Subject: [apps-discuss] discussion style and respect: please cool down

From: Jari Arkko <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2015 23:32:39 +0300

All,

I have been watching the Gopher threads here for a while, as well as
participating in other heated discussions in other working groups.

Please remember to cool down if discussions get heated. Take a pause before
using unnecessarily polarised words or emotional content, condescending
or combative discussion style, or dismissive of other people’s points of view.
The IETF code of conduct (RFC 7154) says: 

   The IETF strives … to create and maintain an environment in which every 
   person is treated with dignity, decency, and respect. People who participate
   in the IETF are expected to behave in a professional manner as we work
   together to develop interoperable technologies for the Internet.

This applies to all of us. And we all can fail occasionally, but we need to learn
from our mistakes. Maybe all of us can take a moment and review our
recent discussions and see what we could do to improve going forward.

There are many obvious reasons why we need to stay professional and
respectful in our discussions. We are an open organisation that should
be welcoming, open for new ideas and different viewpoints. We have
a lot of respected technologists and as such we need to set an example
not only for our technical excellence but our ability to discuss and
accommodate broad views. We also get many new proposals and
new people. Please keep an open mind to find out what really is
being suggested. And if you have a proposal that other people are
not interested in, please do not take that as anything more than it is,
i.e., people having different interests.

There is also the matter of efficiency: occasionally we see discussions
that deviate from the core topic, such as discussions that devolve into
a discussion of the discussion itself. This isn’t helping us get to a
reasonable conclusion. And a good discussion environment attracts
us to participate; negative environment pushes us away. Of course,
it is absolutely essential that we all are able to criticise proposals and
express concerns. Neutral tone works usually best: I prefer A over B
because … ” or "I believe there is a concern in C because …”

At any one time there are hundreds of questions in front of the IETF.
When we are polite, respectful, informative, and help each other
understand, we can get to conclusions faster. And more importantly,
to the right conclusions. I recommend following the usual process
for adopting new work. Once you have developed a reasonable
understanding of the work and gauged the level of interest in the
community, it is much easier to make a decision. I know the
chairs are doing it in this case. Lets go through that, but with
less heat.

Note that when looking at community interest, not everyone is
interested in everything, but you need at least a core group of
developers and some interest from others.

Thanks,

Jari Arkko, IETF Chair