[TLS] Re: Notice of Moderation for Postings by D. J. Bernstein

[David Adrian <[e-mail]>]

I agree the behavior was disruptive, and I thank the chairs for moderating
it.

Given Dan's repeated moderations for the same disruptive behavior, and
previous behavior including but not limited to: singling out and harassing
a TLS chair on list for unrelated statements she made prior to chairing;
filing frivolous IESG complaints against myself and others when this
behavior was called out; brigading calls for adoption and WGLCs; accusing
an AD of being aligned with a perceived attempt to backdoor TLS; and
claiming myself and others are NSA plants on his blog, I believe the chairs
should permanently ban Dan from the list under RFC 9945, and that the IAB
or IESG should follow-on by banning Dan from all IETF mailing lists and
meetings.

-dadrian

On Fri, Apr 10, 2026 at 6:40 AM Nadim Kobeissi <[e-mail]>
wrote:

> Filippo, thank you for confirming that you were warned for your conduct
> towards Bernstein. This is actually very helpful.
>
> As for your Lobsters comment: I didn't cite it as a moderation request. I
> cited it because someone who publicly calls a colleague "a declining
> scientist that has not made anything relevant for more than 10 years" and
> then writes to this list asking for stronger moderation of that same
> colleague should expect to have that contradiction noted. You say you'd
> welcome off-forum conduct being policed — I'd be careful what you wish for
> there, because between the two of you, only one has called the other a
> washed-up irrelevant figure in a public forum.
>
> I note that neither you nor the chairs have addressed the other examples I
> raised: Paul Wouters publicly calling me "malicious," his continued private
> emails to me after I asked him to stop, or Uri Blumenthal's mockery — all
> of which received no visible response from the chairs despite my public
> appeals.
>
> The question remains: what principle distinguishes who gets a warning from
> who gets formally moderated?
>
> Nadim Kobeissi
> Symbolic Software • https://symbolic.software
>
> On 10 Apr 2026, at 12:13 PM, Filippo Valsorda <[e-mail]>
> wrote:
>
> 2026-04-10 11:07 GMT+02:00 Nadim Kobeissi <[e-mail]>:
>
> When I publicly complained that the former AD, Paul Wouters, *would not
> cease privately emailing me despite my repeated explicit requests that he
> stop, conduct which could reasonably be qualified as harassment*, [...]
>
> [...] Here’s what Filippo himself had previously written about Bernstein:
>
> “He's just a declining scientist that has not made anything relevant for
> more than 10 years, and wants to slow down the deployment of designs that
> are bound to replace his own. It would be sad if it weren't so corrosive.”
>
>
> That is a poorly excerpted passage of a Lobsters comment from 5 months ago
> <https://lobste.rs/s/ngjqsm/nsa_ietf_can_attacker_simply_purchase#c_m1kdmv>,
> which I still believe was fair and appropriate to the forum's moderation
> and discourse standards.
>
> You seem to be suggesting IETF moderation based on off-forum statements,
> which I might even agree with in principle, since I am sure this whole
> thread would not be happening if that was enforced. (Emphasis in quote
> mine.) Unfortunately, that doesn't work well in practice, not last because
> moderators don't have time to collect little dossiers of Lobsters links.
>
> [...] Was Filippo warned for his conduct towards Bernstein?
>
>
> About the laughing email, yes. I knew I would be.
>
> On 10 Apr 2026, at 4:15 AM, Filippo Valsorda <[e-mail]>
> wrote:
>
> As loath as I am to touch this thread, I would like to thank the chairs
> and express my support for their thankless moderation work, lest my silence
> be interpreted otherwise.
>
> Indeed, a diversity of point of views is important, and I heard of many
> people who avoid or left this WG or the IETF because of the antics of a few
> prolific posters, and in particular due to the often directed and personal
> attacks of Bernstein. Many of them from corners of the Internet or with
> voices and backgrounds that were already shamefully underrepresented.
>
> I have on the other hand no worries that the point of view of confident,
> contrarian, and prolix men like Bernstein or myself will continue to be
> fairly represented.
> _______________________________________________
> TLS mailing list -- [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe send an email to [e-mail]
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> TLS mailing list -- [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe send an email to [e-mail]
>