[Foundation-l] Policy modification (was possible reconsideration)

[Ray Saintonge]

Jesse Plamondon-Willard wrote:
> Ray Saintonge wrote:
>   
>> If a proposed amendment fails to meet
>> community approval criteria it fails, and that's the end of it.  It is
>> not the mandate of  a subcommittee to override that.  I am well aware of
>> the problem of inadequate community participation, but community silence
>> does not mean consent, and without a predetermined minimum level of
>> community participation no policy or policy amendment should be
>> considered as approved.
>>     
> That is incorrect. The language subcommittee was specifically tasked
> with formulating and implementing a language subdomain creation
> policy. The committee furthermore did not override the community. Some
> community members questioned the need for that clause (long after it
> was introduced), and failed to achieve any consensus whatsoever on
> whether to keep, change, or remove it. As such, no change was made.
> Whether committees *should* make decisions or depend on the wider
> community to do so is a very different discussion than whether they
> *can*.
>   
I can't speak in terms of the factual specifics for the language policy 
because I did not follow it as it was developing.  I don't see it as 
appropriate that a committee would make policies simply because it can.  
That's an attitude that distances the committee from the community.  
"Override" is probably a stronger word than what I would use in the 
circumstances, when the result was based on an absence of consensus.  
What really needs to be clarified with respect to any committee is a 
demarcation of the committee's job in relation to the community's rights 
to decide.
> As an aside, I'm a little confused. You say that committees should not
> make or change policies, but you are a member of the Provisional
> Volunteer Council. Do you intend the PVC to simply be a proposal mill,
> throwing out ideas for the community to debate?
>
>   
That's an important question.  In general I would say more yes than no, 
but it's still an important point that needs to be hammered out by all 
the PVC.  With the number of active projects in Wikimedia the Council 
cannot presume to dictate what each of these projects will do.  If it 
does that it will soon lose credibility and influence among the 
communities.  Policies need to go back and forth between committee and 
community until there is is agreement.  The same also applies to any 
amendment of existing policy.  Naturally there need to be criteria for 
what constitutes community agreement.

Ec