I could argue that W3C didn’t follow that policy when they attempted to push xhtml, which completely inverts that priority order, as xhtml is bad for users and great for purity.
But instead I’ll point out that W3C no longer maintains the html spec. They ceded that to the WHATWG which was spun by the major browser developers in response to the stagnation and what amounted to abandonment of html by the W3C.
Ah, that's true. While w3c still maintains a lot of standards, the intention to remove XSLT was sent to WHATWG.
I didn't look at all documents, but Working Mode describing how specs are added or removed doesn't mention users even once. It's all about implementors: https://whatwg.org/working-mode
I’m not surprised they focus on implementors in “working mode”, though. WHATWG specifically started because implementers felt like the W3C was holding back web apps. And it kind of was.
WHATWG seemed to be created with an intent to return to the earlier days of browser development, where implementors would build the stuff they felt was important and tell other implementors how to be compatible. Less talking and more shipping.
But instead I’ll point out that W3C no longer maintains the html spec. They ceded that to the WHATWG which was spun by the major browser developers in response to the stagnation and what amounted to abandonment of html by the W3C.