[TLS] Re: [iesg] Appeal Under RFC 9945 Section 4.1: Moderation of D. J. Bernstein During WG Last Call

[Eric Rescorla <[e-mail]>]

I'd like to take this opportunity to repeat my plea for people to stop
debating this moderation decision on the TLS list.

Andrew has already appealed this to the Area Director, which is the correct
next step. Continued debate by WG members is not part of that process and
just serves to clutter up the list while keeping the temperature high.

-Ekr


On Fri, Jul 3, 2026 at 1:29 PM Nathanael Ritz <[e-mail]> wrote:

> On Fri, 3 Jul 2026 at 13:21, Andrew Lee <[e-mail]> wrote:
>
>> Dear Nathanael,
>>
>> Thank you for doing this research. One participant asking permission to
>> quote Dr. Bernstein across years of tens upon thousands of mailing list
>> messages strongly suggests the footnote is not, in practice, creating the
>> disruption that opponents had hoped would justify moderation during a Last
>> Call or at all. Everyone else simply quoted him and moved on without
>> incident.
>>
>> Best,
>> Andrew
>>
>
> Andrew, I offered a concrete example that separates itself from
> unfalsifiable claims (such as, participants may or may not spend time
> *thinking* about how to interact with DJB) by providing demonstrable
> manifestation of such considerations. That's all. I did not mean to suggest
> it settles the discussion; I have already shared that I think there is
> value in considering the impact of moderation against a community time
> limit.
>
> I also don't know if DJB's practice of including his footnote as we've
> discussed has been ongoing for years, as you seem to suggest. If you wish
> to present a strongly convincing argument, I propose you conduct your own
> research and present concrete evidence that directly supports your
> statements. I suggest you closely evaluate the timeline yourself: examine
> the time between when Dr. Bernstein first applied his footnote (and why),
> the number of messages he has sent since he began the practice and when
> moderation for the practice first began (and why).
>
> As one example that you may choose from, if you find any evidence that the
> footnote has been present "across years of tens upon thousands of mailing
> list messages", with seemingly little impact (and why you believe that to
> be the case, based on your results), then I invite you to share it.
>
> Cheers,
> Nathanael
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