IETF are an odd bunch. I went to a meeting a few years back and was warned that there might be a humming for consensus.
What is humming for consensus you ask? Well, rather than a show of hands, when deciding on measures and proposals they simply ask the room to hum in favor of a measure.
The reason is simply that even if you are sitting next to your boss it will still be possible for you to vote according to your conscience as it's virtually impossible to distinguish the direction of humming in a room of a hundred or so people. It is, however, easy to tell if a measure has the majority support of a group via humming.
For those wondering, "There are those in the IETF who refuse to wear anything other than suits. Fortunately, they are well known (for other reasons) so they are forgiven this particular idiosyncrasy." is a reference to Vint Cerf. Though I did see Vint in a tracksuit once...
The RFCS are all in this format, and since this provides some continuity across the whole set, I'm all for continuing in this way.
Think about what would happen if they made them all spiffy pdfs and then some guy 20 years from now would try to read them.
ASCII is forever, and having a page header on every page is relatively cheap, and helps to keep the context of which document you're looking at clear, the header is never more than 1/2 a page away.
It's quite hard to make a scrolling window with a steady header on a piece of paper ;)
Given professional workplace without a dress code/ uniform it is interesting to see the large variation in what people decide to wear. From shit pants and nice shoes down to t-shirt shorts and runners.
[+] [-] dschobel|16 years ago|reply
What is humming for consensus you ask? Well, rather than a show of hands, when deciding on measures and proposals they simply ask the room to hum in favor of a measure.
The reason is simply that even if you are sitting next to your boss it will still be possible for you to vote according to your conscience as it's virtually impossible to distinguish the direction of humming in a room of a hundred or so people. It is, however, easy to tell if a measure has the majority support of a group via humming.
It's very geeky and very smart. Very IETF.
[+] [-] zandorg|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 10ren|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aaronsw|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] robk|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] spolsky|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rbanffy|16 years ago|reply
Paper has two advantages: it keeps carbon from becoming a greenhouse gas and quite probably outlasts all our other backup mediums.
[+] [-] jacquesm|16 years ago|reply
Think about what would happen if they made them all spiffy pdfs and then some guy 20 years from now would try to read them.
ASCII is forever, and having a page header on every page is relatively cheap, and helps to keep the context of which document you're looking at clear, the header is never more than 1/2 a page away.
It's quite hard to make a scrolling window with a steady header on a piece of paper ;)
[+] [-] malkia|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] robryan|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vkdelta|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rbanffy|16 years ago|reply
I never imagined IETF issued memos with dress code...
[+] [-] Joe_Bananas|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pyre|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vkdelta|16 years ago|reply