Andrew,
( Not speaking as the Nomcom Chair )
I suspect there will be many opinions on this, however I will share mine in this particular case.
(1). I think within the IETF, we have, in general, had the "hat on" and "hat off" posture in many interactions with various folks in various circumstances. I don't doubt that sometimes it may be particularly hard to not wear "a hat", but I think as someone who has participated with both a "hat on" and "hat off" posture, I think it can be done. I think the more senior someone is, the more they need to take care that the "hat off" is really a "hat off" (I don't think it's an insurmountable obstacle).
(2). You have a long history with the IETF as a contributor, Working Group Chair, IAB member and an IAOC member. I would be disheartened to see folks with all that organizational experience within the IETF unable to share thoughts as in individual based on a job that person may have at the moment (realizing that the ISOC President poses additional challenges).
(3). I think your circumstance, given your a history with your IETF engagement, before you were President of ISOC, creates some differentiation from past Presidents whom may not have shared that level of participation as a direct contributor within the IETF. Additionally, the rules and structure updates does make a large difference as well.
(4). I would like to see people with experience, and valuable input, to be able to share that input with the community in a respectful way as to help ensure we have the widest set of input (of which value can be gained). As long as folks do not abuse it, I don't see anything wrong. To add, if we have folks in leadership positions abusing participation rules or acting unethically, I suspect there is a different conversation to be had.
regards,
Victor K
On Thu, Jul 4, 2019 at 10:24 AM Andrew Sullivan <ajs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi Mike,
For the record, I'm not exactly sure which hat I'm wearing at the
moment, but this message does contain a reference to an Internet
Society policy.
On Thu, Jul 04, 2019 at 09:20:46AM -0400, Michael StJohns wrote:
>
> It's pretty hard to not take the above with a grain of salt. You're not just
> an ISOC employee, but the president and CEO and as such have a lot of sway
> over the funding ISOC provides to the IETF.
Ok. So, there are two possibilities:
1. I continue to participate as an individual sometimes, in which
case I make the above disclaimer. (See below for why.)
2. I don't participate as an individual.
Are you advocating (2)? I can see an argument for it, but it's not
entirely in keeping with the IETF traditions. (Of course, those
traditions are not timeless, and there might be good reasons to change
them.)
> I can't remember Lynn or Cathy making a "not speaking for" statement in the
> time they were in your job, but this is the third from you in last day or
> so.
It was one of the "new rules" we adopted for Internet Society staff.
I announced them in March:
https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/ietf/Ugu6O_5tCnNzTUmVzIuhNFKPzbE.
I'm not surprised that Lynn or Kathy didn't make such statements,
since they weren't operating under those rules.
Best regards,
A
--
Andrew Sullivan
ajs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
