[whatwg] A New Way Forward for HTML5

[Michael Kozakewich]

Aryeh Gregor wrote on 7/23/2009 8:42 PM:
> On Thu, Jul 23, 2009 at 6:12 PM, Peter Kasting<pkasting at google.com> wrote:
>> For my part, I would be very unhappy to see the HTML5 process made more
>> consensus-driven; I much prefer systems that approximate benevolent
>> dictatorships, and I don't perceive the current leadership of the group 
>> to
>> be insufficiently responsive to communication.
>
> I'll second this.  A well-run dictatorship is much superior to
> consensus-based decision-making, and I've found absolutely nothing to
> object to in Ian's leadership.

Did you catch that article in A List Apart about Crowd-Sourcing? Only works 
with specific types of data, though, so you have to be careful.
I think that's the greatest reason for this list. It isn't a democratic 
process, but the wide range of experience can show details that individuals 
wouldn't have the breadth to notice.

Rather than splitting the spec into a handful of clones and then battling 
them against each-other, I imagine it would be better to make repositories 
for each piece of spec (each speck of spec?) where everyone can add their 
two cents. A small group can go through the pile, merge identical 
statements, and then piece the larger picture together for each spec-piece. 
Then we'll be left with a specification that encompasses an extremely wide 
range of views and needs, and Hixie can go through that to decide what HTML5 
would keep and what it would throw away.

In that light, I submit that we have less "in my opinion..." debate and do 
more collecting of personal experiences and needs (rather than a majority of 
preferences and opinions).