Are standards for official parts too strict?

[Travis Cobbs]

A number of part authors have indicated that they feel that some (many?) of the restrictions placed on official parts are overly bureaucratic, and thus counterproductive. And while I've been a member of the LSC for many years, I am not a part author, and I don't review very many parts. So while I personally feel that the current standards are fairly reasonable, I also feel that if they're driving part authors away, then perhaps they should be changed.

So, I'd like to get feedback from part authors, but only if the feedback is polite. Orion will quite rightly not put up with this thread turning into a flame war. I'm looking for honest feedback from current part authors about the requirements for official parts as they stand now. More specifically, I want to know if there is a feeling that certain restrictions should be removed.

If the results are such that I feel it's warranted, I'll start an official LSC discussion in the LSC forum. (This thread is here in this forum so that I can get feedback from more than just the current 5 members of the LSC.) If the vast majority of the results are that things are OK, I won't. And I'll be honest: even though I promise to start the discussion if I feel it's warranted, I can't make any guarantees about what the results will be, since I'm only one member of the 5-member LSC, and LSC procedures for the current LSC state that 2 NO votes are enough to defeat any proposal. And depending on what the requests are, I may even be one of the hypothetical NO votes. Actual change will require that no more than one of the current LSC members is against the proposed change.