what are the real problems

[Margaret Wasserman]

At 11:57 AM 5/22/2003 +0200, Wijnen, Bert (Bert) wrote:
>I don't think that "let's grow a neat thing" and "let a 1000 flowers bloom"
>are the same thing, are they?

IMO, these aren't the same thing at all...

The Postel quote that Randy sent talks about figuring out a
"consistent path through the space" vs. "filling the rest of
the space with every alternative approach".  This resonates
with me.

We shouldn't be hesitant to undertake new work in new
spaces.  In those cases, we should try, as a community,
to find a consistent path through the new space.  There
may be no single true path, but we should try to find a
consistent path that meets the requirements of practicality
and simplicity.  In some cases, this may require exploring
more than one path, and eventually choosing the one that
works.

But, we should try to avoid activity that could be considered
"filling the rest of the space".

Of course, it isn't always easy to tell these things apart,
which is why we pay the IESG the big bucks. :-)

Margaret



It's not al