Re: Formal Recorded Complaint

On Mon, 2007-07-30 at 14:21 -0400, Sam Ruby wrote:
> Dan Connolly wrote:
> > On Thu, 2007-07-26 at 14:30 -0700, John Foliot wrote:
> >> Mr. Bratt, Mr. Berners-Lee, Ms. Brewer, Mr. Connolly,
> >>
> >> I am writing today regarding an issue that both shocks and profoundly
> >> disappoints me.  While I understand that to a large extent there is little
> >> that can be done at this point, I personally feel that the issue I am
> >> referring to should be brought directly to your attention, as it indirectly
> >> affects the reputation and public position of the W3C.
> > [...]
> > 
> > John, your complaint is acknowledged.
> > 
> > Yes, accessibility is essential part of our charter...
> >   http://www.w3.org/2007/03/HTML-WG-charter.html#coordination
> > ... but figuring out how to achieve it is hard work.
> > 
> > Organizing the W3C HTML WG as primarily a large mailing list is
> > somewhat risky; typically, W3C Working Groups establish mutual
> > trust and respect in face-to-face meetings and teleconferences
> > which results in more sensitivity than we are seeing in
> > the HTML WG mailing list and nearby forums such as IRC.
> > (The particular discussion you cite is in a WHATWG forum,
> > not a W3C forum, but I think that matters only a little.)
> 
> Other standards organizations cope, and do so by having policies for 
> dealing with situations such as these.  For example:
> 
> http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc3683.html
> http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc3934.html
> http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc4633.html
> 
> I submit that if the W3C is not willing to establish and enforce similar 
> policies that this noble experiment is openness may not produce the 
> results you seek.

W3C has established and is willing to enforce similar policies.

See, for example, section 3.1 Individual Participation Criteria
in the W3C process document.
http://www.w3.org/2005/10/Process-20051014/policies.html#ParticipationCriteria

Many of the people in this WG are here on an invited basis. I'd rather
not revoke those invitations without some due process. And I'd rather
not have to establish a process for revoking them. But if it comes
to that, that's my job (along with my co-chair, Chris Wilson, and
the W3C Team Contact, Karl Dubost).

-- 
Dan Connolly, W3C http://www.w3.org/People/Connolly/

Received on Monday, 30 July 2007 18:56:14 UTC