Remove reference to Director

[csarven]

As per https://www.w3.org/2023/Process-20230612/#dirfree-changes and upcoming https://github.com/w3c/charter-drafts/pull/424

[melvincarvalho]

@timbl's insights and expertise, honed over three decades of pioneering this work, are integral to Solid

[woutermont]

With all respect for @timbl, @melvincarvalho, this is a long-time coming, gradual decision made by the W3C in order to keep the consortium doing its good work when @timbl, like any person, decides to phase out and enjoy a well-deserved retirement. This is mostly an administrative procedure; I am sure @timbl will keep providing us with his honed insights and expertise for years to come.

[melvincarvalho]

@woutermont It might be prudent for him to approve this PR directly.

[oolivo]

Team,

Tim is not retired. He's on vacation for 1 month. Along with most members of the CG (and the western world). Because it's August.

Let's wait until the majority of the group, and in this case the individual being discussed, have actually returned before proposing more major changes to the CG (or proposed WG ). We're referencing an unmerged PR, and while the eagerness to comply is appreciated, this can wait untill folks are back and the W3C actually updates their template in an official way.

We can say it's been discussed in the public or that consensus has been reached, but that's false if the average attendance and activity in the CG is barely half of what it usually is this month. And the W3C themselves are only just getting around to making these updates so there doesn't seem to be a hurry.

Ever since late July it's felt like we're making major rewrites to charters and processes at a furious pace and I'm at a loss as to why the timing is such. And candidly, I've struggled to keep up myself due to August vacation schedules.

We can defer to Pierre Antoine on timing here from a W3C perspective.

[woutermont]

@oolivo, why the elevated concern? No one says @timbl is retired, nor that this change should be rushed (my initial reaction indeed proposes the contrary), and it is assigned to @pchampin precisely to get the w#C's input. Let's give this change due process like anything else. 🙂

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Re attendance I must say that I do not feel much difference between the summer months and the rest of the year. At any given time, some people are harder to reach, but the overal attendance rate does not seem to vary much. So I would not let that impact the process too much.

[woutermont]

One thing I would add is that, apart from the W3C's general Director-free plan, for the Solid WG specifically it is probably also more desireable that an unelected legacy position of influence such as the directorship is not occupied by someone so closely linked to a single stakeholder in Solid (viz. @timbl being the CTO & Co-founder / Director of Inrupt).

[pchampin]

Everybody, breathe...

I just updated the title of this issue, to make it better reflect what this PR (just like w3c/charter-drafts/pull/424) is actually about.

It is a fact that, per Process 2023, the W3C does not have a Director anymore. Any reference to the Director in a future charter is therefore moot. In this light, this PR is appropriate (and actually required). I totally agree that we should wait for w3c/charter-drafts/pull/424 to be merged into the charter template before aligning to it, but I don't see why this would not happen shortly.

@timbl's insights and expertise, honed over three decades of pioneering this work, are integral to Solid

There is no questioning that, but this is not the point here.

[csarven]

Oz, please note https://github.com/solid/specification/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md#contributions in particular guidance regarding claims.

You did not provide evidence to support your key claims. I took the liberty to publish some Solid CG Meeting Data.

Your claims do not appear to be grounded on that data, and if anything, it shows the contrary. I'd like to invite you to consider verifying and correcting the data as needed.

Your claims are also not supported by the following, and again shows the contrary:

• Code frequency over the history of solid/solid-wg-charter
• Contributors to solid/solid-wg-charter

Additionally, while you are making the point that making a proposal through a PR is "hurried", I don't recall you making any statements along these lines when three individuals made changes to the WG charter without CG's consent, merging 28 minutes after its creation, which happened last week, i.e., in August!

We're referencing an unmerged PR, and while the eagerness to comply is appreciated, this can wait until folks are back and the W3C actually updates their template in an official way.

The template in this case is not particularly significant. And as PAC mentioned:

It is a fact that, per Process 2023, the W3C does not have a Director anymore. Any reference to the Director in a future charter is therefore moot.

Moreover, the following from the WG Charter as well as WG charter templates is in fact relevant:

This charter has been created according to section 3.4 of the Process Document. In the event of a conflict between this document or the provisions of any charter and the W3C Process, the W3C Process shall take precedence.

Hence, even if "Director" remained in the text, it would be not be effective when any decision required the W3C Director.

Please let me know if any of the above is unclear.

[woutermont]

Thanks for the number crunching, @csarven; but please let us all follow @pchampin's advice 🙏

Everybody, breathe...

[melvincarvalho]

Your claims are also not supported by the following

Probably disproportionately affects those with young children (school holidays etc.)

FWIW I have also been on vacation for much of August