Re: [Gendispatch] Diversity and Inclusiveness in the IETF

[Andrew Campling <[e-mail]>]

On 23/2/21 08:40, Fernando Gont <[e-mail]> wrote:

> On 23/2/21 05:18, Dominique Lazanski wrote:


>> But the other big
>> barrier to entry is the draft upload tools. For a new person attending 
>> for the first time the tools are a relic of 1990 of thereabouts and 
>> can be confusing and difficult.

+1 

> FWIW, we have already started to work on a revision of the draft (working copy at: 
https://github.com/fgont/diversity/blob/main/draft-gont-diversity-analysis-01.txt),
and this is what we currently have in the Section 8.2 of the upcoming rev:

This made me smile as GitHub is itself an excellent example of a tool being a barrier to entry for new participants.  I've been using word processors since the early '80s (WordStar back in the day), don't understand why anyone would opt to use a different tool to write a document.  I know that this point of view will not be accepted by many current IETF participants but it seems particularly perverse to use a software development tool to write documents when there are many widely available options that are far better suited to the task (many of which support collaborative writing).  

If the intent is to broaden participation by people from different disciplines then I'd urge the use of more commonly used tools wherever possible.  


Andrew