INTERNET-DRAFT S. Moonesamy, Ed.
Obsoletes: 3184 (if approved)
Intended Status: Best Current Practice
Expires: June 21, 2014 December 18, 2013
IETF Guidelines for Conduct
draft-moonesamy-ietf-conduct-3184bis-05
Abstract
This document provides a set of guidelines for personal interaction
in the Internet Engineering Task Force. The Guidelines recognize the
diversity of IETF participants, emphasize the value of mutual
respect, and stress the broad applicability of our work.
This document provides an updated version of the guidelines for
conduct originally published in RFC 3184.
Status of this Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that
other groups may also distribute working documents as
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and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
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The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at
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Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2013 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
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publication of this document. Please review these documents
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This document may contain material from IETF Documents or IETF
Contributions published or made publicly available before November
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Without obtaining an adequate license from the person(s) controlling
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outside the IETF Standards Process, and derivative works of it may
not be created outside the IETF Standards Process, except to format
it for publication as an RFC or to translate it into languages other
than English.
1. Introduction
The work of the IETF relies on cooperation among a diverse range of
people, ideas, and communication styles. The IETF strives, through
the guidelines for conduct, to create and maintain an environment in
which every person is treated with dignity, decency, and respect.
People who participate in the IETF are expected to behave in a
professional manner as we work together to develop interoperable
technologies for the Internet. We aim to abide by these guidelines
as we build consensus in person and through email discussions. If
conflicts arise they are resolved according to the procedures
outlined in RFC 2026 [RFC2026].
This document obsoletes RFC 3184 [RFC3184] and reclassifies it as
Historic.
2. Guidelines for Conduct
1. IETF participants extend respect and courtesy to their colleagues
at all times.
IETF participants come from diverse origins and backgrounds; there
can be different expectations or assumptions. Regardless of these
individual differences, participants treat their colleagues with
respect as persons especially when it is difficult to agree with
them; treat other participants as you would like to be treated.
English is the de facto language of the IETF. However, it is not
the native language of many IETF participants. All participants,
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particularly those with English as a first language, attempt to
accommodate the needs of other participants by communicating
clearly. When faced with English that is difficult to understand
IETF participants make a sincere effort to understand each other
and engage in conversation to clarify what was meant.
2. IETF participants have impersonal discussions.
We dispute ideas by using reasoned argument rather than through
intimidation or personal attack. Try to provide data and facts
for your standpoints so the rest of the participants who are
sitting on the sidelines watching the discussion can form an
opinion. The discussion is easier when the response to a simple
question is a polite answer [SQPA].
3. IETF participants devise solutions for the Internet that meet the
needs of diverse technical and operational environments.
The IETF puts its emphasis on technical competence, rough
consensus and individual participation, and needs to be open to
competent input from any source. We understand that "scaling is
the ultimate problem" and that many ideas quite workable in the
small fail this crucial test.
IETF participants use their best engineering judgment to find the
best solution for the whole Internet, not just the best solution
for any particular network, technology, vendor, or user. While we
all have ideas that may stand improvement from time to time, no
one shall ever knowingly contribute advice or text that would make
a standard technically inferior.
4. Individuals are prepared to contribute to the ongoing work of the
group.
IETF participants read the relevant Internet-Drafts, RFCs, and
email archives in order to familiarize themselves with the
technology under discussion. Working Group sessions run on a
very limited time schedule, and sometimes participants have to
limit their questions. The work of the group will continue on the
mailing list, and questions can be asked and answered on the
mailing list. It can be a challenge to participate in a working
group without knowing the history of longstanding working group
debates. Information about a working group including its charter
and milestones is available on the IETF Tools web site [TOOLS] or
from the working group chair.
3. Security Considerations
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Guidelines about IETF conduct do not directly affect the security of
the Internet.
4. Acknowledgements
Most of the text in this document is based on RFC 3184 which was
written by Susan Harris. The author would like to acknowledge that
this document would not exist without her contribution. Mike O'Dell
wrote the first draft of the Guidelines for Conduct, and many of his
thoughts, statements, and observations are included in this version.
Many useful editorial comments were supplied by Dave Crocker.
Members of the POISSON Working Group provided many significant
additions to the text.
The editor would like to thank Jari Arkko, Brian Carpenter, Dave
Cridland, Dave Crocker, Spencer Dawkins, Alan DeKok, Lars Eggert,
David Farmer, Adrian Farrel, Stephen Farrell, Eliot Lear, Barry
Leiba, Ines Robles, Eduardo A. Suarez and Brian Trammell for
contributing towards the improvement of the document.
5. IANA Considerations
[RFC Editor: please remove this section]
6. References
6.1. Informative References
[RFC2026] Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision
3", BCP 9, RFC 2026, October 1996.
[RFC2418] Bradner, S., "IETF Working Group Guidelines and
Procedures", BCP 25, RFC 2418, September 1998.
[RFC3184] Harris, S., "IETF Guidelines for Conduct", BCP 54, RFC
3184, October 2001.
[RFC3683] Rose, M., "A Practice for Revoking Posting Rights to IETF
Mailing Lists", BCP 83, RFC 3683, March 2004.
[RFC3934] Wasserman, M., "Updates to RFC 2418 Regarding the
Management of IETF Mailing Lists", BCP 25, RFC 3934,
October 2004.
[TOOLS]
[SQPA]
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Appendix A: Reporting transgressions of the guidelines
An individual can report transgressions of the guidelines for conduct
to the IETF Chair or the IESG.
Appendix B: Consequences of transgressing the guidelines
This document does not discuss about measures that can be taken
against a participant transgressing the guidelines for conduct.
RFC 2418 describes a measure where a Working Group Chair has the
authority to refuse to grant the floor to any individual who is
unprepared or otherwise covering inappropriate material, or who, in
the opinion of the Chair is disrupting the Working Group process.
RFC 3683 describes "posting rights" action to remove the posting
rights of an individual. RFC 3934 describes a measure where a Working
Group Chair can suspend posting privileges of a disruptive individual
for a short period of time.
Appendix C: Changes from RFC 3184
o Added text about the IETF striving to create an environment in
which every person is treated with dignity, decency, and respect.
o The text about intellectual property guidelines was removed as it
relates to intellectual property instead of guidelines for
conduct.
o The recommendation that newcomers should not interfere with the
ongoing process in Section 2 was removed as it can be read as
discouraging newcomers from participating in discussions.
o The text about the goal of the IETF was replaced with text about
what the IETF puts its emphasis on.
o The text about "think globally" was removed as the meaning was not
clear.
o The text about language was clarified.
o The guideline about impersonal discussions was reworded as a
positive statement.
7. Author's Address
S. Moonesamy (editor)
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S. Moonesamy IETF Guidelines for Conduct December 18, 2013
76, Ylang Ylang Avenue
Quatres Bornes
Mauritius
Email: sm+ietf@elandsys.com
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