Re: [IAB] New proposal/New SOW comment period

[Christian Huitema <[e-mail]>]

On 9/13/2019 7:44 AM, John C Klensin wrote:

> The difficulty, which several people tried to get a
> focus on (before IETF 105, at the plenary, and thereafter), was
> the question of whether the RSOC (and, to some extent, the IAB)
> understood (generally and consistent with community
> understanding) the role and function of the RFC Series, the
> relationship of the RSE to that function, the appropriate
> interpretation of "oversight", some important management and
> procurement differences between hiring and management of
> high-level professional and, procurement of easily-substitutable
> commodity items.

John,

The way you phrase it, there is an eminent understanding of the role and
function of the RFC series and the RSE that everybody should agree on,
and you suspect the IAB does not. That why you use the word "understood"
in the quoted text. I think that vocabulary presumes the outcome of the
ongoing discussion. For example, you and several others including Mike
and Brian hold it as obvious that "the RFC series is bigger than the
IETF". That was certainly true in 1981, but I am sure there are people
who don't believe that in 2019 -- and those people are indeed part of
"the community".

You may believe that you have a superior understanding, but the correct
phrasing would be "the question of whether the RSOC (and, to some
extent, the IAB) agrees with my understanding of the role and function
of the RFC Series".

-- Christian Huitema