The global standards system is a lonely place for the user-interest; not because of anything the standards federations have failed to do. The user-interest is lonely because of what the user-interest fails to do. The “iron law of oligarchy” states that regardless how democratic consensus systems are designed; oligarchies form as a fact of nature. Still, we soldier on. Academia is a natural home for obscurity and we are grateful for the University of Michigan giving us our start.