[ipv6-wg] Promote the use of IRC

Hi yet again,

Dave Wilson <dave.wilson at heanet.ie> writes:

> I need to speak a little about a working group chair's duties, so I kind
> of have to wear that hat, but please consider this as a voice in the
> discussion and not a chair's influence on it.

now that you mention it: Same thing with me.

> [Making a consensus call]
> At this moment, if I knew there was a supported venue where policy
> discussion was taking place, it's not clear to me if I would be expected
> to chair and monitor the discussion there, [...]

According to David's original mail:

DB] For this list, an #ipv6 channel will be created and administrated by
DB] the WG Chairs.

This is completely infeasible with three volunteer WG chairs.  (And I've
personally worked long enough in an industry where people pile up
additional work on you any chance they get to be rather wary of this.)

If we have this IRC channel, and if it turns out that decicion-related
discussions start to move there, then *somebody* *must* be there to send
them in the proper direction, i.e. to the mailing list.  And again, that
can't possibly be the job of a WG chair.

In other words, we need somebody to step forward and take on that duty.

> But this is a solveable problem. We do it at RIPE meetings - we take
> minutes at the meetings, which are published to the list, and frequently
> remind ourselves that decisions are taken on the list.

While you mention the meetings: We only have a rather limited time slot
there; cleaning up half a years worth of miscommunications through
unsynchronized channels is definitely not going to happen in five
minutes.

> And if some of us
> talk about policy amongst ourselves, over dinner say, then we know that
> as far as the discussion and consensus is concerned, "if we don't take
> it to the list, it didn't happen."
>
> So how would that be solved in the case of a live chat discussion?

There is only one answer to that: If it is about policy, or decision
making, or whatever you want to call it, then it *must* stay on the
mailing list.

If we establish that IRC channel, then we must find a way---and the
resources---to ensure this.


Cheers,

    Benedikt


PS: And then there's another question, that I can't personally answer:
    If we keep all decision related discussions to the mailing list
    anyway, then what about existing IRC channels that already cover the
    rest?  I personally stay away from IRC (it's incompatible with my
    line of work) so I'm not up to date on this, but if I remember
    correctly there is at least one channel entirely devoted to IPv6
    operations independent of RIPE.

-- 
Benedikt Stockebrand,                   Stepladder IT Training+Consulting
Dipl.-Inform.                           http://www.stepladder-it.com/

          Business Grade IPv6 --- Consulting, Training, Projects

BIVBlog---Benedikt's IT Video Blog: http://www.stepladder-it.com/bivblog/