But that sounds more ominous than it really is, since that message is
always communicated anyway. The exact choice of words matters here less
than whether we are actually welcoming.

Cheers, Wendell




On Fri, Aug 21, 2026 at 1:40 PM Norm Tovey-Walsh <norm@saxonica.com> wrote:

> Wendell Piez <wapiez@wendellpiez.com> writes:
> > Norm's non-standard curly-braces emission feature does not disqualify
> his processor from being an iXML processor, as
> > conformance does not require that no optional features be offered.
>
> I have always been very clear that NineML has features that are
> non-conformant. Output of JSON and CSV are among them. I am sometimes
> reluctant to add nonconformant features because I don’t want to spread
> confusion about what a thing actually is.
>
> > You did not say it did -- but neither have I proposed that
> > iXML be removed from the name of iXML,
>
> Didn’t you? I thought you did. Or maybe you just supported someone else’s
> proposal that it should be removed.
>
> > I can agree with everything in your latest email, and still not agree
> that putting "iXML" into the title of the conference is an
> > open-and-shut case with an obvious answer. Even for an iXML conference!
>
> If it was open and shut, I don’t think this thread would be ongoing.
> On balance, the consensus position as I see it is that we might want to
> move it into a subtitle. In my mind, that’s more about the fact that it
> gives us an opportunity to say something like “and beyond”, than anything
> else.
>
> > So let me put it more bluntly: should I feel welcome at the
> > iXML conference, if my work is with a non-XML technology, or even a
> workalike (rival) technology to iXML?
>
> Of course you should. I mean, if you want to come and give a paper about
> iWPML that is kind of like iXML but better, I’ll happily listen.
>
> I’m baffled by the back-and-forth on this issue.
>
> > I mean, your answer might be "no, you are not really welcome". But
> imagine if one or two important JSON influencers had come
> > to an XML conference when it might have made a difference. I doubt there
> would be less JSON, but there might be less
> > stupidity.
>
> Hindsight being 20/20, I think there were missed opportunities for a more
> harmonious world. But I fear lots of “influencers” make bank on
> controversy, not cooperation, so they wouldn’t be my first port of call for
> mutual understanding.
>
> --
> Norm Tovey-Walsh
> Saxonica
>


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