> From: [log in to unmask] (Stu Weibel) > Date: Wed, 4 Dec 1996
> Subject: Re: The Element Set: One Page Version
> ...
> stu, who feels like he's in element-name-hell
We feel your pain. :-) But I do actually mean that, as do all of
us who have invested serious time pitching in with this effort.
You have the unenviable job of closing a debate that has no defined
termination point. You'll never know when you "arrive".
You have to seize hold of a discussion that's been whipping around
like a firehose during more than a year of unstructured brainstorming.
You have to intuit interpolation points using all the explicit versions
of the DC (workshop report, Metadata for the Masses, User Guide, etc).
Then you have to correct those points based on all we've said in the
history of our unfettered stream-of-consciousness meta2 list discussion.
Finally, because you don't have a test for when we're done, you have
to choose your big moment -- the cutoff point for further changes.
I can imagine the sweating palms. Depending on the time of day,
you may suspect that two of the fundamental changes you made the day
before will likely be overturned at 11:00 when so-and-so reads meta2
mail after that big meeting, followed by a couple new fundamental
tweaks when that other person gets back in town at 15:30. And who
knows what upsetting email may arrive the next day.
It's too bad we don't have goals and definitions to help you out.
Simple metadata isn't so easy. In the final analysis, I think you'll
have to rely on the most recent chorus of likes and dislikes as they
come in and are supported by meta2 list sound bites.
-John
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