[MPEG-OTSPEC] Consensus Protocol

[Levantovsky, Vladimir]

Thank you David,
I think it's important to mention that there is a distinction between "approval" and "consensus" in this particular case. 
In the early part of this discussion, a question was raised about a particular case related to ballot comments: if, after multiple times the requests for comments were made, and, the question was asked to review proposed comments by the stated deadline with the specific condition clearly stated that silence will be treated as approval - can the approval be assumed if no further responses are made by stated deadline? Our long-standing practice has been that silence is indeed treated as approval, and the comments already submitted would be finalized and submitted as approved by the group.

Thank you,
Vladimir


-----Original Message-----
From: David Singer <singer at apple.com> 
Sent: Wednesday, August 26, 2020 5:45 PM
To: Levantovsky, Vladimir <Vladimir.Levantovsky at monotype.com>
Cc: Dave Crossland <dcrossland at google.com>; mpeg-otspec <mpeg-otspec at lists.aau.at>
Subject: Re: [MPEG-OTSPEC] Consensus Protocol



> On Aug 26, 2020, at 8:42 , Levantovsky, Vladimir <Vladimir.Levantovsky at monotype.com> wrote:
>  
> The long standing practice in MPEG and in this AHG group has been rooted in the simple principle that silence means approval, whatever the topic of a discussion might be. 
>  

back up: consensus is the result of asking a question, to determine consensus. Almost all groups I know use consensus for expert discussions; final approvals vary (e.g. in W3C, it’s the Director as advised by the AC, in ISO, it’s NBs, and so on).

Consensus decisions result when a clear consensus decision proposal is made, usually by the chair (e.g. “do we have consensus to eat sandwiches for lunch?”) and no-one ’sustains their objection’ (i.e. someone may say “I don’t agree, but I won’t stand in the way as I think a decision is needed”). Silence is usually taken as consent though most groups like at least some positive responses.

David Singer
Manager, Software Standards, Apple Inc.