On Nov 20, 2013, at 12:34 PM, Dave Crocker <dhc(_at_)dcrocker(_dot_)net> wrote:
Saying "aside from the time spent" essentially marginalizes the significant
effort of producing and publishing a write-up -- involving a range of
volunteers and IETF staff -- as if it were a free resource, which of course
it isn't.
IETF participant effort is not free, but neither is it fungible. So when
someone takes an interest and decides to work on something, it's not
necessarily taking away from work they would otherwise be doing. That said, I
agree that if it is taking away from that work, it may not be worth doing.
Bear in mind though that the explanatory doc could be a survey that is
submitted to the ISE, so it need not consume as much time as a standard with
working group and IETF consensus would.