RFC 4633

RFC 4633: Experiment in Long-Term Suspensions From Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Mailing Lists ✨

okay bestie, this one is an Experimental doc 🧪 (category: Experimental), written by Sam Hartman from MIT, dated August 2006 📅. it doesn't obsolete or update anything listed in its header, so it's a clean new experiment 💖

Status of This Memo

this memo defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet community 🦋. it does NOT specify an Internet standard of any kind, so don't treat it like one 🙈 they're literally asking for discussion and suggestions for improvement, so bring your thoughts 🫶 and yes, distribution of this memo is unlimited 🌈

Copyright Notice

copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006) 💜

Abstract

okay so the community started asking whether RFC 3683 and RFC 3934 actually give enough flexibility for managing IETF mailing lists 🤔 this doc is an RFC 3933 experiment 🧪 that lets everyone try a broader set of tools for mailing list management while figuring out what the long-term guidelines should be ✨ it's giving "let's test first, decide later" energy 💅

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ....................................................1
   2. Requirements notation ...........................................3
   3. Definition of IETF Mailing List .................................3
   4. The Experiment ..................................................4
   5. How the Experiment May Be Used (Informative) ....................4
   6. Security Considerations .........................................5
   7. Acknowledgements ................................................5
   8. References ......................................................5
      8.1. Normative References .......................................5
      8.2. Informative References .....................................5

1. Introduction 🌸

so the IETF needs rules of conduct 📜 to limit disruptive or abusive behavior, but it also needs to stay a fair and open forum where people can discuss Internet standardization 🕊️ and honestly? the IETF has a long and complicated history with rules for managing conduct on its mailing lists 😭 it's a whole saga

RFC 2418 [RFC2418] let individuals get blocked from posting to a mailing list 🚫 the exact words: "As a last resort and after explicit warnings, the Area Director, with the approval of the IESG, may request that the mailing list maintainer block the ability of the offending individual to post to the mailing list." it also allowed other forms of mailing list control with the area director's and IESG's approval 👑 but here's the tea ☕ RFC 2418 only applied to working group mailing lists

the IETF discussion list charter [RFC3005] gives guidelines for ietf@ietf.org 💬 and these guidelines are more flexible than RFC 2418 💅 they say: "The IETF Chair, the IETF Executive Director, or a sergeant-at-arms appointed by the Chair is empowered to restrict posting by a person, or of a thread, when the content is inappropriate and represents a pattern of abuse. They are encouraged to take into account the overall nature of the postings by an individual and whether particular postings are an aberration or typical. Complaints regarding their decisions should be referred to the IAB." and bestie, it looks like these decisions don't follow the normal appeals path outlined in RFC 2026 [RFC2026] 😬

RFC 3683 [RFC3683] has a procedure for banning named individuals from posting to an IETF mailing list for at least one year 🗓️ but once a ban is in place for one list, the people responsible for other IETF lists can unilaterally remove that individual's posting rights 🫠

RFC 3934 [RFC3934] amends RFC 2418 and lets the working group chair suspend a member's posting rights for 30 days ⏳ but it seems to remove the ability of the AD and IESG to approve longer suspensions or other procedures. the text says: "Other methods of mailing list control, including longer suspensions, must be carried out in accordance with other IETF-approved procedures." an argument could be made that the amendment wasn't meant to kill the already-approved procedures in RFC 2418 🤷‍♀️ but a perhaps stronger argument says the actual textual changes do have that effect 💀

the IESG put out a statement on mailing list management [IESGLIST] that lets working group mailing lists be moderated 🧹 under this, specific off-topic postings could get discarded. however, this doesn't let the posting rights of an individual get suspended. it just lets the whole list be moderated 🫤

the IESG also issued a statement on disruptive postings [IESGDISRUPT] . this one applies procedures similar to RFC 3934 and the moderated-lists statement to non-working group lists 🌈

so the result? there's a huge gap between the sanctions that can be applied 📉 someone can easily be suspended from a working group list for 30 days, but the only option that allows a longer suspension for any list besides ietf@ietf.org is suspending an individual indefinitely from one list. and that suspension can expand to any IETF list without community or IESG involvement 😳 this memo is an RFC 3933 [RFC3933] experiment that gives the IESG the ability to create additional mechanisms for managing IETF mailing lists while the community decides what the mailing list guidelines should be 🧠 specifically, this experiment lets the IESG create a level of sanction between RFC 3934 and RFC 3683 for working group lists, and create sanctions other than RFC 3683 for non-working group lists 🎀 the goal is to improve how IETF mailing lists function while keeping the process open and fair 💖 this experiment counts as successful if it gives the community useful input on how to design a mailing list management process ✨ and it is not expected to be adopted in its current form as a permanent Best Current Practice (BCP) 🙃

