Re: NomCom 2020 Announcement of Selections

[Donald Eastlake <[e-mail]>]

Hi John,

On Fri, Jan 22, 2021 at 11:44 PM John C Klensin <[e-mail]> wrote:
>
> --On Saturday, January 23, 2021 13:29 +1100 Bron Gondwana
> <[e-mail]> wrote:
>
> ...
>
> Bron,
>
> ...
>
> I do worry about another issue, one that Rich did not mention.
> I remember Barbara posting a note strongly encouraging people to
> put their names in even if there were incumbents willing to
> serve an additional term.   Because putting one's name in
> requires considerable effort, if the impression in the community
> is that incumbents will almost always be returned, it is going
> to be harder and harder to find anyone to volunteer for their
> slots (I note that one incumbent this time ran unopposed).  But

Lack of choices for the nomcom to pick from is usually a problem for a
small number of positions but I have no idea why you think "it is
going to be harder and harder to find anyone to volunteer [for slots
where there is an incumbent]". Over the past quarter century, I have
served on 6 nomcoms, 4 as a voting member, once as chair, and once as
immediate past chair. There has been no such trend as you imagine. If
anything, I would guess that the total number of volunteers across all
positions has grown but it is still normal for the nomcom to do some
arm twisting. There have even been years in which there was no
volunteer for a position where the incumbent was not running until the
nomcom beat the bushes and found a volunteer or two.

Thanks,
Donald
===============================
 Donald E. Eastlake 3rd   [phone] (cell)
 2386 Panoramic Circle, Apopka, FL 32703 USA
 [e-mail]

> that concern isn't new either; Spencer and I addressed it and a
> possible solution in the second I-D mentioned above.
>
> best,
>    john