IETF Guidelines for Conduct
draft-moonesamy-ietf-conduct-3184bis-05

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
   Internet-Drafts.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at
   http://www.ietf.org/1id-abstracts.html

   The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories 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
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

   This document may contain material from IETF Documents or IETF
   Contributions published or made publicly available before November
   10, 2008.  The person(s) controlling the copyright in some of this
   material may not have granted the IETF Trust the right to allow
   modifications of such material outside the IETF Standards Process. 
   Without obtaining an adequate license from the person(s) controlling
   the copyright in such materials,this document may not be modified
   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]    <http://tools.ietf.org/wg/>

   [SQPA]     <http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/53/slides/plenary-
              3/index.html>
 

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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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   76, Ylang Ylang Avenue
   Quatres Bornes
   Mauritius

   Email: sm+ietf@elandsys.com

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