# Web4 Standard Maintenance Process

This document outlines the maintenance structure for the Web4 standard, including the roles and responsibilities of the various community members, the decision-making process, and the process for proposing and ratifying changes to the standard.




## 1. Governance Structure

The Web4 community is open, transparent, and meritocratic. The governance structure is designed to be lightweight and to empower the community to make decisions effectively.

### 1.1. Roles and Responsibilities

-   **Contributors:** Anyone can be a contributor by participating in discussions, reporting issues, or submitting pull requests.
-   **Maintainers:** Experienced and trusted contributors who have demonstrated a long-term commitment to the project. Maintainers have write access to the repository and are responsible for reviewing and merging pull requests.
-   **Steering Committee:** A small group of maintainers who are responsible for the overall direction of the project, including setting priorities, resolving disputes, and making final decisions on controversial issues.

### 1.2. Decision-Making Process

-   **Consensus:** The primary goal of the decision-making process is to reach consensus among the community.
-   **Voting:** If consensus cannot be reached, the Steering Committee may call for a vote. Only maintainers are eligible to vote.
-   **Transparency:** All decisions and the reasoning behind them will be documented and made public.

### 1.3. Change Management

-   **Proposals:** Changes to the standard are proposed through a Web4 Improvement Proposal (W4IP). A W4IP is a document that describes a proposed change in detail, including the motivation, technical specification, and any potential backward compatibility issues.
-   **Review:** W4IPs are reviewed by the community and the maintainers. The review process is open and transparent, and all feedback is welcome.
-   **Ratification:** Once a W4IP has been reviewed and approved, it is ratified by the Steering Committee and merged into the standard.


