ietf
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: Last calling draft-resnick-on-consensus

2013-10-10 11:29:28
Hi,

I think this is an excellent draft and have already sent a pointer of it to 
colleagues in other organizations as  stuff to consider.

And although it has been eons since I chaired anything in the IETF, it 
perfectly matches my recollection of what humming  and rough consensus was all 
about.


thanks

avri


On 6 Oct 2013, at 17:03, Jari Arkko wrote:

The document talks about ways in which consensus processes can be 
successfully run in the IETF. After the last few rounds of versions, I 
believe this document is ready to move forward. 

My goal is to publish it as an Informational RFC. It is an explanation of 
principles and how they can be applied to productively move IETF discussions 
forward. While there is no change to IETF processes or any presumption that 
guidance from this document must be followed, I have found the document very 
useful. It has been referred to numerous times in IETF and IESG discussions. 
Consensus is hard and many WG discussions have complex trade-offs and 
differing opinions. I believe having this document become an RFC would help 
us apply the useful principles even more widely than we are doing today.  

The abstract says:

  The IETF has had a long tradition of doing its technical work through
  a consensus process, taking into account the different views among
  IETF participants and coming to (at least rough) consensus on
  technical matters.  In particular, the IETF is supposed not to be run
  by a "majority rule" philosophy.  This is why we engage in rituals
  like "humming" instead of voting.  However, more and more of our
  actions are now indistinguishable from voting, and quite often we are
  letting the majority win the day, without consideration of minority
  concerns.  This document is a collection of thoughts on what rough
  consensus is, how we have gotten away from it, and the things we can
  do in order to really achieve rough consensus.

     Note (to be removed before publication): This document is quite
     consciously being put forward as Informational.  It does not
     propose to change any IETF processes and is therefore not a BCP.
     It is simply a collection of principles, hopefully around which
     the IETF can come to (at least rough) consensus.

The draft can be obtained from 
http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-resnick-on-consensus

You should see a last call announcement soon, and both me and Pete look 
forward to your feedback.

Jari