In July, we had a discussion both on this list and at the plenary about this
list, moderation, discussion styles, tools, and participation in last call and
other discussions.
We need to continue thinking about the role of this list and other bigger
issues, but I plan to make one small action regarding the list discussions now:
adding facilitators. Or to be more exact, delegating some of the facilitation
role that I have to additional persons. Occasionally, discussions on the list
get heated, repetitive, or unnecessarily personal. When that happens, I have
found that quick responses on the list or to the persons often resolves the
situation, and productive discussion can continue. However, I am also finding
that it is difficult for me personally to stay on top the threads in real time,
and late reactions are not as useful. As a result, I plan to ask two persons to
help monitor the discussion and steer it towards the most useful avenues.
This is not a change with regards to roles of ADs/shepherds and last calls, or
a change to how we deal with disruptive or inappropriate postings, such as
PR-actions, sergeant-at-arms, or our spam tools. All those mechanisms will stay
in place. The facilitators will not be able to moderate or block posting from
anyone (except by reporting issues to the sergeant-at-arms, just like the rest
of us can).
Comments appreciated, as always.
Jari Arkko
IETF Chair