Differences between WG and non-WG mailing lists

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David Kessens <david.kessens@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On Sat, Oct 21, 2006 at 07:14:41PM -0400, John Leslie wrote:
>> Ned Freed <ned.freed@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>> [David's DICUSS stated:]
>>>
>>>> It is haphazardous at best to rescind one control mechanism and to
>>>> replace it with one that leaves non working group mail management
>>>> completely out in the dark, especially considering that we have had
>>>> most problems recently on non working group mailing lists and that
>>>> the only PR actions that were taken were specifically used to deal
>>>> with issues on non working group lists.
>> 
>> This, IMHO, is David's strongest point. But I believe we have to,
>> first, get RFC 3683 out of the way, and second, look at why we've
>> found ourselves discussing P-R actions when possibly honest
>> differences of opinion arise (by which I mean only that Dean Anderson
>> and JFC Morfin appeared to honestly believe what they were saying).
> 
> So what do people do who manage non-working group IETF lists in the
> mean time ?
> 
>> I don't believe we _know_ the right apprach for non-WG lists. I
>> strongly support trying the geometrically-increasing suspensions
>> being tried on <ietf@xxxxxxxx>
>> 
>> We need experience with such ideas before we can claim to have a
>> solution for non-WG lists. We should not hold up Brian's proposal in
>> search of a perfection which may be beyond our reach.
> 
> Is there any particular reason why you believe that problem is really
> so different from working group lists ?

   There are several.

   First: We have a better understanding of the problems on WG lists.
They generally cover a narrow enough focus that it's pretty clear who's
working towards consensus and whose beating a dead horse.

   Second: there's an immediacy about the tasks. The WG has charter
deadlines and must sometimes give ideas less discussion time than they
otherwise might deserve.

   Third: There are built-in checks against ignoring important input.
The output of a WG must go to last-call, at which point the ideas of
anyone who has been silenced _will_ be given attention. If those ideas
have merit, the process will be delayed, if not actually sent back for
rework.

   Non-WG lists, OTOH, cover a much wider range. Some of them are small
enough that "Please don't feed the troll" always works. Some of them
are already "by invitation only". Others, like <ietf@xxxxxxxx>, exist
as a catch-all to cover issues not dealt with elsewhere: such lists
_need_ to draw out discussions (like this) which seem like a waste of
time to most list participants.

   I'm not saying there are no problems on non-WG lists: just that
they're different enough that one size may not fit all -- and that we
should concentrate on fixing what we understand well.

--
John Leslie <john@xxxxxxx>

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