[iaufwg] Results of the P/Q sign vote

[William Pence]

Dear IAU-FWG members,

With all 22 members having voted on the proposal to change the sign of the P 
and Q descriptors from 'signed integer' to 'unsigned integer', the final 
result is:

   Yes, in favor:    16 votes
   No, not in favor:  5 votes
   Abstain:           1 vote

The fraction of 'Yes' votes is 16/22 = 72.7 percent, which falls 1/2 vote 
short of the 75 percent majority needed for IAUFWG approval according to our 
voting rules.  Consequently, the proposal does not pass.

Since I supported the proposal, I am of course somewhat disappointed by the 
result, especially since the outcome was so close.  It is interesting to 
note that the procedural vote that we took on this issue passed by a smaller 
14 (yes) to 8 (no) majority, so it appears that the subsequent lengthy 
discussion of the issues did persuade a few more members to support the 
proposal, but not quite enough to pass.   One can also speculate that if the 
IAUFWG voting rules had been worded slightly differently so that votes to 
'Abstain' would be ignored, then the result would have been 16/21 = 76.1 
percent in favor, and it would have passed.

So where do we go from here?  I am open to suggestions, but my own opinion 
is that we should let this issue rest for a while and move on to other 
business.  I do think, however, that eventually we need to re-address this 
issue because the current wording in the FIT Standard seems so inadequate. 
If we appoint a technical group to clarify the FITS Standard, perhaps it can 
also reconsider this issue.

Bill

P.S.  For verification purposes, here are the date and times (in the local 
time zone) of all the 'No' and 'Abstain' votes:

20 Jan 2006, 11:14 - No
22 Jan 2006, 11:24 - No
23 Jan 2006, 10:52 - No
23 Jan 2006, 11:51 - No
25 Jan 2006, 11:22 - No
25 Jan 2006, 08:33 - Abstain
-- 
____________________________________________________________________
Dr. William Pence                       pence at milkyway.gsfc.nasa.gov
NASA/GSFC Code 662       HEASARC        +1-301-286-4599 (voice)
Greenbelt MD 20771                      +1-301-286-1684 (fax)