Re: Welcoming newcomers

[Brian E Carpenter <brian at hursley.ibm.com>]

Bill,

This is an excellent illustration of why newcomers need to be mentored. 

   Brian

Bill Manning wrote:
> 
> % > Bill said:
> % >       a "winnowing" process is now in effect, making it harder, perhaps
> % >       much harder to allow individual contribution. If I was starting today,
> % >       I'd avoid the IETF as a venue.
> %
> % If we are projecting this image, it's a problem. But given the constant
> % increase in attendance, I doubt if it's really the case. Certainly in my
> % own WG we have some very active participants who weren't at all involved when
> % we started, and some of the early activists have moved on.
> %
> % If you think that good newcomers are not getting a fair hearing, recommend
> % them to the ADs as WG chairs. And mentor any newcomers that you happen to know.
> %
> %   Brian
> 
> I have reason to beleive that newcomers are NOT getting a fair hearing.
> Attached is a sanitized bit of email I received in the last week.
>         ------------------------------------
> 
> <        Just surfed the <WG> archive in response to the issues raised at
> <the IETF plenary. Are the recent posts representative of the standard mode
> <of discussion for the list?
> <
> <        I am trying to decide the extent to which I wish to become involved
> <in the <specific> area. So far I have had the area director hiss at me when I
> <stated my company name at the <WG> meeting and been told that certain
> <solutions could not exist because 'so many clever people have already
> <considered the problem'.
> 
> --
> --bill