My complaint, which was not a formal appeal, was simply that “adopt and park” 
is not an IETF state, and would make this adoption call harder instead of 
easier, since once we get into an undocumented state, there are no rules or 
procedures for getting out of it.

 

I also am very encouraged by Paul’s message mentioning the fact that we do not 
vote at IETF. In order to find rough consensus in a complicated situation like 
this, people need to be clear what they are objecting to and why, and what they 
would be open to agreeing to so that consensus can be found. Simply counting 
“votes” and trying again usually works about as well as it did this time.

 

-Tim

 

From: Paul Wouters <[email protected]> 
Sent: Friday, September 12, 2025 9:34 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [TLS] Re: Complaint regarding chairs not clarifying SLH-DSA call result

 

On Sep 12, 2025, at 05:51, D. J. Bernstein <[email protected] 
<mailto:[email protected]> > wrote:


Those messages still seem to be secret

 

Incorrect. The entire appeal message was included verbatim in my response.





but you say that the second
message called the outcome here a "process violation".

 

As the message was a private message, and not an appeal, it does not require to 
be shared with you or the list. If Tim wishes to do so, he can share it.

 

Leaving the status unclear is confusing, error-prone, and abuse-prone.

 

The process played out itself by people writing an appeal, and me processing 
that appeal. So the RFC defined process worked.

 

It seems that the second type of objection was filed

 

No need for speculation as the full message was included in my appeal response.

 

, leading to the AD
reversing adoption. Maybe this won't be appealed; maybe it'll survive
appeal; but in any case it does nothing to acknowledge or correct the
problem of WG chairs not feeling obliged to state decisions clearly.

 

As I stated, I believe the chairs worked correctly under 2418 and 7282. In 
fact, I praised the chairs for their attempts at consensus building of a 
divided WG.

 

For transparency, please carry out all discussion of this matter on the

relevant public mailing list ([email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> ), including, 
but not limited

to, any discussions of this matter among IESG members, IAB members,

agents of IETF Administration LLC, etc.

Please stop trying to dictate how people should behave.


Writing "For transparency, please ..." is not dictating anything (even
when there are external constraints on point). It's simply a request, in
this case a request for transparency.

 

It is repetitive and either stating what is in RFCs already or attempting to 
modify the process dictated by RFCs. Either interpretation still makes its 
repetition unwanted and off-topic. It does no good if all participants start 
adding their own boilerplate to all messages. Hence my request as an AD for you 
to stop doing this.

 

The WG Chairs are under no obligation to respond to every question

asked


The WG chairs were obliged to make the status clear in the first place,
even without a question. 

 

I feel confident they understand what could have been done better. Another 
strongly worded email from a participant is not necessary. I consider the 
matter closed.





Antitrust law obliges standards-development
organizations to provide due process.

 

Any alleged criminal behaviour of individuals within the IETF should be 
addressed to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> . Messages alluding to 
criminal behaviour are not appropriate for this list. Please refrain from 
repeating these here.

 

[ chairs have "wide discretion" ]



Which I interpret to mean that your question on whether the statement

has WG consensus is not relevant.


The "wide discretion" quote does not override the RFC 2418 rule that
"Working groups make decisions through a 'rough consensus' process".

 

RFC 7282 Section 4 “Humming should be the start of a conversation, not the end”.

 

It also doesn't override the requirements in antitrust law.

 

Contact [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>  for alleged criminal behaviour 
in the IETF. It is not appropriate for the TLS mailing list. Please refrain 
from alluding to criminal behaviour on this list.

 

How do you claim I'm misrepresenting it?

Here's the start of Section 8 of RFC 2026: "Each of the organizations
involved in the development and approval of Internet Standards shall
publicly announce, and shall maintain a publicly accessible record of,
every activity in which it engages, to the extent that the activity
represents the prosecution of any part of the Internet Standards
Process."

The section continues with more specific requirements, such as "The
formal record of an organization's standards-related activity shall
include at least the following: ... complete and accurate minutes of
meetings; the archives of Working Group electronic mail mailing lists; 
and all written contributions from participants that pertain to the
organization's standards-related activity".

 

Because we comply with the above stated RFC text.

 

This obliges IESG---you, for example, in your AD role---to publish the
email messages that led to your instructing the WG chairs "to mark the
document as Not Adopted".

 

Which I did, by including the entire appeal message in my posting under the 
astute heading of “Received Appeal text”.

 

I consider this matter closed.

 

Paul

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