Network Working Group M. Wasserman
Internet-Draft ThingMagic
Expires: August 1, 2004 February 2004
Updates to RFC 2418 Regarding the Management of IETF Mailing Lists
draft-wasserman-rfc2418-ml-update-01.txt
Status of this Memo
This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with
all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026.
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/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt.
The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at
http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html.
This Internet-Draft will expire on August 1, 2004.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This document is an update to RFC 2418 that gives WG chairs explicit
responsibility for managing WG mailing lists. In particular, it
gives WG chairs the authority to temporarily suspend the mailing list
posting privileges of disruptive individuals.
Wasserman Expires August 1, 2004 [Page 1]
Internet-Draft Mailing List Management Update February 2004
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Specific Changes to RFC 2418 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
5. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
6. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
6.1 Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
6.2 Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . . . 6
Wasserman Expires August 1, 2004 [Page 2]
Internet-Draft Mailing List Management Update February 2004
1. Introduction
As written, RFC 2418 [RFC2418] gives WG chairs more authority to
manage face-to-face discussions than to manage mailing list
discussions. In face-to-face meetings, the WG 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 WG process." However, RFC
2418 does not give the WG chair the authority to suspend the mailing
list posting privileges of an individual who is similarly disrupting
WG mailing list discussions. RFC 2418 explicitly requires full IESG
approval for this action.
This document is an update to RFC 2418, section 3.2. It gives WG
chairs the authority to temporarily suspend the posting privileges of
disruptive individuals, without IESG approval.
2. Specific Changes to RFC 2418
The following paragraphs supersede the last paragraph of RFC 2418,
section 3.2:
As in face-to-face sessions, occasionally one or more individuals may
engage in behavior on a mailing list which, in the opinion of the WG
chair, is disruptive to the WG process. Unless the disruptive
behavior is severe enough that it must be stopped immediately, the
WG chair should attempt to discourage the disruptive behavior by
communicating directly with the offending individual. If the
behavior persists, the WG chair should send at least one public
warning on the WG mailing list. As a last resort and typically after
one or more explicit warnings and consultation with the responsible
Area Director, the WG chair may suspend the mailing list posting
privileges of the disruptive individual for a period of not more than
30 days. Even while posting privileges are suspended, the individual
must not be prevented from receiving messages posted to the list.
Like all other WG chair decisions, any suspension of posting
privileges is subject to appeal, as described in RFC 2026 [RFC2026].
This mechanism is intended to permit a WG chair to suspend posting
privileges of a disruptive individual for a short period of time.
This mechanism does not permit WG chairs to suspend an individual's
posting privileges for a period longer than 30 days regardless of the
type or severity of the disruptive incident. However, further
disruptive behavior by the same individual will be considered
separately and may result in further warnings or suspensions. Other
methods of mailing list control, including longer suspensions, must
be approved by the IESG or carried out in accordance with other
IESG-approved procedures.
Wasserman Expires August 1, 2004 [Page 3]
Internet-Draft Mailing List Management Update February 2004
3. IANA Considerations
This document makes no request of IANA.
Note to RFC Editor: this section may be removed on publication as an
RFC.
4. Security Considerations
This document describes a modification to the IETF process for
managing mailing list discussions. It has no security
considerations.
5. Acknowledgements
This document reflects a discussion that was held on the MPOWR
mailing list in December 2003 and January 2004. In particular, the
following people contributed ideas that influenced this draft: Harald
Alvestrand, Dave Crocker, James Kempf and John Klensin.
This document was written using the xml2rfc tool described in RFC
2629 [RFC2629].
6. References
6.1 Normative 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.
6.2 Informative References
[RFC2629] Rose, M., "Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML", RFC 2629,
June 1999.
Wasserman Expires August 1, 2004 [Page 4]
Internet-Draft Mailing List Management Update February 2004
Author's Address
Margaret Wasserman
ThingMagic
One Broadway, 14th Floor
Cambridge, MA 02142
USA
Phone: +1 617 758 4177
EMail: margaret@thingmagic.com
URI: http://www.thingmagic.com/
Wasserman Expires August 1, 2004 [Page 5]
Internet-Draft Mailing List Management Update February 2004
Intellectual Property Statement
The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any
intellectual property or other rights that might be claimed to
pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in
this document or the extent to which any license under such rights
might or might not be available; neither does it represent that it
has made any effort to identify any such rights. Information on the
IETF's procedures with respect to rights in standards-track and
standards-related documentation can be found in BCP-11. Copies of
claims of rights made available for publication and any assurances of
licenses to be made available, or the result of an attempt made to
obtain a general license or permission for the use of such
proprietary rights by implementors or users of this specification can
be obtained from the IETF Secretariat.
The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any
copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary
rights which may cover technology that may be required to practice
this standard. Please address the information to the IETF Executive
Director.
Full Copyright Statement
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004). All Rights Reserved.
This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this
document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
English.
The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assignees.
This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
"AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
Wasserman Expires August 1, 2004 [Page 6]
Internet-Draft Mailing List Management Update February 2004
HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Acknowledgment
Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
Internet Society.
Wasserman Expires August 1, 2004 [Page 7]