[arin-ppml] 2011-1 not adopted Was:Re: Board Adopts Draft Policies

[William Herrin]

On Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 10:21 PM, Chris Grundemann
<cgrundemann at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 15:09, William Herrin <bill at herrin.us> wrote:
>> Following the end of the bulk of the debate over draft 2011-1 on or
>> about November 7, 9 people offered statements of opposition while only
>> 8 offered statements of support. I know of no definition of consensus
>> in which the simple majority of respondents can be opposed.
>
> When I make the claim of community agreement (rough consensus), I am
> weighing not just the last call comments but the entire history of
> discussion regarding this proposal, which stretches back somewhere
> around a year or so (through two public policy meetings and multiple
> PPML threads).

Well, that was one of your mistakes. If you want to know the sense of
the community on a given proposal, you look at what folks say about
the specific text of the proposal after the debate winds down. That
part of the process -- after the text is more or less locked and the
debate complete -- is generally called "last call."

If you look earlier, you count opinions on the general idea instead of
the specific proposal. The general idea always has inflated support
compared to the detailed proposal. Of course it would: it's in the
details that folks start finding things to dislike.

"Last call" on 2011-1 was a debate on completely fresh text which ran
into hundreds of messages. After that debate wound down, on or around
November 7, we were all asked to offer our final statements of support
of opposition -- which in a properly handled last call would have been
the only thing to happen. A tally of those statements found the
majority opposed the draft going to the board.


> Additionally, I don't typically expect many (if any) statements of
> support during last call (here or elsewhere).

Well, that's also a mistake. Last call should be relatively quiet, the
settleable issues having been settled, the various points of view
having been aired, the arguments all tired out. You don't expect many
statements of support BECAUSE YOU DON'T EXPECT MANY STATEMENTS AT ALL.
If it goes to hundreds of messages, with real debate back and forth,
you've probably screwed up and moved something to last call that isn't
ready. And should almost certainly take the hint.

Regards,
Bill Herrin


-- 
William D. Herrin ................ herrin at dirtside.com  bill at herrin.us
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