[iaufwg] Voting Result

[William Pence]

Dear IAU FWG members,

First, I wish to thank all the members of the working group who voted so 
promptly on the issue of whether or not to include the parenthetical 
clause in the introductory paragraph of section 8.1 of the new FITS 
Standard document.  A 3/4ths quorum of members have now voted, and the 
result is:

      15 votes of "No, do not include the parenthetical clause"
       2 votes of "Yes, include the parenthetical clause"
       5 did not vote

In principle, the remaining 5 members may still send me their votes, but 
this could not change the final outcome.  As is customary, I list the 
times that I received each vote at the end of this message, to enable 
members to confirm that I have recorded their vote correctly.

This decisive vote clearly establishes the working group's view on this 
issue and ends the debate.  I plan to call for a final vote on the 
current proposal next week.

To briefly respond to Mark's accusations, I have never had a hidden 
agenda regarding random groups.  My only agenda is to guide this group 
of 22 highly educated and often highly opinionated individuals towards 
reaching a reasonable consensus on technical issues in a reasonable 
amount of time.  I do have my own opinions on some issues, and I do 
sometimes express them, but I also respect and abide by the majority 
wishes of the working group.

There is a long established precedent for holding procedural (simple 
majority) votes on minor issues that need to be decide by the working 
group.  This committee could not function if every trivial issue had to 
be formally approved by a 3/4 majority and with the threat that a single 
"no" vote can halt the process altogether.  This more stringent voting 
process is only necessary when considering changes to the requirements 
of the FITS format;  it does not apply to minor editorial changes to the 
wording of the FITS Standard document.

-Bill Pence
---------------------------
Record of votes (times are US Eastern Daylight Time)

6/26    12:00 pm  No
6/26    12:02 pm  No
6/26    12:04 pm  No
6/26    12:11 pm  No
6/26    12:18 pm  No
6/26    12:23 pm  No
6/26    12:32 pm  Yes
6/26     1:06 pm  No
6/26     1:15 pm  No
6/26     1:31 pm  No
6/26     3:10 pm  No
6/26     4:59 pm  Yes
6/26    11:07 pm  No
6/27     3:39 am  No
6/27    10:52 am  No
6/27    10:54 am  No
6/27    11:31 am  No
-- 
____________________________________________________________________
Dr. William Pence                       William.Pence at nasa.gov
NASA/GSFC Code 662       HEASARC        +1-301-286-4599 (voice)
Greenbelt MD 20771                      +1-301-286-1684 (fax)