Re: In Memoriam IETF web page

[Eliot Lear <lear@xxxxxxxxx>]

Henning,

I like what you are suggesting, but let me add two things:

• The ITU does something interesting for notable individuals, which is that they offer a space on a web page to collect condolences.  Such a virtual book could be then presented to the family, to mark the important contributions an individual made.  Often times family members have no concept of just how important a person has been to their profession, nor how many friends that person REALLY had.
• On the other side of the coin, I do wish we'd do a better job celebrating the achievements of those in our community who are ALIVE.

As Dave might say, these two points are not mutually exclusive.

Eliot

On 10/22/12 4:52 PM, Henning Schulzrinne wrote:

It is quite common for technical societies (and, I assume, other professional associations) to note the passing of their members and contributors to their field. For many, the IETF is the closest thing they have to such a society and it is a key part of their professional and sometimes personal life.

We sometimes seem to worry too much about scaling problems that never actually occur; the discussion here seems to reflect one of them. I doubt that we'll be inundated with grieving relatives of one-time IETF attendees or IETF list subscribers who want their loved ones to be put on a web page.

If we want to keep this in the spirit of long-established (newspaper) traditions rather than a web page, we could use the IETF Journal for recording the passing of members of the community.

I also think that a longer list serves as a useful reminder that while we all are indebted to the pioneers, the Internet was built by a much larger number of people over the years, just like most human institutions.

As the first generation of contributors reaches zero on their time-to-live counter, this seems like the humane and professional thing to do, whatever precise form it takes.

Henning

On Oct 22, 2012, at 9:26 AM, Pelletier Ray wrote:

On Oct 21, 2012, at 4:59 PM, Randy Bush wrote:

i started the thread on nanog.  i am not sure abha or jon would want to
be on such a list.  remember them and honor and carry on their work,
don't memorialize them.

With all respect, it is not just about the person, it is about their work, its importance, the history of this Internet and providing role models to others.

Ray

randy