Re: Request for creation for the Interoperability/Conformance TC

[Jon Bosak <bosak@boethius.eng.sun.com>]

[ndw@nwalsh.com:]

| / Norbert Mikula <Norbert@datachannel.com> was heard to say:
| | I would suggest we vote for this on-line.
| 
| It was my undestanding that voting cannot be done by email.
| Much though I wish it could...

Voting can be done by mail, but not the making of motions.  So you
can move something in a meeting and resolve to vote on it by mail,
but you cannot both move something in mail and vote on it in mail.

Changing the default procedure to allow motions in mail is much
more difficult than it would appear.  Allowing motions in mail
would (a) create instant chaos, because everyone would then be
able to move anything they wanted, and (b) allow amendments in
mail -- amendments being just a special kind of motion -- and slow
the process down so far it would no longer be usable.

The PAC has been thinking about this pretty hard.  we haven't yet
arrived at a solution that wouldn't give the chair of a committee
dictatorial powers, but we're working on it.

For the time being, you will have to use email for straw polls and
then formally ratify what you've already arrived at in meetings.
Phone meetings are good for this.

Jon