@J12t If you only ask W3C activity members where they wish to do work, and avoid asking anyone not in that org, you're probably gonna get the answer you expect.
I did hear a couple of legitimate stakeholders at your #fediforum last week say they weren't comfortable with joining that effort; I'm not sure I ever heard why.
From being in (and recruiting into) similar efforts, over the decades, we all know there's a sharp incline in perception, from regular participants to nonmembers. Your challenge there is not winning over Tantek … He already knows how to navigate W3C :) It's winning over devs who may not be as familiar with how open or how easy that workgroup is, or what its biases are. Cc @evan