Re: The IETF process

Shel writes:
>Marc Hedlund writes:
> > I am sympathetic to Shel's concerns and (since I say such foolish things
>                                                             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>Hey!

:) I certainly didn't mean that I found your notes foolish, Shel -- in
fact, I was wondering where you'd gone.

> > That does _not_ mean, to my mind, that an idea must be formulated,
> > specified, and tested before it is discussed on this list.
>
>But it does mean that after the discussion, nothing happens without an
>implementation, and there has often been no clear link from the
>group's discussions (which often terminate without a consensus or
>decision anyway) to follow-on implementations.
[...]
>Without clear closure followed by a request that someone volunteer to
>do a test implementation there is a real limit to progress.

Yes, I agree with this, and I think Roy's note agress with this, too.  (All
in favor of consensus, say "aye.")  That is what I meant about "getting
down to brass tacks."  As I said, I think the best thing anyone can do to
encourage an implementation is write a draft specification.  Give the
programmer something to work with.

>There is also the minor
>matter that it is work to do implementations, and nobody can be
>expected to volunteer to do that work.

Well.....isn't Roy volunteering to write the spec, and aren't we all
volunteering to participate?  I think this process explicitly disagrees
with that statement.  If it's a good idea and some programmer somewhere can
be convinced of its importance, the chances are there.  No one can be
expected to volunteer an implementation of an idea they don't like, but I
see that as less of a barrier to progress -- if no one likes it, consensus
is lacking and it won't make it into the spec anyway.

Regards,
Marc Hedlund <hedlund@best.com>

Received on Tuesday, 26 September 1995 13:59:16 UTC