On 4/20/21 10:26 PM, Brian E Carpenter wrote:
Every WG Chair, especially for a WG that has tight focus on a specific goal, meets the problem of potentially off-charter discussions that potentially hamper progress.
This is an often repeated refrain, but I question its actual impact. People reply to things because they have an opinion and are interested enough in the subject to make time for it. Posing this as a zero sum game is a fallacy: if they aren't interested enough at the business at hand they simply won't reply at all. At some point things become noise, but a few messages back and forth is hardly that point. In fact, slightly off topic posts can bring useful insight to working groups, and can be extremely useful for outsiders to understand what is going on. I know of no other way to get that understanding other than simply asking on the working group list. Do you?
That and to be told by a working group chair *in their capacity* to go away (and away to where? no answer) is dysfunctional, and sends a clear message that interlopers will not be tolerated.
Mike
