Re: Plenary Format - discussion notes

["Steven M. Bellovin" <smb@research.att.com>]

In message <20030815162042.35C2718D2@thrintun.hactrn.net>, Rob Austein writes:
>At 15 Aug 2003 09:03:03 -0700, Eric Rescorla wrote:
>> 
>> I wouldn't say assertion so much as acknowledgement. The IESG
>> (and to a lesser extent the IAB) has a quite significant amount
>> of authority over the IETF. I think it's therefore incumbent
>> on us to sit up there and behave like it.
>> 
>> Think of it as representative democracy if you like.
>
>and in the culture that formed most of my opinions about the way
>people interact politically, sitting up on a stage as a visible symbol
>of leadership would have been considered arrogant in the extreme.
>different people are comfortable with different symbols, and one
>should chose one's symbols carefully, for one may be forced to live
>with them.

Y'know, I had just the opposite take-away.  I thought being up there in 
front of everyone while all the sh*t was raining down was a way of 
*accepting* responsibility -- we weren't hiding.  As an analogy, when a 
member of the U.S. Congress is censured, he or she has to stand at the 
very front of the chamber while the censure resolution is being read.


		--Steve Bellovin, http://www.research.att.com/~smb