Folks,Given that this working group has an extraordinarily narrow focus and that it covers material that is extraordinarily mature and well-understood, I'd like to make a special plea that we each take every opportunity to avoid pursuing distracting lines of discussion.
In particular, I strongly urge folk to refrain from responding to postings they feel are clearly irrelevant, misguided, or otherwise sure to produce no constructive work with respect to the wg charter.
The view that anyone needs to issue a defensive posting, to counteract possible challenges that the wg was not sufficiently diligent, is often used for wasting wg bandwidth. Indeed, due diligence is a powerful concern that should be taken seriously. But it is often taken too far.
First, it ignores the affirmative denial of service damage done by serious amounts of such wastefulness. Second, I'm pretty sure there is no historical documentation to substantiate the validity of the belief that defensive posting is helpful. Third is that this wg, in particular, has such a narrow goal and such a solid participant base, that I find it hard to believe this particular effort, with this particular group, needs to be defensive...
If you doubt my 'First' point, take a look at the amount of traffic on the list for most of this week and ask what it accomplished that was useful...
d/ -- Dave Crocker Brandenburg InternetWorking bbiw.net
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