Re: RFC Series Editor Resignation

[Keith Moore <[e-mail]>]

On 6/27/19 1:45 PM, Randy Bush wrote:

> gedanken experiment: should the rse even be directly part of the
> ietf/iab/... process, or be much more independent, e.g. a la the iana?

IMO, it's worth conducting that experiment  leaving out the "even" (and 
not implying an answer).

I frankly don't know what the answer is.   I see now, and have seen for 
as long as I've been associated with IETF, some advantages in having the 
RSE be independent.   But I also suspect that, in the long term, the 
more we fragment the I* community into different areas, supporting 
organizations, authorities, boards, and whatnot, the greater the 
tendency will be for those different groups to see different interests 
and, potentially, to work against one another in ways that are not 
constructive.    This is, I believe, a natural human tendency.

The processes and fragmentation we have in place now date from a time 
when pretty much everyone involved in Internet standards development 
shared a large set of common goals.  It's not clear that this is the 
case any longer.   Really, the division was becoming apparent by the 
mid-to-late 1990s though there was (and still is) some inertia.

If nothing else, if this fragmentation is going to continue, I think we 
should be looking for ways for the various interests to contribute to, 
agree on, maintain/evolve, and promote a shared vision of the 
Internet.   And also look for and maintain/evolve ways to resolve 
conflicts between different interests, with a minimum of disruption.

Regarding the RSE specifically, we have been extremely fortunate in the 
past and present to have excellent people filling those rather large 
shoes.   But I wonder if we should expect such good fortune to continue.

Keith