Controlling the IETF -- Engineers vs. Marketeers and Politeers

[Melinda Shore]

Speaking not as chair but as some other sort of entity, it
seems to me that marketroids, etc., are actually less of a
problem in practice than are people with narrow agendas, a
lack of consensus on what the IETF's job is, etc.  There are
people who have legitimate disagreements about what's "bad
for the internet," but there are also people who don't have
a clue about what's bad for the internet or, conversely, do
have a clue but don't care, or, for that matter, don't have
a clue and don't care.  I'd argue that these are the
tensions that are more likely to cause functional problems
and affect the overall quality of the organization's work.
I liked the description of that problem that John Klensin
posted several days ago.

Melinda