[r-t] Methods Committee terms of reference

[Don Morrison]

On Mon, Apr 17, 2017 at 12:34 PM, Graham John <graham at changeringing.co.uk>
wrote:
> The new terms of reference do not change this

They do change a lot of things, though, for the worse.

Under the old terms of reference the committee "considered and advised" on
"questions arising from the interpretation of the Council’s Decisions".
While that's caused enough trouble over the years, the proposed new terms
are far worse, directing the committee to "provide", "maintain" and
"adjudicate" a wider variety of things including not just the
interpretation of the *Council's* decisions but of "requirements" imposed
on ringers. And note, given verbs like "provide", "maintain" and
"adjudicate", these requirements are now the for the *committee* itself to
impose, not the Council. This is a seriously retrograde step.

Also troubling is the process by which this was arrived at. While, as you
know, I am unimpressed with the process by which the other motions evolved,
at least in that case a draft of them was published several weeks ago and
comments sought, and amendments made in response to those comments. So far
as I know, no draft of these proposed terms of reference was ever
circulated in advance, instead the finished product has been sent only
after it is too late to amend it in light of any comments. And, while
correlation is not the same as causation, it sure does look like even this
would never have happened had I not repeatedly nagged about the proposed
new terms of reference over the last day or two.

When the committee asked for suggestions for its new terms of reference the
wording that now appears in the proposal was never among the suggestions
made. For example, the only things your (Graham's) own proposal talked
about providing and maintaining were definitions, libraries and interchange
protocols, with no mention at all of providing and maintaining
"requirements". Similarly, your proposal had the committee serving to
arbitrate among those arguing about method names and the like, not
unilaterally "adjudicating" them.

Given it is now too late to make any changes, and these new terms of
reference are such an appalling step backwards, they really should be
withdrawn. It is sad to lose the good parts (libraries, etc), but far worse
would be to head in the wrong direction.

Please, please withdraw this motion.



-- 
Don Morrison <dfm at ringing.org>
"Here was a man who would have warmed Machiavelli's heart."
         -- Will Durant, _The Renaissance_
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