[RE] Reasons for the separate yahoo mailing list
Arthur & John,
As the instigator of open informal weekly meetings,
I can perhaps help to clarify the following concerns:
>> Using a Yahoo mailing list rather than this
>> one does not help. ...
>> I wasn't aware there was an active yahoo list. What is the
>> rationale for a separate list?
>> Having lots of reflectors where sub-groups have private
>> discussions unbeknown to the rest of the group might be thought
>> to raise anti-trust issues.
There is a wide range of backgrounds involved in the RE
project: VOIP, jitter-sensitive AES, consumer, enterprise,...
With this range of cultures, some felt that bimonthly meetings
were insufficient to ensure progress. As such, a few active
participants started weekly teleconference discussions.
The first teleconference was by-invitation only. Concerns were
raised; we quickly agreed that meetings should be open to all.
Thus, the next meeting announcement was sent to the reflector.
I then received several complaints (Bob Grow, Pat Thayer,
Steve Carlson). They apparently felt that only official
SG meetings (with a 30-day notice and approval of the Chair)
should be announced on the reflector.
We disagreed with their logic, but it became easier to
conform than complain. So, we moved our traffic offsite:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/REInterestGroup
Any and all are welcome to join this group and attend the
weekly teleconferences. There are no voting rules, since
no formal votes are taken. However, discussions have
oftentimes been found to be productive.
Note that such reflector restrictions are not IEEE policy,
but apparently an unwritten 802.3 policy. I noticed that
802.17 actively encouraged such adhocs, even though
called on short notice and without WG approval. Such
open interested-parties discussions oftentimes converged,
w/o wasting the time of uninterested parties.
Within the RE environment, however, my powers are limited
to the free facilities that I can easily provide for the
weekly (Thursday 14:00-16:00) informal meetings:
- hamburgers (if you arrive early)
- drinks and pretzels
- wireless internet
- AC power
- teleconference facilities (via freeconference.com)
- conference table
- parking
Maybe yourself/others could assist with the more difficult
task: persuading others to allow announcements/minutes
and material postings on the 802.3 SG RE reflector and/or
IEEE web site?
DVJ
David V. James
3180 South Ct
Palo Alto, CA 94306
Home: +1.650.494.0926
+1.650.856.9801
Cell: +1.650.954.6906
Fax: +1.360.242.5508
Base: dvj@alum.mit.edu
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: owner-stds-802-3-re@IEEE.ORG
>> [mailto:owner-stds-802-3-re@IEEE.ORG]On Behalf Of John Grant
>> Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 2:17 AM
>> To: STDS-802-3-RE@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG
>> Subject: Re: [RE] yahoo mailing list
>>
>>
>> At 19:15 12/04/2005 +1000, Varuni Witana wrote:
>> >Arthur Marris wrote:
>> >
>> >>
>> >> I also have the following observations to make
>> >> i) To see RE through as an 802.3 project you need to engage with the
>> >> wider 802.3 working group. Using a Yahoo mailing list rather
>> than this
>> >> one does not help. If you want to know why people voted against the
>> >> compatibility criterion ask on this mailing list. The vote to
>> set up the
>> >> study group was 41 to 7 so there is support for a task force
>> and making
>> >> changes to the 802.3 spec for RE. Don't squander this good will.
>> >>
>> >
>> >I wasn't aware there was an active yahoo list. What is the
>> rationale for
>> >a separate list?
>>
>> Is it the list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/REInterestGroup
>> referred to in DVJ's posting of 4th March? But that one just
>> seems to have discussion of when the "unofficial" meetings
>> should be held so maybe there's another one?
>>
>> Having lots of reflectors where sub-groups have private
>> discussions unbeknown to the rest of the group might be thought
>> to raise anti-trust issues.
>>
>>
>> John Grant
>> ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
>> | || || || | | || || || || |
>> | N || i || n || e | | T || i || l || e || s |
>> |___||___||___||___| |___||___||___||___||___|
>>
>> Nine Tiles Networks Ltd, Cambridge, England
>> +44 1223 862599 and +44 1223 511455
>> http://www.ninetiles.com
>>