On Fri, Aug 14, 2020, at 16:00, Nadim Kobeissi wrote:
Some may wonder whether I have anything constructive to say regarding how to manage terminology going forward. Here’s a suggestion:After consultations with the IETF’s governing bodies and obtaining with them a consensus, the IESG could send a statement proposing a list of *voluntary, optional suggestions* for the authors of future RFCs to avoid the usage of certain words, including a list of those words. Each word should be accompanied by a short explanation for its inclusion in the list, and citations justifying that explanation, preferably from competent civil or academic bodies.The IESG should stress both at the beginning and end of the statement that this is all *completely voluntary and optional*, and that measures would be taken to ensure that RFCs and IETF members are not treated differently should they decide to follow or not follow the suggestions made in this statement. Those are just my two cents on how to best move forward on this.
I have started work on a draft which is almost precisely what you suggest here.
I also have a suggestion which I would like to offer to everybody involved in this discussion which is to take a pause of one week - chat privately with others, but don't post publicly about this topic and give it time to settle and for the heat to go out. Obviously, not everyone will take that advice, so there's a degree of self control required not to take the bait and dive back in!
I also suggest that when we come back in a week that we all try to think about what we might be able to find consensus on rather than attacking the worst possible interpretation of others' positions and heating the discussion back up.
I believe there is a willingness within the IETF to avoid using words which distract readers from our technical purpose by distracting them with external politics - and I'm working on finding wording to encode that into a draft which is respectful to everyone's views and doesn't try to push any particular ideology, but acknowledges that different communities will be distracted by different words. To use a car anology: https://www..carthrottle.com/post/49rx9gg/
Regards,
Bron.
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Bron Gondwana, CEO, Fastmail Pty Ltd
brong@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
