It makes sense to you that documents which are 100% open content might have closed-content IP in them, which everyone in the gaming community has overlooked for more than twenty years? I suppose if it's buried that deep, it would take two years of reviewing to find!
It is more correct to say that it doesn't make sense to you. Of course how could it as we don't know the reason!
It's more correct to say that it doesn't make sense to any rational scrutiny. Or do you think that those 100% Open Game Content documents have WotC IP that's in danger of being made into open content if it's released into the Creative Commons?
Pointing out that WotC's saying that they need so long to review the old SRDs (because otherwise they might release IP that was already released) makes no sense isn't complaining.
The issue, as I see it, is that anyone remotely familiar with the 3.5 SRD already knows that there is no IP that needs removing (except from the PI declaration that will be removed anyway with the move to CC). So asking people to point out the IP is moot. Either they are familiar with the 3.5 SRD and know it is a non-issue, or they aren't familiar with it and will just point vaguely in that direction and say "They need to be sure."It makes sense to you that documents which are 100% open content might have closed-content IP in them, which everyone in the gaming community has overlooked for more than twenty years? I suppose if it's buried that deep, it would take two years of reviewing to find!
I really enjoyed Ben Riggs' Slaying the Dragon. But I think he undermines his journalistic credibility with posts like this.
I'd bet on bureaucracy too, since bureaucracy does nonsensical things all the time; I never said that WotC's reason was "nefarious" or that there was any sort of malicious intent on their part. I just said that it wasn't based on anything rational, as is so adroitly stated two posts above yours.
Why be concerned about it then? It's not a high priority for them, and whether or not you think it's a big deal someone has to be assigned to the project. People are busy working on the new books, probably the same team that's working on finalizing everything.
I don't know what you mean by "an issue," but when someone (i.e. WotC) puts forward a ridiculous reason as though it was something sensible, and then other people echo that sentiment ("it just takes time to review it all. They want to make sure they don't put something in there that they shouldn't."), I find merit in pointing out that the emperor has no clothes.
When the audience for your game is rebelling and you are losing DnDBeyond subscriptions at a very high rate, and you are doing things to turn it around, you're making promises. If they said "we'll release it to CC" and still hadn't done the 5e SRD now a year+ later, we'd feel they broke their promise, not just that it "slipped in date a bit".
