Re: United Nations report on Internet standards

[Paul Hoffman <[e-mail]>]

On 16 Mar 2020, at 9:14, Vittorio Bertola wrote:

> Ok, I'm just relaying the message: participating in IETF activities as 
> a non-engineer, just to notice and raise a hand when something will 
> have non-technical impact (it's unclear how, since non-engineers would 
> hardly understand the content of the messages), is seen as an almost 
> impossible proposition - basically, as an euphemism for "the IETF is 
> not interested in what anyone else thinks".

That is not relaying the message from the report; it is adding your own 
opinion. Certainly some people agree with your opinion, but many others 
may not. The report says that they did not get cooperation from the IETF 
in preparing the report, but that's completely different than what you 
say above about the report.

> And actually it is hard to participate even for engineers, unless they 
> spend several years in a learning curve.

Those of us who have worked with IETF novices have heard the opposite 
from many new participants. Some might take "several years", other jump 
in at their first meeting or even just on their first mailing list. In 
an organization as open as the IETF, newcomers will inherently represent 
a wide range of skills.

--Paul Hoffman