--On Monday, September 19, 2011 10:37 +0200 Roger Jørgensen <rogerj@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Have been alot of discussion and suggestion and problems but > nothing that made me understand why, what is the underlaying > cause. (it could be that I'm just slow, we shouldn't rule that > out :-) ) Roger, The problem is that, over time, the IAB and IETF Chair positions have become full time (or more) jobs. Not only does that require a huge time commitment, but the roles require a broader range of skills and interests than are typically present in members of the IETF community. That situation, in turn, has several nasty effects. As three examples: -- If there are conflicting priorities and demands on time, something is going to get less attention than it deserves. The right people to decide what is most important in a particular case are the IAB and IESG, not a six-year-old document that doesn't allow for individual cases. -- Unless we have started believing in kings --even kings who, once elected, serve more or less as long as they are willing before stepping down-- the IETF Chair should not be lots more important, nor should we assume he or she is inherently more skilled in any given matter, than a consensus conclusion of the IESG. The IAB Chair should be even less so. These people are given roles of leadership and responsibility, not someone anointed with infinite wisdom and time -- or even absolute knowledge of what is good for the IETF and the Internet -- at the time they assume those positions. -- The pool of plausible candidates for the positions is significantly reduced because, especially in difficult economic times, there aren't very many people who can find sufficient support for a long-term (nominally two years but four or more in practice) full time commitment plus a large expense account for a lot of travel, etc. Unless we want to be in a situation in which candidates for those positions are selected almost entirely on the basis of who has the resources, we had better be looking for ways to reduce the scope of the positions. While I think Olaf's current proposal is better in several ways --including the provision that enables the Chairs to participate as ex-officio members when they think it is appropriate, if you are interested in a more lengthy discussion of "basic cause", there is a more extended discussion of the issues (and largely the same core proposal) in the now-rather-old http://tools.ietf.org/id/draft-klensin-iaoc-member-00.txt john _______________________________________________ Ietf mailing list Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf