Even in context is rude. Even when doing it is because of practical reasons and for the good use of the scarce meeting time, I think that is one of the reasons why the IETF is so intimidating for newcomers. Regards, as On 7/27/13 10:37 PM, Brian E Carpenter wrote: >> > It's not wrong. >> > >> > It's badly worded, possibly bordering on rudeness. It certainly lacks >> > context. And it probably doesn't apply to BOFs. But it's not wrong. > It reads rudely when taken out of context. But try reading the whole > paragraph in RFC 3184: > > IETF participants who attend Working Group meetings read the > relevant Internet-Drafts, RFCs, and e-mail archives beforehand, in > order to familiarize themselves with the technology under > discussion. This may represent a challenge for newcomers, as e- > mail archives can be difficult to locate and search, and it may > not be easy to trace the history of longstanding Working Group > debates. With that in mind, newcomers who attend Working Group > meetings are encouraged to observe and absorb whatever material > they can, but should not interfere with the ongoing process of the > group. Working Group meetings run on a very limited time > schedule, and are not intended for the education of individuals. > The work of the group will continue on the mailing list, and many > questions would be better expressed on the list in the months that > follow. > > Exactly. My experience back when I was a newcomer was that it was > easy enough to ask beginner's questions after the meeting, and obviously > wrong to do so during the session. This remains true years later, if I > drop into a WG that I'm not familiar with. > > Brian