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Re: ESP revisions straw poll -Reply
>>> Dennis Glatting <dennis.glatting@plaintalk.bellevue.wa.us> 05/21/97 01:00am
>Why don't private votes count? They do in public elections.
Public elections are not consensus building exercises. If we were counting
votes then this discussion would not even be happening. The proposal would have
failed long ago.
>I don't see why private messages cannot be a matter of record.
>Since you mentioned the court system, private correspondence
>is often presented as evidence. You need look only as far as
>McVeigh and Kaczynski.
Private messages are like private conversations at the IETF meetings, they are
useful to discuss ideas and present positions, but they are not at all useful
to build consensus. That requires the private messages become public. The
WG chair cannot allow private messages to control the WG. If something is so
sensitive that it cannot be brought up in a public meeting, then it must either
be ignored, brought up to the IETF Board, or each member of the WG must be
approached individually (and consensus built).
In a court of law (US law), private messages are not part of the "record" until
they are made public by being subpoenaed (except in certain cases of national
security). They then become part of the public record and are admissible in the
court.
>> You want to come to the dance, you have to pay the piper. And that
>> means public position statements are publicly rebutted,
>> fragile egos not-with-standing.
>Sounds a bit like a fraternity.
We are, in the original sense of the word.
Brad Davis
U.S. Robotics