On 6/27/19 1:45 PM, Randy Bush wrote:
gedanken experiment: should the rse even be directly part of the ietf/iab/... process, or be much more independent, e.g. a la the iana?
IMO, it's worth conducting that experiment leaving out the "even" (and not implying an answer).
I frankly don't know what the answer is. I see now, and have seen for as long as I've been associated with IETF, some advantages in having the RSE be independent. But I also suspect that, in the long term, the more we fragment the I* community into different areas, supporting organizations, authorities, boards, and whatnot, the greater the tendency will be for those different groups to see different interests and, potentially, to work against one another in ways that are not constructive. This is, I believe, a natural human tendency.
The processes and fragmentation we have in place now date from a time when pretty much everyone involved in Internet standards development shared a large set of common goals. It's not clear that this is the case any longer. Really, the division was becoming apparent by the mid-to-late 1990s though there was (and still is) some inertia.
If nothing else, if this fragmentation is going to continue, I think we should be looking for ways for the various interests to contribute to, agree on, maintain/evolve, and promote a shared vision of the Internet. And also look for and maintain/evolve ways to resolve conflicts between different interests, with a minimum of disruption.
Regarding the RSE specifically, we have been extremely fortunate in the past and present to have excellent people filling those rather large shoes. But I wonder if we should expect such good fortune to continue.
Keith
