Date: Fri, 01 Jul 2005 03:25:25 +0200
From: Brian E Carpenter <brc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Message-ID: <42C49B85.8050308@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
| As I said in the plenary in Minneapolis, my goal is for the IESG to be
| able to *steer*. Not to rule. Steering means finding the narrow line
| between too far to the left and too far to the right.
Also remember that the IESG, including the "steering" existed long before
the IESG got to approve almost anything. Steering relates to managing the
progress of the working groups, or that's where it came from. The IESG
is intended to drive (or steer) the working groups so that overall progress
is made.
| It also means
| being decisive, and it means listening to the community as a whole,
| not just to individuals who post a lot of mail.
That's true. But when there is a diversity of opinion, you cannot
assume that everyone who says nothing is agreeing with you. They're
just as likely agreeing with those opposed to you, but have nothing
new to add. In general it is best to assume that the split of those
who say nothing is generally the same as those who do comment. If
everyone (or almost everyone) who comments is in general agreement, it
is fair to assume that those who don't comment agree. If there's a
bit debate among a group of people, the reasonable conclusion is that
the same debate would exist among everyone else. If there's one or two
people opposed to many others, you can generally assume that most of those
who don't comment will agree with the majority who do.
| We'll discuss this in plenary at the next IETF.
That's fine. But do remember it is the mailing list(s) that make
the decisions, not the meetings.
Also remember that "no consensus" in an issue like this, really needs to
mean "no authority" - if you cannot get at least most of the community to
agree with the IESG position, then the IESG cannot just claim the
authority and say "there is no consensus that we should not have it".
kre
ps: while I am sure that you want to believe that you have general
community support, that isn't the way I see it - rather, most of the
support I've seen for the IESG position looks to be coming from current
or former IESG members, whereas the opposition looks to be from
everywhere, including former IESG/IAB members, and people who have
never been in a "management" role.
_______________________________________________
Ietf@xxxxxxxx
https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf