Re: Suggestion for progress

[Mark Crispin <MRC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Let me offer an alternative solution to the problem the WG has boxed itself
into; one that will leave everyone feeling equally well (or poorly) treated.

That solution is to punt.

The grounds are:
 1) closure can not be reached
 2) the status quo offers the path of greatest simplicity and least effort

This is not (as) tongue-in-cheek (as it sounds).  It seems to me that the WG
is so interested in arriving at a result for all its work that it has lost
sight of whether or not the result itself is worthwhile.  Several individuals
have put such a personal stake in this effort that they are unwilling to admit
failure, even if admitting failure may be the best result.

It has reached the point that men with the stature of Marshall Rose and John
Klensin are reduced to behaving in much the way a certain individual behind a
so-called `authentication protocol'; even accusing the IESG of `intellectual
dishonesty'!  In the other fellow's case, it was a problem with that
individual.  In this case, I feel the fundamental problem is with the issue
itself.  Rational people do not behave irrationally, unless the context itself
is irrational.

Has the WG -- and the effort itself -- outlived the window of its usefulness?
I hope there can be some serious soul-searching on everyone's part.  Quite
frankly, I don't think 8-bit SMTP is worth the bitterness it has engendered.

-- Mark --