Re: [wg-c] Re: [wg-c-1] First question

[Kent Crispin <kent@songbird.com>]

On Mon, Jul 12, 1999 at 08:46:03AM -0700, Mark C. Langston wrote:
> On 12 July 1999, Kent Crispin <kent@songbird.com> wrote:
> 
> >I think that, with a couple of exceptions, there is fairly strong
> >consensus among those present on this list that new gTLDs are
> >desirable.  
> 
> Kent, I politely and respectfully request that you, and anyone else
> with the urge to do so (e.g., members of the pDNC) refrain from making
> statements about consensus existing for an issue until there is some
> tangible evidence to support such a claim.

I politely and respectfully decline.  Statements and discussion 
about whether consensus exists are part and parcel of what we do.

> This would go a long
> way towards establishing legitimacy, both personal and organizational.

I'm flattered that you think my statements have such weight, but I am
quite certain that your perception of them does not correspond to
reality. 

> >We can simply note that the exceptions exist, and why, 
> >and leave it at that.  I suggest that in cases where a strong 
> >difference of opinion that those with the different opinions be 
> >charged with writing a "minority report" which can either be 
> >incorporated in the body of the WG report, or attached as an 
> >appendix. 
> 
> This sounds like a decent mechanism, but which opinion gets to
> be the minority?
>
> We've yet to establish any method for determining
> consensus.  We don't even have a current, pulically available, and
> accurate count of the people subscribed to this list.  This would be
> the very first step in deciding where consensus lay, if any, and 
> finding the minority opinion, if one exists.

Have you ever participated in an IETF working group?

> It also assumes that only one minority opinion will exist.  This
> might not be a valid assumption.

I didn't make that assumption.  There could be multiple minority 
opinions, on several subtopics.

In any case, these are nitpicky details.  The general idea is that 
if there are irreconcilable opinions we report it and move on.

-- 
Kent Crispin                               "Do good, and you'll be
kent@songbird.com                           lonesome." -- Mark Twain