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Re: Please welcome the facilitators at ietf@ietf.org

Brian E Carpenter <brian.e.carpenter@gmail.com> Wed, 09 November 2016 22:53 UTC

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Subject: Re: Please welcome the facilitators at ietf@ietf.org
To: Melinda Shore <melinda.shore@gmail.com>, ietf@ietf.org
References: <29F4A6D4-AD5B-4409-9EDA-D8761DE243CE@ietf.org> <6.2.5.6.2.20161109103948.0b6fe0e0@resistor.net> <d331dca8-6ebb-5545-9f7f-7b9e272b49c4@gmail.com>
From: Brian E Carpenter <brian.e.carpenter@gmail.com>
Organization: University of Auckland
Message-ID: <6f968672-fc4f-1372-d4bb-eeeb4131fef0@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2016 11:53:35 +1300
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On 10/11/2016 08:24, Melinda Shore wrote:
> On 11/9/16 10:16 AM, S Moonesamy wrote:
>> Could you please send some feedback about whether it is useful to have
>> Facilitators for ietf@ietf.org?
> 
> The experiment appears to have had minimal impact.  It's perhaps
> most helpful to consider the role of the facilitators during the
> lengthy and occasionally acrimonious Singapore discussion, where
> facilitation was unhelpful.

Which I don't think is intended as criticism of the facilitators, but
rather of ... human nature?

I would say that the notion of a truly opinion-neutral facilitator will
not work in most cases, especially during a debate on a divisive topic.
People who are being non-constructive, repetitious or off topic aren't
likely to take much notice of neutral messages or to calm down as a
result. I think it's only more Chair-like interventions (summarise opinions
and suggest a possible way forward) that will work in such cases.

The facilitator approach may work in less contentious cases (such as the
IPv10 thing that floated past a few days ago). But for those cases, back-channel
communication is often better.

   Brian

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