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[wg-d] Draft Version 3



How's this?  (Note change to subsection (b))  Bill, does the inclusion of 
this sentence and the statement that a "clear statement" is required 
capture your concern?
 
    -- Bret


>-----------------------------------------------<

To:	Names Council of the Domain Name Supporting Organization

From:	Co-Chairs of Working Group D

Re:	Interim Measures

Date:	Tuesday, September 14, 1999

On Thursday, August 24th, 1999, the Names Council of the DNSO adopted a 
resolution requesting that Working Group D come to an interim solution 
for Working Group C. Working Group D began undertaking this request 
shortly after the resolution was passed.

>     Background and Summary of Discussion:

Discussion began with whether the NC had the authority to request WG-D to 
come to an interim solution for Working Group C. Views differed, but 
overall agreement was that the NC requested this, and it was within the 
responsibility of WG-D regarding process issues. Whether interim or 
permanent, process issues did fall within the scope of responsibility of 
the Working Group.

After conclusion of this discussion, there were several lines of 
dialogue. There were two posts suggesting that WG-C should cease work 
until WG-D can complete its report, but a majority of the posts suggested 
that WG-C should continue working, though trying something new to move 
its work ahead. As for what the "something new" should be, a number of 
posts have suggested asking the members of WG-C to summarize their work 
into written position statements, both as a means to share the positions 
with the larger Internet community and as an exercise to focus the 
group's thinking.

As to what should become of these statements, there seems to be some 
consensus that there will be a public comment period, and perhaps the 
opportunity to revise or compromise the statements. There has also been a 
suggestion that these position statements may actually represent the 
final work product of WG-C. It was reiterated that WG-C should not be 
closed down, and it was emphasized that its work should be completed. 

The Recommendations WG-D forwards are as an interim solution to help the 
process move forward. These recommendations include two main procedural 
points: 1) determining the current situation and identifying current 
areas of disagreement; and 2) encouraging greater participation by 
attempting to limit the amount of postings to the list-serve per day to 
ensure all interested parties can participate.

>     Working Group D recommendation:

Working Group D recommends that the NC ask the working group to:

1)  prepare -as the interim output of the WG- a report with all the 
different views that have been presented in the discussions. In preparing 
a position statement, WG-D believes that the following elements might be 
helpful in allowing members of a WG, members of the GA, and the general 
public to assess the viability of a given position:

 (a) 	an abstract of the proposal, providing a summary of the group's 
position and recommendations;

 (b)	a clear statement of what is being proposed and its underlying 
rationale;

 (c)	an analysis of who and what systems might be impacted by the 
proposal; 

 (d)	the specific steps that would be necessary to take to implement the 
proposal; 

 (e)	the costs and risks, if any, of implementing the proposal and how 
they would be be borne; 

 (f)	a statement of which stakeholders have been consulted about the 
proposal and what support the proposal has in the various stakeholder 
communities.

Groups drafting "position statements" should be free, however, to publish 
statements in whatever form they see fit.

WG-D encourages WG-C to allow groups submitting interim "position 
statements" to revise and/or compromise them after each group has read 
the others' reports. 

WG-D also encourages WG-C to publish the position statements for a period 
of public comment, specifically seeking comments not only on the 
substance of the positions but also on the "impact" issues identified in 
(c) and (e) above.

WG-D believes that these steps will serve to clarify each group's 
respective position, highlight areas of agreement and disagreement, 
uncover areas of technical or economic impracticality, and discern the 
public support for the various positions. 

After these steps are taken, WG-D should have completed its final report 
on what a WG Report and Recommendation should look like. The members of 
WG-D expect that the work detailed above will be incorporated, in some 
form, into the WG's final Report and Recommendation.

2)  Seek to encourage participation by all interested parties by either 
moving to a moderated list and/or seeking to limit the list members' 
posts per day (say, to two).  This could have two beneficial effects.  
First, it would cut down on the volume, and allow people to participate 
in WG-C without having it take over their lives. Second, list members 
faced with this limitation might take care to make their two posts per 
day count - leaving unimportant or tangential things unsaid, and 
concentrating on making substantive comments on the main issues before 
the group. 

Such a moderated or post limited list, however, would require an 
additional, perhaps significant, daily time commitment from either the 
current Chairs or a new list moderator. The leadership of WG-C should 
consider this aspect before deciding whether to adopt it.

>      Conclusion: 

Working Group D recommends that WG-C makes sure that all interested 
parties really taking part.  Either the co-chairs of the WG need to make 
sure to have input from all, or that the representatives involved are 
working with their constituencies. In order to be sure not to discourage 
participation, the environment must encourage meaningful participation. 
Mechanisms of controling amount of traffic on WG-C list, and providing 
interim report on positions and differing views will allow the WG-to 
determine where they may be close to compromise, and where they may not.

Working Group D believes that WG-C can reach possible compromise. 

WG-C, as currently constituted, with its current leadership, is in a 
position to find compromise, consensus solutions to at least part of the 
problem if left to find its own way. The recommendations by WG-D are 
intended to move this process forward, and ensure ability for all 
interested parties to participate.

Co-Chairs of Working Group D Bret Fausett and Theresa Swinehart