Actually, the committee bylaws isn't the right place to put this information either, so I'll leave it in the README for the time being. But as a member of the committee, I find a separate list such as acceptance.rst very very useful. It is quite time-consuming for me to go through a multiple page long README just to find the information about my role as a shepherd that I care about. Am Mo., 4. Mai 2026 um 09:13 Uhr schrieb Sebastian Graf <sgraf1337@gmail.com
:
P.S.: I also feels like "the role of the shepherd" feels out of place in README.rst. It lists information that is important for the person taking the role of the shepherd. It is not important for a person who submits a proposal. We have https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/blob/master/committee.rst where most of the information of the former kind resides. I'll open a PR to move it there.
Am Mo., 4. Mai 2026 um 09:04 Uhr schrieb Sebastian Graf < sgraf1337@gmail.com>:
Hi friends,
I want to get back to this:
Maintain a list of votes on this spreadsheet <https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1e6GdwHmAjeDEUhTvP-b18MDkpTfH3SMHhFu5F3nDIWc/edit?usp=sharing>.
Frankly, I don't see how this sort of manual bookkeeping is doing us any favours. What's the purpose? It's a lot of work (tracking back "Date entered inbox", etc." that should all be automatable by a vibe-coded script, since all the traffic on this mailing list is public. Also it has fallen out of date already. Who can tell whether this list is complete?
I'll add my entry for #700 (post-hoc), but as I said it is a lot of work.
Cheers, Sebastian
Am Mi., 10. Sept. 2025 um 09:55 Uhr schrieb Adam Gundry < adam@well-typed.com>:
Thanks for this, Simon! It makes sense to document this more clearly, and at the suggestion from you and Erik off-list, I've opened a PR adding a variant of this to the README:
https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/pull/726
If anyone would like to suggest changes, please feel free. (I made one change: our existing guideline is two weeks rather than one week for shepherds to make a recommendation to the committee.)
Cheers,
Adam
On 09/09/2025 23:58, Simon Peyton Jones wrote:
Friends
I have realised, rather belatedly, that we don't actually have any written guidance for shepherds of GHC proposals, so we all have to make it up as we go along. Perhaps it'd be helpful to have some. Here's a start.
The shepherd does these things:
* Makes a recommendation to the committee for whether to accept, reject, or send back for revision, within a week of being appointed. * Actively guide the committee's discussion. * Maintain a list of votes on this spreadsheet <https:// docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1e6GdwHmAjeDEUhTvP- b18MDkpTfH3SMHhFu5F3nDIWc/edit?usp=sharing>. * Actively facilitate the committee discussion, guiding us towards a decision, within the published time frame of 4-5 weeks. * Summarise the committee's thinking for the author's benefit, and work with the author on next steps -- this may often take the form of revisions to the proposal. * * Remind members (by name, not just general exhortation) who are silent that they are highly encouraged to contribute. * If the discussion does not converge within 4-5 weeks, take action to consult the chair, vice-chair, or secretary to decide what to do.
It's much more than "make a recommendation and wait".
Being a member of the GHC Steering Committee is a real service to the community. But of course we all have day jobs, and so not everything happens as we hope.
Any thoughts?
Simon
-- Adam Gundry, Haskell Consultant Well-Typed LLP, https://www.well-typed.com/
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