I share many of John's concerns, notably that there are parts of the statement that read like an expansion, if not an exegesis, of RFC 2418, and an IESG statement is not the way to do that. The statement also needed more editing. Start with the title, "Guidance on Interim Meetings" would be better. More importantly, re-read the paragraph that starts "Interim meetings of any type are integral..." and ends with "should occasionally meet during regular IETF meetings." Is an interim-only WG that never meets at the regular meetings acceptable to this IESG? I highly doubt it would be acceptable to the larger IETF community, but without community involvement in this statement or 2418bis, we'll never know. The IESG should withdraw this statement pending community feedback.
