I think it is time to redefine consensus.
What we need for a standard is a group of people with a reasonable
degree of skill in the art who agree on a common plan.
no. the protocol doesn't just affect those "with a reasonable degree
of skill in the art".
(as if one could define "which art" were relevant...)
That is not necessarily the same as 'working group consensus'.
For example if there is a protocol where there is a divergence of
opinion on the correct way to proceed and one group can agrree on a
coherent plan then it goes forward.
no. at least, not with the expectation that the work will ever be
found acceptable. if there is a divergence of opinion it is highly
likely (though not certain) that there is a fundamental lack of
understanding on both sides that needs to be resolved before real
progress can be made. any work done without that understanding is
likely to be flawed and the investment in that work likely to be wasted.
If there are two groups with coherent plans then the way forward
depends
on whether we are talking about an infrastructure protocol such as BGP
or DNS or an application protocol.
If we are talking about infrastructure protocols then I think that
is a
case where the IESG needs to step in sooner rather than later.
If we are talking about application protocols let the market decide.
it's not that cut-and-dried. it can be very costly to users to let
the market decide. sometimes the market doesn't decide, it just
fragments. users either don't end up with a coherent solution or
they end up with an overly complex solution that doesn't interoperate
well - IM is a good example.
that and the argument of "let the market decide" is constantly used
by market leaders as a way to try to derail standards that might
compete with their (usually poor) proprietary solutions. it should
be taken as a sign of weakness on the part of those who say it.
what you appear to be trying to do is to increase the number of ways
in which people can derail the process.
Keith
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