Hi Carlos. On Nov 16, 2012, at 3:25 PM, Carlos M. Martinez wrote: > Hello, > > On 11/16/12 1:27 AM, John Levine wrote: >>> Shall we move on? >> >> Sure. Since we agree that there is no way to pay for the extra costs >> involved in meeting in places where there are insignificant numbers of >> IETF participants, it won't happen, and we're done. >> > > I don't remember when I agreed with that. In fact I believe quite the > opposite holds. If there was a will there would be ways. However, what I > read here is a lot of refusal, denial and roadblocking. There may be ways. But what you are suggesting requires more money. The way the IETF is run now, it's a very frugal organization. Read the budget slides from any meeting, those numbers are small when compared with many of the organizations that participants come from. One of the great aspects of the IETF's openness is that anyone can participate for the cost of an Internet connection (I had my first RFC published before ever attending a meeting), and for a relatively small amount (when compared to other bodies) they can also attend meetings. This makes it possible for small companies and even individual consultants to attend, participate, and even chair working groups. We even have some people who are salaried employees, but for whatever reasons, their companies are not interested in funding them, and they pay their own way. With increased meeting fees and/or travel budget this goes away, and the IETF becomes the domain of large companies and governments. At least the meetings. > I can't speak for other regions, but from ours, there are at least four > organizations which manage significant budgets, have been in the > conference organization business for more than 10 years, and which would > be very interested in having an IETF in Latin America. Then they should propose to host a meeting. I don't think the IAOC would deny them. There is the question or airfare and flight availability, but as long as the meeting is at or near a big enough hub, such as Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, or Sao Paolo, the IETF is not exactly choosy. > Moving the IETF forward will involve reaching out to other peoples, > other regions, and yes, travel farther away once in a while. I also > understand that we need to do our part in terms of fostering and > increasing the contribution of our region. I said this in an earlier > email and I stand by it. Yes, there are people the IETF should reach out to, people who are missing from our meetings and our mailing lists. But I don't think that group is defined geographically. There are segments of our industry that are not represented or not represented enough in the IETF, like web developers and big website operators. We need some of those, regardless of where in the world they live. Yoav