[odc-discuss] Allow more time: license is not for OSM data only

Sat Mar 7 10:35:42 UTC 2009

Jordan S Hatcher <jordan at opencontentlawyer.com> wrote:
> It's something we can discuss, but I want to cognizant that these  
> things already have a tendency to drag out and that we have to  
> recognize that more attention and more useful comments will actually  
> come back _after_ it is released than before.  So I'm of the opinion  
> that it is better to get a solid first draft out and then refine it  
> with later versions.

Why would someone hold that opinion?  Just as a reaction to a
perception of a tendency to drag out?

I think the problems around each new licence and each new version of
existing licences of even an established group like FSF shows that
later versions will be equally traumatic.  If the first version
contains what we think may be flaws, then some people will regard them
as features and be very unhappy when those flaws are removed.  The
authors would probably be accused loudly of bait-and-switch and other
less pleasantly-named things.  That could demotivate enough people
that version 2 never appears, which would be worse than a mere delay.

There's attention and there's attention.  Let's get good attention for
the drafting process, rather than bad attention for
publishing a buggy licence.

Who has been invited so far?  What's the process?  I'm not clear on
either of those - the only thing I know is a comments deadline of 20
March and a launch deadline of All Fools' Day, which seems foolish
indeed.  I've no idea how one is going to reconcile comments in 8-10
days, especially given that the co-ment site still isn't accessible.
The opendatacommons.org site is powered by the usually-accessible and
friendly WordPress but we're not harnessing it to gather comments,
which seems odd too.

So,
1. why is it better to publish a buggy first draft than wait?
2. who has been invited to pay attention here so far?
3. what's the 8-10 days drafting/consolidation/compromise process?

Thanks,
-- 
MJ Ray (slef)
Webmaster for hire, statistician and online shop builder for a small
worker cooperative http://www.ttllp.co.uk/ http://mjr.towers.org.uk/
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