Network Working Group M. Wasserman
Request for Comments: 3934 ThingMagic
Updates: 2418 October 2004
BCP: 94
Category: Best Current Practice
 Updates to RFC 2418 Regarding the Management of IETF Mailing Lists
Status of this Memo
 This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the
 Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
 improvements. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
 Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004).
Abstract
 This document is an update to RFC 2418 that gives WG chairs explicit
 responsibility for managing WG mailing lists. In particular, it
 gives WG chairs the authority to temporarily suspend the mailing list
 posting privileges of disruptive individuals.
Table of Contents
 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
 2. Specific Changes to RFC 2418 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
 3. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
 4. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
 5. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
 5.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
 5.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
 6. Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
 7. Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1. Introduction
 As written, RFC 2418 [RFC2418] gives WG chairs more authority to
 manage face-to-face discussions than to manage mailing list
 discussions. In face-to-face meetings, the WG chair has the
 authority "to refuse to grant the floor to any individual who is
 unprepared or otherwise covering inappropriate material, or who, in
 the opinion of the Chair, is disrupting the WG process." However,
 RFC 2418 does not give the WG Chair the authority to suspend the
 mailing list posting privileges of an individual who is similarly
 disrupting WG mailing list discussions. RFC 2418 explicitly requires
 full IESG approval for this action.
 This document is an update to RFC 2418, section 3.2. It gives WG
 chairs the authority to temporarily suspend the posting privileges of
 disruptive individuals without IESG approval.
2. Specific Changes to RFC 2418
 The following paragraphs supersede the last paragraph of RFC 2418,
 section 3.2:
 As in face-to-face sessions, occasionally one or more individuals may
 engage in behavior on a mailing list that, in the opinion of the WG
 chair, is disruptive to the WG process. Unless the disruptive
 behavior is severe enough that it must be stopped immediately, the WG
 chair should attempt to discourage the disruptive behavior by
 communicating directly with the offending individual. If the
 behavior persists, the WG chair should send at least one public
 warning on the WG mailing list. As a last resort and typically after
 one or more explicit warnings and consultation with the responsible
 Area Director, the WG chair may suspend the mailing list posting
 privileges of the disruptive individual for a period of not more than
 30 days. Even while posting privileges are suspended, the individual
 must not be prevented from receiving messages posted to the list.
 Like all other WG chair decisions, any suspension of posting
 privileges is subject to appeal, as described in RFC 2026 [RFC2026].
 This mechanism is intended to permit a WG chair to suspend posting
 privileges of a disruptive individual for a short period of time.
 This mechanism does not permit WG chairs to suspend an individual's
 posting privileges for a period longer than 30 days regardless of the
 type or severity of the disruptive incident. However, further
 disruptive behavior by the same individual will be considered
 separately and may result in further warnings or suspensions. Other
 methods of mailing list control, including longer suspensions, must
 be carried out in accordance with other IETF-approved procedures.
 See BCP 83 [RFC3683] for one set of procedures already defined and
 accepted by the community.
3. Security Considerations
 This document describes a modification to the IETF process for
 managing mailing list discussions. It has no security
 considerations.
4. Acknowledgements
 This document reflects a discussion that was held on the MPOWR
 mailing list in December 2003 and January 2004. In particular, the
 following people contributed ideas that influenced this document:
 Harald Alvestrand, Dave Crocker, James Kempf, and John Klensin.
 This document was written with the xml2rfc tool described in RFC 2629
 [RFC2629].
5. References
5.1. Normative References
 [RFC2026] Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision
 3", BCP 9, RFC 2026, October 1996.
 [RFC2418] Bradner, S., "IETF Working Group Guidelines and
 Procedures", BCP 25, RFC 2418, September 1998.
5.2. Informative References
 [RFC2629] Rose, M., "Writing I-Ds and RFCs using XML", RFC 2629,
 June 1999.
 [RFC3683] Rose, M., "A Practice for Revoking Posting Rights to IETF
 Mailing Lists", BCP 83, RFC 3683, March 2004.
6. Author's Address
 Margaret Wasserman
 ThingMagic
 One Broadway, 14th Floor
 Cambridge, MA 02142
 USA
 Phone: +1 617 758 4177
 EMail: margaret@thingmagic.com
 URI: http://www.thingmagic.com/
7. Full Copyright Statement
 Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004).
 This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions
 contained in BCP 78, and at www.rfc-editor.org, and except as set
 forth therein, the authors retain all their rights.
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 "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS
 OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET
 ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
 INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE
 INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED
 WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
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