Re: A proposal for publishing nominee names

["Joel M. Halpern" <joel@stevecrocker.com>]

In my opinion there are two closely related problems that you seem to be 
ignoring in your evaluation:

1) The community is almost completely cut off from the selection process by 
the need for confidentiality.  This creates some odd perceptions on peoples 
part as to what is going on.  Getting some information out, and thereby 
provide a way for the community to provide at least vaguely relevant input 
ought to help this sense of disconnection.

2) More importantly, as an outside IETF participant there have been 
selections in the past where it appeared likely that the nomcom did not 
receive as much feedback about certain candidates as would have been 
helpful.  Since I do not want to expose to much of the nomcom's 
deliberations, come mechanism to at least give people a clue as to what 
feedback might be relevant without too stringent a filter would seem a 
reasonable compromise.

Yours,
Joel M. Halpern

At 01:22 PM 7/13/2002 +0900, Dave Crocker wrote:
> At 10:10 PM 7/10/2002 +0200, Harald Alvestrand wrote:
> >  8. The names of all nominees that are suggested to the nomcom, and the
> >     positions for which they are nominated, are made
> >     public through a mechanism of the nomcom's choice.
>
> This proposal has the strong appeal of simplicity to it.  It also carries 
> a complexity of implications.  Worse, it is not clear what benefit derives 
> from this or whether there are more efficient ways of achieving those benefits.
>
> To stay with simplicity, while trying to pursue what I believe is 
> underlying kre's concerns:
>
>         Publishing all the names at the beginning of the process invites 
> all sorts of gaming.
>
> We like to think the IETF is free of such stuff, but the games can get 
> pretty sophisticated, and we would do well not to pretend that they will 
> not occur here.  Stuffing the candidate olist is one game.  Lobbying by 
> candidates is another.  Seeking to poison the feedback is another.  And so on.
>
> What is the purpose of publishing the names?  It is to ensure that the 
> general IETF has a chance to provide feedback about a candidate's 
> qualifications.
>
> Does the nomcom need more information about all candidates?  I think 
> not.  That is, are there people who should be in the final selection who 
> do not make it that far, when less qualified candidates are retained?  I 
> doubt it.  Or, at least, I think it unlikely that such choices are from 
> lack of information.
>
> The detail that IS sometimes lacking is for making fine-grained 
> choices.  For this, all the available information is needed.
>
>         If we publish the list of those making the final cut, rather
>         than all names at the beginning, there is plenty of time for
>         the community to offer comments, but far less opportunity for
>         gaming.
>
> There also will be a smaller amount of community feedback, thereby 
> reducing the load on the nomcom, which is already pretty stressed.
>
> d/
>
> d/
>
>
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