While acknowledging the list problems , Smith stated that the original ten day deadline would not be met. This goes some way towards explaining the cause of the problems and the resulting lack of updates. In this way many of the tensions need never develop. He also invited suggestions on how best to configure the list. It's becoming increasingly important for any organization to provide immediate feedback when encountering problems of this sort.
Users are now quite capable of voicing their dissatisfaction loudly and at length.
We have to have a flourishing organisation with these aims. It is a testament to the diversity of XML-DEV that, even during outages and ongoing problems, discussion has continued. While some members feared that the list might fragment, others were considering future directions. And a page for the mailing list, instructions, archive pointers, who to contact when there's trouble, and so on. Some of the things folk on the list have written should get pointers, or hosted copies.