Re: Formal Recorded Complaint

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.

- Sam Ruby