[arin-ppml] Staff proposing policy.

[Stephen Sprunk]

On 30-Apr-11 14:05, Chris Grundemann wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 23:48, Stephen Sprunk <stephen at sprunk.org> wrote:
>> IMHO, staff should be free to ask the community (via PPML or any other appropriate means) about our intent and goals, but I'm not comfortable with staff telling us what our intent or goals should be.
>>
>> Staff should also be free to point out when current or proposed policy does not appear to meet our intent or goals, as discovered above, or hard facts that are relevant to ongoing discussions.  And, when one points out a problem, it's polite to also offer one or more possible solutions.
> Is everyone aware that staff performs and publishes an assessment of all policy proposals that make it onto the AC's docket? These assessments often include potential problems with the text, questions regarding intent, and sometimes even suggestions for making the text more clear / less likely to be misunderstood.
>
> For example: http://lists.arin.net/pipermail/arin-ppml/2011-February/019575.html

I can't speak for everyone, but I was well aware of the formal staff
assessment when I wrote the above.  In fact, I think the formal staff
assessment contributes to the problem: staff only gets one chance to
comment on a proposal, usually long after the debate has died down on
PPML, and that single comment is an aggregation of individual comments
that I presume are moderated, sanitized and approved by their superiors
and, as it has become plain in more than one instance, can be inadequate
at communicating what staff will actually do with a proposal if adopted.

What I want is genuine, real-time participation in the discussion--not
more press releases.

>> One has to balance concerns about staff having undue influence over policy with concerns about staff silently watching the community make bad policy.
> IMHO, we are actually very close to the right balance now. Although a bit more involvement from staff may be helpful in specific instances.

IMHO, we are dangerously close to the latter extreme.

S

-- 
Stephen Sprunk         "God does not play dice."  --Albert Einstein
CCIE #3723         "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the
K5SSS        dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking


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