What makes you think this isn't the way most languages are designed? The only difference is that in most cases the design happens privately. Not a surprise, since community participation's far more of a hindrance than a help, and it's arguable whether the benefits the sane people bring outweighs the stress, ulcers, and bad reputation the crackpots contribute.
No, I don't think most languages are designed this way. We're talking about *years* of discussion for the design of a language here, not a standardization committee.
It's the lengthy, intellectual nature of the discussion that I'm referring to here.
Yeah, it's not like anyone's designed a language like Ada, C#, Java, C++ (In it's original evil form, not the new and improved evil form it's currently in), or Dylan. just to not name a few. It must be a new thing!