stds-802-16: resolution process for Binding comments at Session #18
Folks,
I want to explain the use and significance of the new Commentary comment type:
"Technical, Satisfied (was Binding)".
This is something new and is going to be important at Session #18.
Here is the explanation, in logical order:
*"Disapprove" votes can be based only on Binding Technical comments.
*Therefore, if a Dis voter later switches to Approve, all of that
voter's Binding Technical comments are considered "satisfied" and
will be marked that way.
*A voter may continue to Dis the draft even with some Binding
Technical comments satisfied. We need to track these. But why?
Two reasons:
*Part of the required recirc process is to "recirculate the
negatives". In other words, before we close the ballot, we need to do
a recirculation in which we itemize the remaining Binding Technical
comments along with our specific reason for rejecting the change. We
can't just mark these "reject"; we need to write a technical
explanation.
*We still have 21 Dis votes. The 802 ExCom will not approve us, even
conditionally, to go to Sponsor Ballot in this condition. Therefore,
we are going to need to satisfy a bunch of these voters (at least
half, I hope) and get them to switch. We can't afford to wait for a
recirc to confirm this change; we will need to do it before the week
is over. The easiest way to monitor progress on this account is to
use the "Technical, Satisfied (was Binding)" flag. Whoever has
Binding Technical comments left at the end of the week remains a
Disapprove voter.
So, here is the process we need to follow in resolving Binding
Technical comments:
(a) Before we conclude discussion of a Binding Technical comment, we
should check with the submitter, if present. If the submitter agrees,
a note to that effect should be made in the database, and we need to
mark that comment "satisfied".
(b) If the submitter is not satisfied, then we need to agree on a
technical rebuttal and put it in the database.
(c) If the submitter is absent, we can still mark the comment
"satisfied" provided that we accept it verbatim.
(d) If the submitter is absent and we reject the comment, we should
write a rebuttal (assuming that rejection will not satisfy the
submitter).
(e) If the submitter is absent and we do a partial acceptance, then
we need to try and track down that voter during the week, by phone or
email, and offer the opportunity for a declaration of satisfaction.
Otherwise, we need a rebuttal. Let's not wait too far into the week
to start finding people.
This is all going to be a bit tricky. Please be careful with the
database entries. And remember that we don't need to satisfy every
Binding comment; we just need to take the extra effort to carefully
rebut it.
Finally, note that the rebuttal goes for old comments (below #770) as
well as the new ones. We'll need to search for old Binding comment
and make sure we a rebuttal for each.
Even though we have fewer comments than we have resolved in previous
weeks, this is going take a lot of hard work, focus, and organization
to get through.
Cheers!
Roger