Re: [tao-discuss] Progress on my suggested rewrite

[Brian E Carpenter <[e-mail]>]

Hi Jay,

I think the modular approach is the right one. I assume there will always be a single point of entry to the main list of contents.

Your goals for the language are right, IMHO. The Tao has moved on to some extent, but it has always reflected US contemporary culture of the late 20th century and we need something that remains informal but is also international without any cultural bias.

Maybe we should add a chapter like "Participating outside meetings", which will otherwise probably be hidden in "How the IETF Works". It's a key aspect of the IETF.

I haven't done a detailed review of your new text, but the sentence "Remote participation is a" seems to lack something...

On a general note, I'm still flummoxed, as I have been for many years, about how to present the sheer complexity of the IETF process. Maybe we can discuss this when you've drafted more text.

Regards
    Brian

On 14-Oct-22 00:16, Jay Daley wrote:
> As I mentioned in a previous message, I would like to see the Tao rewritten as a set of smaller documents that can be assembled into one when required.  Those documents would be something like:
> 
> - Introduction to the IETF
> - How the IETF Works
> - Participating in IETF Meetings
> - Structure and Governance of the IETF
> - Culture and Folklore of the IETF
> 
> I’ve now produced drafts of two of these:
> 
> 1. Introduction to the IETF  (shared before.)
> 	https://github.com/JayDaley/tao/blob/main/Introduction%20to%20the%20IETF.md
> 
> 2. Participating in IETF Meetings (new)
> 	https://github.com/JayDaley/tao/blob/main/Participating%20in%20IETF%20Meetings.md
> 
> In this second document, there are too many changes from section 3 of the Tao to list them all but they include:
> 
> * different structure
> * moving new participant info into a single block
> * added details of several agenda elements that were not covered
> * added details of onsite facilities that were not covered
> * removed out-of-date stuff such as corkboards, jabber, etc
> * added missing colour to the dots
> * trimmed the existing text to remove repetition and "remarks I find offputting" (I have no better way to explain it but see https://github.com/ietf/tao/issues/57 for an example).
> 
> My intent is to produce text that is friendlier, easier to learn from, more up to date and with a better signal/noise ratio.  I would love to hear if you think I’ve achieved that.
> 
> cheers
> Jay
>