Priscilla asks some very good questions. In the absence of a
definitive policy statement on these issues, I would like to give my
personal opinion.
On Tue, 11 Jan 2000, Priscilla Caplan wrote:
> I had somehow assumed "Discussion" would precede "voting", and in fact I do
> have some comments for discussion, but the voting appears to have begun.
As long as we can see how others have voted and are allowed (or even
encouraged) to change our votes, I think it is useful to discuss and
vote at the same time. I see this vote as a collective learning
process and would not hesitate to change a vote in either direction if
persuaded by good arguments.
> Are there guidelines for casting a vote? Are we obligated to vote in favor
> of a qualifier if it conforms to the principles passed out in Frankfort, or
> can we vote against qualifiers we just don't like for some reason? Are we
> obligated to vote against a qualifier if it violates a principle?
I strongly believe we should vote on the basis of principle. I do not
think we should vote on the basis of whether we think a particular
qualifier seems (to us) to be useful or not; we should judge its formal
conformance to principle and let users judge its usefulness in
practice. If we do vote for qualifiers that clearly violate a
principle, I believe we shoot ourselves in the foot.
> How will the votes be used? Will simple majority pass a qualifier? Is
> there a threshhold?
I have argued that we should proceed cautiously for this first vote.
The element working groups used a two-thirds rule for their
recommendations, but I do not recall that we ever decided on a
particular threshold for this DC-Usage vote. At any rate, I would not
want to see a two-thirds majority mechanically override the principled
objections of a minority. I believe we should set the bar for
consensus a bit higher for now. If we reject a qualifier for now, we
can always come to a consensus later and call another vote on it two,
three, or six months down the road.
Tom
_______________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Thomas Baker [log in to unmask]
GMD Library
Schloss Birlinghoven +49-2241-14-2352
53754 Sankt Augustin, Germany fax +49-2241-14-2619
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