1)This scheme would put excessive power in the hands of the few: the
Chairs, who are appointed (indirectly) by the elite few who can pay
non-trivial sums of money to attend lots of IETF meetings, such sums
generally provided by large corporations with entrenched interests.
A fair number of us go to IETF meetings and pay partly or entirely out
of our own pockets. We stay in cheaper hotels or with relatives, but
we go. If the IETF process is important to you, you should also go.
If it's not that important to you, that's fine, too. But the category
"very important but not worth my spending any money" simply doesn't
exist.
Regards,
John Levine, johnl(_at_)taugh(_dot_)com, Taughannock Networks, Trumansburg NY
http://www.taugh.com