Subject: Re: draft-zigmond-tv-url-02

From: Vernon Schryver <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 10:03:05 -0600 (MDT)

> From: John Stracke <[email-masked]>

> > Henceforth, the IESG should publish no
> > Internet Drafts except those that are products of IETF working groups or
> > the IAB, and implement that exit from the usenet-like publishing world by
> > requiring a go-ahead from a working group chair, area director, IESG
> > member, IAB member before publishing any draft.
>
> OK, I'll ask the obvious question (that I'm sure you've thought about):
> wouldn't that make it harder to get minority opinions considered?

No, in practice, the change would not make it harder for minority opinions
to be heard or considered.

First, opinions, the only opinions that are relevant, minority or
otherwise, are the opinions of IETF working group members and IETF
officers.  Random brain farts from big corporations (or anywhere) are
irrelevant, except when they are expressed by IETF working group members.

Relevant opinions, minority or otherwise, should not be first expressed
with I-D's, but in the relevant IETF mailinglist.  Anyone who writes an
I-D without talking to the working group simply Does Not Get It.  Anyone
too loony or lazy to check out the political landscape before barging in
with an I-D is extremely unlikely to have anything to say that is
technically (or otherwise) interesting.  Anyone who writes an I-D against
the concensus of the working group, and when the working group has made
clear that it is does not want a minority report is a kook, since a
rational person does not waste time shouting at the obdurate.

Absolutely every organization with a history has an Old Boys Network, and
even I am a member of that club despite a long perfect non-attendance
record simply by longevity and failing to alienate enough people.  If the
Old Boys Network of the IETF decides to suppress a minority opinion, it
will be suppressed under the current or any other likely rules.  If you
don't believe me, ask the kooks who have been banned from this mailinglist.

In other words, yes, making the chairs, AD's, IESG, and IAB explicit
gatekeepers for I-D's would recognize the power they already have to oppose
minority opinions.  They have the powers they have, and you must trust
they'll use them wisely or that the NOCOM and other safeguards used by the
IETF Old Boys Net to control the current office holders will work.  If
you don't trust them more than not, you're wasting your time here.

Recall what was required to get an I-D published 15 years ago.  My
recollection is that you had to convince Jon Postel that you were talking
about was not a completely stupid waste of time.

Vernon Schryver    [email-masked]