On 2/25/14 10:09 AM, ned+ietf(_at_)mauve(_dot_)mrochek(_dot_)com wrote:
Again, I take no position on whether or not the question was asked in an
offensive fashion or not. But the way I would prefer to conduct our business
is
that substance trumps form. And to my mind the underlying question *was*
relevant.
I thought that there was a non-negligible possibility that the
intent was to be disruptive (mission accomplished). Given the
size of the mailing list and the number of IETF participants it's
not very likely that every single person will just let it go.
To be honest I have no idea how to deal with intent here and
tend to think the fairest thing is to not deal with it to the
extent possible (can't always ignore it [for example, the descent
of EFF members on the IETF during the TLS authz discussions],
but I think you usually can). I thought Lloyd should have
ignored it but he didn't, and it seems pretty clear to me
that if someone does care about intent, context and history
matter a very great deal.
Melinda