The only thing that keeps me fuming is that anyone took the initial accusation seriously in the first place. There was no secret conspiracy, really! There could

The only thing that keeps me fuming is that anyone took the initial accusation seriously in the first place. There was no secret conspiracy, really! There couldn't have been. There's a lot of speculation in this thread that I think is wrong, but is it worth correcting it all? I've put a lot of my career into making web standards useful, clear, architecturally coherent, extensible, and I'm not interested in slowing down features or adoption into the open web platform. I'm a big fan of open systems, and I think in the end they benefit everyone. But "open" really does mean "transparent": tell the truth, don't mislead. Assume people really look at the charter of a working group and believe what it says, without having to squint and look at it sideways. I'm fuming a bit about how I can't defend my credibility to people who think I'm a liar, since saying I'm not.... well, it's just more evidence of how much of a liar I am, isn't it? While I've had a lot of experience with rough-and-tumble standards groups (chairing the HTTP group in the 90s wasn't easy), this seems a lot worse, but maybe it's because I'm getting the brunt of it this time.