Re: The Next Generation

[Kyle Rose <[e-mail]>]

On Tue, Sep 3, 2019 at 8:43 PM Keith Moore <[e-mail]>
wrote:

> While I certainly recognize the value in bringing new people in (of any
> age) and also realize the value in training new generations of Internet
> protocol engineers, I strongly object to favoring people because of
> their age or lack thereof.   I certainly don't think it should happen on
> a per group basis.   Age discrimination is as evil as any other form of
> discrimination.
>

Strongly agreed. I'll add that:

* New ideas nearly always benefit from some consideration paid to past
experience in similar problem spaces.
* Has the OP even seen the IAB or the IESG? They don't exactly look like a
bunch of greybeards to me.
* Those with time, energy, passion, expertise, and leadership skills will
naturally rise to the top in an organization like this. The IETF is
probably the closest thing to a meritocracy in which I've ever
participated. If there's a problem with lack of diversity, it's in the pool
of people from which the leadership is drawn.
* We should (and AFAICT do) encourage folks to get involved if they can
usefully contribute, regardless of age, ethnicity, race, citizenship, etc.
We host meetings around the globe (often in places that are expensive
and/or extremely inconvenient for the people who do the actual work, I
might add) partly to assist in outreach to potential new participants.
Regardless, we alone can contribute only modestly to addressing the
cultural factors that limit participation by certain demographics, and here
I think we do a reasonable job.

Kyle