CZ:Charter drafting committee/Position statements/Peter Schmitt

The main objective of the charter is to clearly define the fundamental principles on which CZ is based and which are considered as essential features and therefore may not be changed. Of course, the main structures and processes have also to be installed and defined, however, they should only have the form of (firm) guidelines and avoid the inclusion of detailed procedures because their implementation (which are to be judged against the basic principles of the charter) will have to be adaptable according to future developments and experiences. Among the topics for which such guidelines are needed are, of course: Editors/experts, authors, readers/users, approval, and how decisions are made and enforced (constables). When drafting the charter the experiences since the start of CZ will have to be compared to and combined with the fresh observations obtained by those who have joined only recently. (Changes to the originally formulated "preliminary charter" must not be taboo, but should be carefully reasoned.)