> > Once again, there is the impression that microformats fora are being run > > by an unelected cabal, using arbitrary, personal interpretations of > > vague and unwritten "rules", applied with no sense of even-handedness. > > Still, I suppose that's easier than actually addressing the governance > > and rights issues which I and others have raised. > Apparently they travel in black helicopters too
I don't think we should make light of this point. I've heard several people cite this impression as the reason they don't contribute to microformats. If we can't address the problem then I don't see how we can attract and retain active members. More than once I've observed unresolved discussions cut off with a post saying "wiki updated, issue closed". So, why would someone take time out of their day to contribute to a discussion if they expect to be ignored? To put it another way, if the core group is going to do as it pleases regardless of community discussion, why are the rest of us here? The core group is not a defined/invited/elected group so it's not like a W3C discussion list, where people understand they are giving feedback but will not be involved in the final decision. The expectation was that everyone could contribute, but that's not how it actually feels. I am not trying to be troublesome, I am expressing a genuine concern about this community. I don't think it serves anyone's purpose to ignore what many people feel is true. The informal approach worked well when the community was new and smaller, but now that it's ramping up it doesn't seem to be coping. I'm not claiming there's an easy answer, but we should start by accepting there's a problem. cheers, Ben -- --- <http://weblog.200ok.com.au/> --- The future has arrived; it's just not --- evenly distributed. - William Gibson _______________________________________________ microformats-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://microformats.org/mailman/listinfo/microformats-discuss
