Re: how to contact the IETF

Ofer Inbar <cos@aaaaa.org> Mon, 09 February 2009 23:45 UTC

Return-Path: <cos@mip.polyamory.org>
X-Original-To: ietf@core3.amsl.com
Delivered-To: ietf@core3.amsl.com
Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by core3.amsl.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1E2403A67CC for <ietf@core3.amsl.com>; Mon, 9 Feb 2009 15:45:04 -0800 (PST)
X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at amsl.com
X-Spam-Flag: NO
X-Spam-Score: -2.599
X-Spam-Level:
X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.599 tagged_above=-999 required=5 tests=[BAYES_00=-2.599]
Received: from mail.ietf.org ([64.170.98.32]) by localhost (core3.amsl.com [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id LoC-Fk9y8MQg for <ietf@core3.amsl.com>; Mon, 9 Feb 2009 15:45:02 -0800 (PST)
Received: from mip.polyamory.org (mip.aaaaa.org [199.201.145.108]) by core3.amsl.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id C14743A6A40 for <ietf@ietf.org>; Mon, 9 Feb 2009 15:45:02 -0800 (PST)
Received: by mip.polyamory.org (Postfix, from userid 1002) id 6528910760; Mon, 9 Feb 2009 18:45:03 -0500 (EST)
Date: Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:45:03 -0500
From: Ofer Inbar <cos@aaaaa.org>
To: Alex Loret de Mola <edgarverona@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: how to contact the IETF
Message-ID: <20090209234503.GN376@mip.polyamory.org>
References: <mailman.81.1234221068.5094.ietf@ietf.org> <789dbae90902091529t2b419cf5jc87bb7fb65564c5@mail.gmail.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Disposition: inline
In-Reply-To: <789dbae90902091529t2b419cf5jc87bb7fb65564c5@mail.gmail.com>
User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.3i
Organization: American Association Against Acronym Abuse
Cc: ietf@ietf.org
X-BeenThere: ietf@ietf.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.9
Precedence: list
List-Id: IETF-Discussion <ietf.ietf.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf>, <mailto:ietf-request@ietf.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/ietf>
List-Post: <mailto:ietf@ietf.org>
List-Help: <mailto:ietf-request@ietf.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf>, <mailto:ietf-request@ietf.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 09 Feb 2009 23:59:16 -0000

Alex Loret de Mola <edgarverona@gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear Carsten: (And others who feel upset at the recent development)
> 
> As someone who's been a (mostly silent, but frequently reading) member
> of this mailing list, I can understand your concern.  However, can you
> propose a better way for them to contact members of the IETF?

This stems from a misunderstanding of IETF process.  What they're
doing is indeed "contacting" the IETF to express an opinion, as if
we're a political lobby.  IETF decisions don't get made by counting
votes, as you know.  There's no value in having lots and lots of
people write to say essentially the same thing - it just annoys list
members, but doesn't actually contribute to the discussion.

If people want to *participate in discussion* they can *subscribe*.

If people want to *raise new points to be discussed* then a well
thought out message raising those new points would be called for.
It does not need to be repeated 50 times.  Two or three is enough :)
  -- Cos