w3process-ISSUE-80: Publishing Note to end unfinished REC should only be SHOULD

w3process-ISSUE-80: Publishing Note to end unfinished REC should only be SHOULD

http://www.w3.org/community/w3process/track/issues/80

Raised by: Ian Jacobs
On product: 

   "W3C must publish any unfinished specifications on the
    Recommendation track as Working Group Notes. "

I suggest we change that to SHOULD. The sentence that follows says
SHOULD for a different scenario:

  "If a Working group decides, or the Director requires, the Working
   Group to discontinue work on a technical report before completion,
   the Working Group should publish the document as a Working Group
   Note."

It is not clear to me that the rationale of "closing the group" is
materially different from any other piece of rationale the Director
might have.

Charles replied: 

 "This has been discussed before (in an AB meeting before we made the discussion open). The rationale for the difference is that there is no effective way to require a Working Group to publish a Note shelving their work, especially in the case where they have been told to shut down. But it is feasible, and IMHO reasonable, to insist that W3C team do it."

The fact that the Team can do it does not increase the importance of doing it. If it was not important enough for us to make it a MUST requirement on WGs, I don't see why anybody else should have a MUST requirement.

Received on Friday, 13 December 2013 05:06:17 UTC