what are the real problems

[Dave Crocker]

Keith,

>> terminating credible efforts prematurely is silly.

KM> so is spreading ourselves too thin.

If the IETF ever gets serious about the question of spreading things too
thin, it will need to worry far more about 1) the scope of what is
legitimate to charter within the ietf, 2) the clarity, precision and
utility of working group charters, and 3) the timely progress of working
groups.

Competing efforts have a natural filter, called critical mass. If they
can't develop a critical mass of serious effort, they die of their own
accord. If they *can* develop competent effort, then it is essentially
hubris for IETF management to arbitrarily choose between competing
proposals.

For all of the times we have efforts to create competing proposals, most
die of their own lack of credible technical support. They do not need
arbitrary management 'help'. For the few that are serious, we do not
need to worry about the "drain" on IETF management.

d/
--
 Dave Crocker <mailto:dcrocker at brandenburg.com>
 Brandenburg InternetWorking <http://www.brandenburg.com>
 Sunnyvale, CA  USA <tel:+1.408.246.8253>, <fax:+1.866.358.5301>