Yes, there are often cases where experience and proven judgment matter
tremendously, but in this case the question was resolved _more_ simply by a
factual response, even without taking into account the original proposer's
experience level.
Scott
On Tuesday, February 25, 2014, <ned+ietf(_at_)mauve(_dot_)mrochek(_dot_)com>
wrote:
I find myself compelled to agree with both Noel and Kent here. The
question may
have been posed offensively - I take no position on that - but in matters
like this past experience is hugely relevant.
Like it or not, not every issue that comes up can be decided on the basis
of
crisp technical arguments. (In fact it really seems to me that are less
able to decide things purely on technical merit as time goes on.)
And it's not just internal IETF matters at issue here: If, say, someone
makes a
statement about the probable impact of some technical choice on the future
deployment of a protocol, people have every right to know if that
statement is
based on past deployment experience or is nothing but guesswork.
And yes, this puts newcomers at something of a disadvantage because of
their
lack of experience. And also note that when such questions are asked, the
answers can be disconcerting. You don't know what experience someone has
until
you ask, and sometimes you find they have substantive experience that makes
them the expert, not you.
Ned
+1
> ...
You mean, it's rude to ask what someone's experience is?
If so, that's odd: I myself found it 'bloody rude' (well, actually, I'd
use a
slightly different term, but hey...) for someone to make suggestions on
how
to improve our meeting process when they have really no experience of
it.
Noel