Discussion Lists

Working Group Discussion Lists

Each IETF working group maintains a general discussion mailing list where most of its work is conducted. Mail on the working group mailing lists is expected to be technically relevant to the working groups supported by those lists.

Information on how to subscribe to an IETF working group mailing list, as well as the location of the mailing list archives, can be found on the Web page for that working group. Access to the Web pages for all active IETF working groups is available on the Active IETF Working Groups Web page (http://www.ietf.org/html.charters/wg-dir.html).

The archives for many working groups are housed at the IETF Secretariat. In those cases where the archives are housed elsewhere, the Secretariat attempts to maintain duplicate sets of text archives, with the messages for each working group stored in a separate subdirectory. The IETF Secretariat text archives are located at ftp://ftp.ietf.org/ietf-mail-archive/.

Several IETF Working Groups maintain http-based mailing list archives both at ietf.org and at other sites. Please visit Web-based Working Group E-mail Archives for a list of these.

IETF Discussion List (ietf@ietf.org)

The IETF discussion list serves two purposes. It furthers the development and specification of Internet technology through discussion of technical issues, and it hosts discussions of IETF direction, policy, and procedures. As this is the most general IETF mailing list, considerable latitude is allowed with respect to topics discussed. Advertising, whether to solicit business or to promote employment opportunities, falls well outside the range of acceptable topics, as do discussions of a personal nature.

The IETF discussion list is meant for initial discussion only. Discussions that fall within the area of any working group list (or other well established list) should be moved to that more specific list as soon as this is pointed out, unless the issue is one for which the working group needs wider input or direction.

In addition to the topics noted above, appropriate postings include:

Email archives for the IETF discussion list are accessible via the Web at:

The text archives for the mailing list are located at the following URL:

To subscribe or unsubscribe to the IETF discussion list via the Web, visit the following link:

To join the IETF discussion list via email, send a request to: ietf-request@ietf.org and enter the word subscribe in the Subject line of the message and in the message body.

To unsubscribe from the list, send a request as described above but containing unsubscribe in the Subject line and message body.

Please do not attempt to subscribe or unsubscribe by sending mail directly to the list. Doing so will not result in the desired action but will irritate thousands of list subscribers.

Inappropriate Postings to Discussion Lists

Inappropriate postings to discussion lists include:

The IETF Chair, the IETF Executive Director, or a sergeant-at-arms appointed by the Chair is empowered to restrict posting by a person or of a thread as they deem appropriate to limit abuse. Complaints regarding their decisions should be referred to the IAB.

NOTE: The IETF discussion list is performing spam control according to the guidelines given in the IESG guidelines on spam control. If you have problems posting to the list, then please send a message to the IETF Technical Support Team.


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