appeal mechanisms was Re: Ombuds-process

Theodore Ts'o tytso at mit.edu
Tue Jul 1 03:59:32 CEST 2003


On Tue, Jul 01, 2003 at 12:21:27AM -0400, Keith Moore wrote:
> ] I would really be interested in an analysis of the number of appeals  that
> ] have been brought forth in last years, the number of successful ones and the
> ] reasons formally given for the unsuccessful ones.
> 
> From the appeals I've seen, I suspect such statistics would be
> meaningless.  You need to evaluate the appeals on their merits.
> Keep in mind that appeals are disproportionally often (not always)
> raised by individuals who are unable to gain any significant support
> for their views, whether because of their social ineptitude,
> inability to express themselves clearly, inability to think clearly,
> or their inability to understand the technical issues.  Of course
> the appeals must be evaluated on their merits (difficult though they
> may be to understand) regardless of who is raising them.  But it's
> not reasonable to presume that a significant percentage of appeals
> are valid.

I need to second this, strongly.  Just because people are complaining
doesn't mean that their complaints are valid.  There *are* crackpots
that attempt to participate in the IETF process, and while it will
take a value judgement to decide whether their complaints are real, or
are the products of a diseased mind, it is critical that we do so.

If we make a process which is overly solicitous to all who complain,
the net result may be far worse than if a few marginal complaints are
not taken seriously because the author of the complaints happens to be
incapable of expressing himself properly.

						- Ted


More information about the Problem-statement mailing list