Re: Remote participants, registration, and mailing lists -- unintended consequences

[Ray Pelletier <[e-mail]>]

John,

> On Apr 3, 2016, at 12:29 PM, John C Klensin <[e-mail]> wrote:
> 
> Hi.
> 
> Not to complain but to add to whatever consideration occurs this
> week about getting remote participants, more evidence that these
> things need to be thought through carefully has turned up in the
> last 24 hours.
> 
> * Apparently, remote participants who have registered are listed
> on the "registered attendees" list without any differentiation
> from face to face attendees.

Thanks.  It has been noticed and will be changed.

>  That has resulted in my getting
> several "when can we meet up" messages and some confused people.
> Not a big deal, but an unnecessary waste of people's time.

This is not clear to me.  This traffic wouldn’t be passed on the 
95All list.  It could be on the 95Attendees list.

>  More
> important, if questions arose in the future about who was, or
> was not, at a particular meeting, it could lead to even more
> confusion and inconvenience (e.g., IIR, registration records
> have sometimes been the subject of subpoenas).

When asked it’s usually the Blue Sheet, which now includes 
remote attendance "eBlue Sheets” at WG sessions.

> 
> * When we register, we apparently automatically signed up for
> the [95all]

Yes, administrative matters related to the meeting, e.g. schedule
changes.

> and allowed to check the box that gets us on the
> [95attendees] mailing lists.

Correct, that is optional.  

>  That is fine -- I used to have to
> try to monitor the archives of [NNall] to be sure I didn't miss,
> e.g., important schedule changes (although most of those are
> copied to IETF-announce and/or the IETF discussion list).
> Announcements of specially-formatted agendas, workshop and lunch
> seminar announcements, and the like are as useful to those of us
> who are remote as those who are present (even if relevant
> sessions are not supported remotely, we know what we are
> missing).  But the N/S ratio is incredible -- I really don't
> need the regular extended  discussions of plug converters,
> nearby restaurants, SIM cards, laundry, nearby ATMs, and so on.

We’ve tried to decrease this by having a wiki for each meeting so that
these matters can be addressed there, some by staff, but much of it
by locals and experienced travelers.  So far, the use of the wiki
has been disappointing.  

https://www.ietf.org/registration/MeetingWiki/wiki/ietf95

> 
> So, for the future, if we are really going to do this remote
> participant registration thing, it would be nice if someone
> would really take responsibility for thinking through all of the
> implications and take action on them.

We are going to do this remote participation thing  and 
welcome all suggestions to making it a better experience for 
all - remotees,local attendees, WG Chairs, etc.

> 
> To all who are in Buenos Aires, best wishes for a successful
> meeting.  And to all who are participating remotely, let's hope
> that these difficulties with registration are the last problems
> of the week and that everything else --the actual feeds and
> connections-- will go really smoothly.

Amen.

Best
Ray
> 
>    john
>