Issue Disposition Process

Last call review consists of a set of issues; each issue begins with a reviewer (R) making a request to an editor (E). Here's a sort of state transition diagram of the social protocol, in the spirit of the Paper Trail idea:

state transition diagram

diagram source rendered by Graphviz from AT&T research

Key

Arrows are messages that change the state of an issue; boxes are terminal states, and circles are non-terminal states.

R: Reviewer
E: Editor (and/or working group)
R request: a message in which the reviwer requests a change to the specification (hmm... or a request for clarification, I suppose).
E accept: a message in which the editor agrees to change or clarify the specification as requested
R verify: a message in which the reviewer verifies that the editor's change satisfies his/her request.
R timeout: a period of time after which the reviewer is assumed to agree with the editor's response to the request.
R clarify: a response to the way an editor changes the specification that expresses dissatisfaction with the change and clarifies or otherwise refines the request.
E decline: a response from the editor that declines the change request, with rationale for the decision
R withdraw: confirmation that the reviewer finds the justification for denial of the request satisfactory.
R appeal: a message expressing dissatisfaction with the justification for denial.
E escalate: record of a decision by the editor (and the Working Group) that desipite the dissatisfaction of the reviewer, they request that the document advance to the next stage.