Re: [wg-c] wg-c list management

[Dave Crocker <dcrocker@brandenburg.com>]

At 06:09 PM 4/13/00 -0400, Eric Brunner wrote:
>[a lurker responds that lurking is good for him/her, and otherwise innocuous]
>Your personal interests in list traffic can be met by using the archives.

Eric,

I'll dive in to agree with your concern about 'ballot stuffing' but 
strongly DISagree about lurkers.

The track record in the IETF is that lurkers are a very major benefit, in 
both directions.  The lurkers get to stay aware of an activity, for a very 
low "cost".  Archives require going to them; email just shows up.  That 
might sound like a small difference but it is not.

The benefit to the group is that a) a lurker can sometimes see an issue or 
a solution from a perspective that is otherwise missing; and b) working 
groups need to spiral outward through a spiral of community acceptance for 
their work.  Lurkers on the primary mailing list form a first-line of 
acceptance.

However, yes, we do have a problem on THIS list, and others involved in the 
DNS work.  In the IETF, there is a strong background for oversight and 
control of the process.  Misbehaviors are fewer, due to community 
pressure.  (Growth of the Internet has brought a growth in the noise 
factor, more that it has brought a growth in the signal factor. Sigh.)


>When the Intellectual Property Constituency decided to attack the process

A set of techniques has been employed to create distraction and 
delay.  Most of these efforts have been highly effective.  (Take a look at 
the amount of time the working group has existed and compare it against the 
output of the group.)

There are 3 things needed to fix that:

         1.  Clear sense of agenda, with the agenda having clear, meaningful
         and reasonable deliverables and dates

         2.  Agreement and persistence by primary contributors to stick to
         the agenda

         3.  (very) Firm enforcement of the agenda by working group management

         4.  Support for that working group management by upper management of
         the organization.

This working group has the benefit of NONE of these, although there is some 
progress.

It needs more.

d/

=-=-=-=-=
Dave Crocker  <dcrocker@brandenburg.com>
Brandenburg Consulting  <www.brandenburg.com>
Tel: +1.408.246.8253,  Fax: +1.408.273.6464
675 Spruce Drive,  Sunnyvale, CA 94086 USA