I think that misses the point. The WG sessions are where the issues are raised and the opinions and positions are stated. Offline over the food and drink in small groups is where the detailed discussion and finding of solutions to resolve those issues usually takes place. Such a phenomena is not unique to just IETF - its the nature of the beast. Andrew ----- Original Message ----- From: Keith Moore [mailto:moore@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Thursday, July 11, 2013 04:19 PM Central Standard Time To: ietf@xxxxxxxx <ietf@xxxxxxxx> Subject: Re: IETF registration fee? On 07/11/2013 04:50 PM, Brian E Carpenter wrote: > Douglas, > ... >>> Those traveling thousands of miles already confront many uncertainties. Those that elect to participate remotely should be afforded greater certainty of being able to participate when problems occur at local venues or with transportation. Increasing participation without the expense of the brick and mortar and travel should offer long term benefits and increased fairness. > How much would you be willing to pay for remote participation > (assuming it was of high quality)? Not much. Remote participation misses the whole point of IETF meetings. Sure, it's useful to be able to listen on WG sessions and make a comment or two. But the WG sessions generally aren't actually worth very much, especially the way that they tend to be run these days. The most important work gets done in the hallways and over food and drink. So IETF is in this very strange position of supporting itself by charging a large amount of money for an activity that's mostly peripheral to getting useful work done. Keith --------------------------------------------------------------------- This transmission (including any attachments) may contain confidential information, privileged material (including material protected by the solicitor-client or other applicable privileges), or constitute non-public information. Any use of this information by anyone other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you have received this transmission in error, please immediately reply to the sender and delete this information from your system. Use, dissemination, distribution, or reproduction of this transmission by unintended recipients is not authorized and may be unlawful.