Re: ACTION-95, ISSUE-65: Plan to publish a new WD of HTML-5

On Jan 30, 2009, at 00:13 , Boris Zbarsky wrote:
> Robin Berjon wrote:
>> In the spirit of tiptoeing around the situation some more, I'd like  
>> to point out that Working Drafts are NEVER normative. Only  
>> Recommendations are.
>
> While true, a Working Draft is ipso facto something that is intended  
> to become a Recommendation if it gathers consensus.

As Karl explained, that is definitely not the case. Some WDs are taken  
off track, others simply become Notes. Notes are informative. That  
doesn't make them any less useful.

>> I understand the arguments for sync and I understand the arguments  
>> for splits. But there's no reason we have to decide now. Since this  
>> WG is populated with people who have enough time on their hands to  
>> discuss issues of little relevance to the actual technologies,  
>> paying attention to an extra document shouldn't tax anyone's  
>> resources. So push the draft out and see how things go. No kitten  
>> will be harmed.
>
> As I said before, as long as there is a concrete plan for not ending  
> up with two Recommendations that are both normative and cover the  
> same ground, I'm fine with that.

Would the chairs agree to a strawpoll about publishing the draft  
proviso it has a warning label stating (as Håkon dutifully pointed  
out) that its claims to normativity are subject to caution?

> I just don't want a situation where right now people say that it  
> doesn't matter because it's just a Working Draft and when it gets to  
> be in Last Call they claim that it's too late to object to the  
> normative status or the scope.

If anything, I think these threads show that that is unlikely to  
happen without strong opposition. If it comes to that you have your  
message archived showing that there was dissent at the start.

-- 
Robin Berjon - http://berjon.com/
     Feel like hiring me? Go to http://robineko.com/

Received on Friday, 30 January 2009 00:04:28 UTC