Peter Kirk wrote...
> I understand that a revised version of "Final proposal for encoding
> the Phoenician script [WG2-N2746R]" has been submitted to the UTC
> and included in the official document register.
Posted Friday night, yes. I insisted on receiving it, and I postponed my
Friday evening dinner to upload it to the register and announce it.
> Will this document be made public? Or is there an intention to conceal
> it from the public, or from the user community of the scripts in
> question?
What an absurd insinuation. I am mortified and demand an apology. I'm sure
Mr Everson would also demand an apology. The fact that this document was
posted first to the UTC doc register reflects only my faster-than-light
reflexes, being the person who insisted most emphatically on a revised
proposal.
> Will this "fullness of time" allow time for interested
> parties to comment to the UTC and to WG2 before the proposal is
> discussed by them? I am sure that these committees will want to make
> sure of this.
I find your tone and insinuations offensive. The "fullness of time" for
public posting of the document does not necessarily depend on Mr. Everson,
it depends more on when the WG2 convenor posts the document!
> I am certain that WG2 will not be able to accept any proposal which
> has not been made public and on which the user community has not been
> given the opportunity to comment.
You mistake the procedure. One makes a document and submits it to the WG2
chair, who then is at liberty to post it, or not post it, on the WG2
website, at his sole discretion. The WG2 website happens to be publicly
accessible, and posting a document there *is* the act of making public. So
it is not that WG2 "accepts" only "public" documents; it is that the
document register of WG2 is open to the public.
> I have also accepted that this particular script should be
> encoded, but that certain other specific definitions should be
> made to enshrine within the standard the special close relationship
> between the various 22 character Semitic scripts.
After a month of rather unpleasant wrangling, it is a relief to hear you
publicly proclaim that you accept the encoding of Phoenician. Please do
propose some wording for "other specific definitions" and submit a document
with your suggestions. You would have at least a year, or two, between the
time Phoenician is accepted for encoded and the time a block intro to it
would be published. I'm sure the committee will welcome your input.
Since you have now concluded that the Phoenician script *should* be
encoded, a brief statement to that effect submitted to the Unicode online
Reporting Form would make it into the UTC record, and be appreciated.
Rick
