Re: Names on blue sheets

[Mark Andrews <[e-mail]>]

Blue sheets serve multiple purposes.  Room sizing is just one of them.  Intellectual property issues is another part of their use.

It is my understanding that the blue sheets have been subpoenaed in the past to determine who was present in the room.

-- 

Mark Andrews

On 16 Apr 2025, at 07:06, George Michaelson <[e-mail]> wrote:



Purely as a point of information for a very long time we were told blue sheets were for room sizing and no one cared about the name.

Meetecho logins manage queues and would provide a record of participation as a similar quality in my personal opinion.

We also historically had complaints with people taking photos of blue sheets.

I can't speak to current motivations or practice.

Cheers

George (in a personal capacity)

On Wed, 16 Apr 2025, 6:38 am S Moonesamy, <[e-mail]> wrote:

Hi Rob,
At 11:40 AM 15-04-2025, Rob Sayre wrote:
>I noticed some extremely brief names on the blue sheets from IETF
>122. That led me to question what purpose these forms serve. I asked
>a bit, and was told it was a matter for the LLC. I don't know where
>to ask, so it's here.
>
>I'll use my own name as an example. What is OK on a blue sheet?
>
>Robert F. Sayre
>Robert Sayre
>Rob Sayre
>Rob S <--- I saw these
>RS
>R
>Rob da MC
>...
>
>If we allow all of these, what is the point?

The rule is that the Chair and/or Secretary must ensure that minutes
of a session are taken and that an attendance list is
circulated.  The attendance list used to be referred to as "blue
sheets" because of the color of the sheets of paper.  It is viewed as
good practice in other venues to have a list of persons who attended
a meeting.  It may be the same for meetings held within the context
of the "standards process".

The practice at IETF meetings was to disclose name and
affiliation.  I assume that it was about openness (BCP 9).  The
affiliation part could be about not having to formalize "balance".

I noticed that some attendees did not disclose name or
affiliation.  A meeting would not look like a serious activity if the
information in attendance list is opaque.  There may have been some
assumption which led to the practice of disclosing name and
affiliation, i.e. there was no need to write a "best current
practice" to explain to an attendee how to write his/her name.

Regards,
S. Moonesamy