Last calling draft-resnick-on-consensus

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The document talks about ways in which consensus processes can be successfully run in the IETF. After the last few rounds of versions, I believe this document is ready to move forward. 

My goal is to publish it as an Informational RFC. It is an explanation of principles and how they can be applied to productively move IETF discussions forward. While there is no change to IETF processes or any presumption that guidance from this document must be followed, I have found the document very useful. It has been referred to numerous times in IETF and IESG discussions. Consensus is hard and many WG discussions have complex trade-offs and differing opinions. I believe having this document become an RFC would help us apply the useful principles even more widely than we are doing today.  

The abstract says:

   The IETF has had a long tradition of doing its technical work through
   a consensus process, taking into account the different views among
   IETF participants and coming to (at least rough) consensus on
   technical matters.  In particular, the IETF is supposed not to be run
   by a "majority rule" philosophy.  This is why we engage in rituals
   like "humming" instead of voting.  However, more and more of our
   actions are now indistinguishable from voting, and quite often we are
   letting the majority win the day, without consideration of minority
   concerns.  This document is a collection of thoughts on what rough
   consensus is, how we have gotten away from it, and the things we can
   do in order to really achieve rough consensus.

      Note (to be removed before publication): This document is quite
      consciously being put forward as Informational.  It does not
      propose to change any IETF processes and is therefore not a BCP.
      It is simply a collection of principles, hopefully around which
      the IETF can come to (at least rough) consensus.

The draft can be obtained from http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-resnick-on-consensus

You should see a last call announcement soon, and both me and Pete look forward to your feedback.

Jari






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