Re: NomCom 2020 Announcement of Selections

["Salz, Rich" <rsalz=40akamai.com@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 

• And - if the problem is that the nomcom selected without sufficient weight given to diversity, then considering a selection that would have made Rich appointed (that's the opposite of disappointed, right?) with the result is a reasonable request in response to Rich's stated disappointment.

 

I assume you’re making a joke about “the opposite”. But to be clear, if Nomcom picked me instead of Carl, the end result would have been the same, of course, and I would still be disappointed. One mitigating factor is that my questionnaire was public and I tried to show how diversity is an ongoing moral concern for me and people could bring it up if I did not follow through.  It’s possible that all other IETF Chair candidates feel the same, of course, and I’m not saying they don’t, just that we don’t know.

 

If I were picked, however, I’d be unlikely to say anything because I have to work closely with the rest of the slate, and starting off by saying “I’m disappointed this is who we have” would be stupid, for hopefully obvious reasons.

 

• Throwing our hands up and saying "it involves people, we can't talk about it" is way problematic if we intend to do more than wring our hands and cast generic aspersions of systemic sexism and racism at the IETF.

 

We can talk about it without commenting on specific people.  For example, having a very finely-tuned random number generator used to pick volunteers from a self-selected pool doesn’t change the fact that every picked volunteer will be self-selected. Having jobs that most people think require four years to be able to do correctly, means that people are unlikely to volunteer if they see an incumbent’s name on the list.