[OpenID board] Allen Tom's proposal on WG formation

Martin Atkins mart at degeneration.co.uk
Sat Feb 28 01:00:53 UTC 2009


Mike Jones wrote:
> The problem with this proposal is that it removes the community’s voice 
> from the spec creation process.  Our members should always be given the 
> option to vote NOT TO create a working group as well as the option to 
> vote TO create one.  Otherwise, a working group can be created by a very 
> small group of insiders, without the community serving as a check & balance.
> 
> The current procedure, by design, always gives the community a voice, 
> and the final say.  I believe we got this principle right the first time.
> 

Your objection seems to consider that there are some disadvantages to 
the existance of a working group. Would you mind enumerating what you 
consider these to be?

As far as I can tell, the existence of a working group is mostly 
harmless. It consumes some resources in the sense that it has a mailing 
list and it requires votes to be made, but that seems like minimal overhead.

Could it be sufficient to simply vote on the final spec rather than on 
the creation of the working group in the first place? If the community 
doesn't like the result, it can veto the completed spec rather than the 
idea that drove that spec.

In practice, I'd expect that a working group would get a general idea of 
whether it is popular or not during its working phase, so some working 
groups may "die out" due to lack of interest before they even get to the 
voting phase.






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