The Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) is an initiative to create a structured enumeration of different platform types. The governance structure of this initiative is dominated by an impartial moderator whose job it is to make decisions that reflect the desires of the community and are in the best interests of the initiative, as opposed to the best interests of a single organization. Having an impartial moderator is imperative to the success of the standard. Without it, decisions will be made on the basis of benefiting certain organizations and this will alienate the rest of the community resulting is a split within the standard.
Suggestions
Any member of the community can make a suggestion regarding a change in any area of CPE. Any suggestion should be made via the public email lists so that others in the community can comment on it and either agree or disagree. It is these conversations, and the merit of the suggestion, that will lead to a decision being made by the moderator to make the change.
Each individual's views and opinion carries weight in accordance with their contribution to the project. For example, someone who has been involved with the initiative for many years will be trusted more than someone that just joined a few days ago. But at the same time, it is more about the actual opinion or idea as opposed to who made it. If the idea is a good one that benefits the community, then it will be favored by the moderator.
Decisions
Decisions are made through public discussion either in public meetings or on public mailing lists. When the community is unable to come to an agreed upon decision, it becomes the job of the moderator to do what they think is best for the standard and the community as a whole.
Decisions are usually made by consensus, rather than voting. The reason for this is that most decisions are of interest only to members of the community who will be affected by them. Formal voting usually results in limited participation and votes based on a limited understanding of the issue. The combination of public mailing lists and consensus ensures that any person who could be affected by a decision both finds out about it, and has a voice in the discussion. It is again the job of the moderator to listen to all voices and fully understand the issue in order to make the correct decision.
In the case of an irresolvable dispute, the moderator must decide which direction is best for CPE and make the decision to follow that path. The moderator must be free from personal bias when making this decision and shall base the decision on their view of what is best for the community as a whole.
Roles and Responsibilities
There are quite a few ways to participate in CPE. These range from using the enumeration to providing content to helping develop the specification and can be broken down into the following set of roles:
Users
Users are the people who use the enumeration to help classify different platform types. Users are downloading the CPE Dictionary, incorporating CPE Names into their tool(s), utilizing the CPE Language, and making suggestions for future changes to the specification. This is by far the most important category of people - without users, there is no reason for the initiative.
Contributors
Contributors are individuals who contribute time and/or content to CPE. Contributions can be in the form of discussion posts, new CPE Names, a review of existing names, tools to help other community members, and specification comments. Integration of contributors' contributions is at the discretion of the moderator.
Developers
Developers are the people in charge with making the official changes to the specification and related schemas, as well as the infrastructure to support the CPE Dictionary. The changes that are made by developers are consistent with the desires of the moderator and are circulated through the community before being made.
Moderator
The moderator acts as the overseer for the entire CPE initiative. Their job is to provide impartial guidance that is not motivated by personal gain. They review contributions and decide which are worthy of inclusion. They also task the developers to make changes to reflect the views of the users. The moderator is also responsible for the web space for the initiative. Their mission is to maintain and improve CPE for the benefit of the entire community.
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