2. Requirements notation 📏

the key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119] 🔑

3. Definition of IETF Mailing List 📬

this experiment applies to ALL IETF mailing lists, including the ones not tied to a working group 🌍 the definition of a working group list is clear, but a definition of an IETF mailing list that's comprehensive enough to cover every single one isn't obvious 🫣 so for this experiment, an IETF mailing list is defined as follows 👇

an "IETF mailing list" is the IETF list itself 💌, any mailing list operated to further the work of a current IETF Working Group (WG) 🛠️, any mailing list created for WG use but kept for ongoing discussion after that WG was shut down 🪦, any mailing list created in support of an IETF-specified procedure (including mailing lists whose purpose is discussing registration actions) 📋, and any mailing list hosted on any site or system operated by the IASA or otherwise on behalf of the IETF 🏠. mailing lists listed at https://datatracker.ietf.org/public/nwg_list.cgi are explicitly included in this definition 💯

4. The Experiment 🧪✨

okay the experiment runs for a period of 18 months ⏰ during the experiment period, the IESG MAY approve other methods of mailing list control besides the ones outlined in RFC 3683 and RFC 3934, to be used on a specified set of IETF mailing lists 👑 those methods include, but aren't limited to, suspending an individual's posting rights beyond 30 days on those lists. under these procedures, the IESG may delegate the authority to handle longer-term suspensions of specific individuals on specific mailing lists 🎟️

the procedures of this memo MUST NOT be used to suspend the posting rights of an individual beyond the period of the experiment. the procedures of this memo MUST NOT be used to limit an individual's ability to read the contents of a mailing list. 🚨

the IESG MUST inform the community in a public statement about any mailing list management procedures approved under this experiment 📢 that statement should include a description of the procedure and a description of the mailing lists it applies to, or an indication that it applies to all IETF mailing lists 💅 the IESG MUST also make a public announcement of a new procedure at least 14 days before the procedure takes effect ⏳ the community is encouraged to comment on any IESG action, but community consensus is not required to approve such a procedure 🫶 and every currently active procedure under this experiment MUST be made public in an appropriate, easy-to-find location 🔍

sanctions made under this memo may be appealed using the procedures outlined in [RFC2026] ⚖️

to be continued in part 2 🎀

Full Copyright Statement 💅

Okay, the legal bit first 🎀 Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006). 🦋 This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions in BCP 78, and except as set forth there, the authors keep all their rights 💜

It's also provided "AS IS" 🙈 The contributor (plus the organization they represent or are sponsored by, if any), the Internet Society, and the Internet Engineering Task Force all totally disclaim every warranty, express or implied. That includes no promise that using the info won't infringe anyone's rights, and no implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. So no guarantees, babe 😭

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Intellectual Property 🔥

The IETF doesn't take a side on whether any IPR or other rights that someone claims over the tech in this doc are valid, how far they reach, or whether a license for them is even available 🫶 It also hasn't made any independent effort to find out what rights exist. If you want the rules on rights for RFC documents, check BCP 78 and BCP 79 📚

Copies of IPR disclosures sent to the IETF Secretariat are a thing, and so are any assurances of licenses. Same goes for the results of trying to get a general license or permission for implementers or users of this spec to use proprietary rights. You can find all of that in the IETF online IPR repository at http://www.ietf.org/ipr 🌸

The IETF also invites anyone to flag copyrights, patents, patent applications, or other proprietary rights that might cover tech needed to implement this standard ✨ Send that info to the IETF at ietf-ipr@ietf.org 💌

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Acknowledgement 🌈

Funding for the RFC Editor function comes from the IETF Administrative Support Activity (IASA) 👑