I think their refusal to turn up reflects rather poorly on them, though I've no idea how much notice was given. It's starting to look a little like they're more interested in sneering than working towards something everyone's happy enough with.
Core developers were NOT invited.
LOL! Is this going to be a new bug party, like "BU" and "Classic", with Trump-style "best" programmers and testing? Haha! Good lock convincing anyone to run it. This is only an attempt to fire up more in-fighting and delays. I hope they fork off quickly, crash and burn and we can forget about them.