[thelist] WAS Why code, POV, Clarify Standards, et. al.

[jay.blanchard at thermon.com]

<snip>
 > www users vs. the demographics of the W3C
 >
 > Are you referring to Joe Q. User, or are you referring to Alice A.
 > Webdesigner? The difference, I believe, is important.

I believe I'm referring to any and all users.  I believe they should all be
considered, or at least, not ignored.
</snip>

The average user does not have the background knowledge to participate in
something like W3C groups nor would they want to learn this information in
order to do so. The average user wants the web to work as advertised. I
never hear anybody down the hall arguing that if W3C would only add that
particular set of tags to the HTML specification everything would be
hunky-dorey. They just come and ask me to help them with problems they have
connecting to certain web sites because they keep getting errors from the
site. They don't want to know the what or why of the problem, they don't
give a flyin' flip about the technical issues. I perceive the W3C as a
technical issues entity, you perceive it as a political entity.

The average user's exclusion from things like W3C has to do with ignorance
that it actually exists and/or that they understand that there are others
better qualified to sit on these technical panels, not from "I have
something to say about the recommendation, but they won't let me." What you
have said is tantamount to saying that any "standards' organization for
something as large as the WWW should be as large as the WWW, everybody
needs to be heard, all the opinions count. We'd just as soon flip the 'off'
switch on the whole she-bang because a non-bias based consensus would be
hard to arrive at...on any issue.

You said, "I am not saying that I do not have biases, however, I am saying
that I am willing to look beyond them and not prejudge based on them."
There is no way, and I mean no way, that you can accomplish this. You are
who you are and your bias is part of the package. Your bias will color all
of your observations. Perhaps you can listen to others about their
observations, which may re-color your observation. Your bias has colored
each and every response that you have made here. So has mine.

I think it comes down to this, you have an opinion which I find
interesting. It does not match my opinion, which I also find interesting.
Had this been a scored debate it would be hard to say which side came down
with more points, so let's call it a draw.

Jay

"I am gonna' owe tips for weeks"