Barriers to consensus formation

[Keith Moore]

agree entirely. 

Keith

On Fri, 07 Mar 2003 07:58:24 -0500
John C Klensin <john-ietf at jck.com> wrote:

> 
> 	... one of the problems with the IETF process -- or any
> 	process that attempts to work through issues on an open
> 	mailing list -- is that it is possible to exclude all
> 	but the most dedicated participants by simply creating
> 	an overwhelming message volume.  When we do it to
> 	ourselves in the IETF, it is almost always inadvertent,
> 	but it still results in a consensus determined largely
> 	by the combination of those who stay in because they
> 	have axes to grind with those who have too much time on
> 	their hands (plus a few long-suffering co-chairs and
> 	editors).    It isn't a good way to make progress or to
> 	get answers that all of us can trust.
> 
> Extreme, and occasionally deliberate, versions of this in a WG 
> context tend to produce consensus by exhaustion -- people rant, 
> rave, and nit-pick until everyone else just drop out, leaving 
> those who initiated the tactic to claim consensus.  But forcing 
> most of the potential participants in a discussion out through 
> the accident of excessive volume can be equally destructive.