It always has been run on special lists. I've coined the phrase "Postel decentralization" to refer to things where people expect there to be some distributed c

It always has been run on special lists. I've coined the phrase "Postel decentralization" to refer to things where people expect there to be some distributed consensus mechanism but it turned out that the design of the internet was to email Jon Postel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Postel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Postel) to get your name on a list. e.g. how IANA was originally created.