As someone who has known Dave well for almost 30 years, I have to agree with Kragen that the best approach is to ignore him on this. His legacy is the most important thing in the world to him, so no compromise that doesn’t leave him as the “inventor” of whatever new standard emerges will satisfy him. He can’t be reasoned with, because he isn’t using reason here. In his mind he is being screwed once again by a big company that is trying to take credit for his work. Whether it is true or not, and I think not, that is the movie that is playing out in his head. It can’t be stopped. It can’t be made “part of the process.” It can only be ignored. One other thing, Brad. If you do try talking with him, NEVER even imply that you know what Dave is thinking, because he doesn’t believe it is possible for anyone to know what he is thinking. For the record, I give Dave a large amount of credit for the adoption of RSS, OPML, blogging, and podcasting, but I don’t think he “invented” any of them. I don’t believe anyone invents things any more on the Internet. They just act as midwives. So, to continue the metaphor, Brad. If you want your standard to be born in a viable form, just go silent with Dave. He will get bored and move on. He always does. - Adam Green

For some reason the comment has been deleted, but Green has Winer pegged.