[iaufwg] approval of the 'FOREIGN' extension convention

[Doug Tody]

Hi Bill -

Actually, the authors are still discussing whether to make any
further changes to the document (although I agree it is arguable
whether this is worth it in this case).  I would wait several days
to see the result.  In any case, I think there will still be issues
even if further minor changes are made, and having a section with
reviewer comments is a good idea.

I think there is still an important issue here regarding what is a 
convention and how to handle conventions within the IAU WG.  My own view
is that conventions are not standards, and all we should do is register
and possibly grade them.  Compliance with the real FITS standards should
be mandatory, and minimal standards for documentation should be applied.
But it is not our job to put conventions through the standards process
unless the WG decides to advance a convention in this fashion.

 	- Doug


On Fri, 16 Feb 2007, William Pence wrote:

> Dear IAU FWG members,
>
> Since it appears that the authors of the FOREIGN convention document are
> not planning to make any more modifications in the near future, I have
> taken the liberty of moving the current document from the "Under Review"
> section into the "Approved" section or the Registry (see
> http://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/fits_registry.html).  In addition, I've added
> a "Comments and/or critiques" link that in this case leads to a summary
> of the issues that were raised in the recent IAU-FWG discussions.
> Please have a look at this and let me (and the rest of the group) know
> if you have any comments or suggestions.  (I realize that the current
> format of this registry web page will become too unwieldy once many more
> conventions get entered;  I plan to overhaul the layout of this page in
> the next month or 2).
>
> While it is probably fair to say that many of us are not completely
> satisfied with the current documentation, my own opinion is that this is
> such an infrequently used FITS convention that it is not worth our time
> now to try to resolve every remaining issue.
>
> As a reminder, any member may request a formal vote on whether any
> convention should be included in the registry or not, in which case a
> simple majority will decide the issue.
>
> regards,
> Bill
>