<pre>Independent Submission                                        D. Crocker
Request for Comments: 7704                   Brandenburg InternetWorking
Category: Informational                                         N. Clark
ISSN: 2070-1721                                       Pavonis Consulting
                                                           November 2015


          <span class="h1">An IETF with Much Diversity and Professional Conduct</span>

Abstract

   The process of producing today's Internet technologies through a
   culture of open participation and diverse collaboration has proved
   strikingly efficient and effective, and it is distinctive among
   standards organizations.  During the early years of the IETF and its
   antecedent, participation was almost entirely composed of a small
   group of well-funded, American, white, male technicians,
   demonstrating a distinctive and challenging group dynamic, both in
   management and in personal interactions.  In the case of the IETF,
   interaction style can often contain singularly aggressive behavior,
   often including singularly hostile tone and content.  Groups with
   greater diversity make better decisions.  Obtaining meaningful
   diversity requires more than generic good will and statements of
   principle.  Many different behaviors can serve to reduce participant
   diversity or participation diversity.  This document discusses IETF
   participation in terms of the nature of diversity and practical
   issues that can increase or decrease it.  The document represents the
   authors' assessments and recommendations, following general
   discussions of the issues in the IETF.

Status of This Memo

   This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
   published for informational purposes.

   This is a contribution to the RFC Series, independently of any other
   RFC stream.  The RFC Editor has chosen to publish this document at
   its discretion and makes no statement about its value for
   implementation or deployment.  Documents approved for publication by
   the RFC Editor are not a candidate for any level of Internet
   Standard; see <a href="./rfc5741#section-2">Section&nbsp;2 of RFC 5741</a>.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   <a href="http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7704">http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7704</a>.






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Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2015 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to <a href="https://www.rfc-editor.org/bcp/bcp78">BCP 78</a> and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (<a href="http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info">http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info</a>) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.

Table of Contents

   <a href="#section-1">1</a>.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   <a href="#page-3">3</a>
   <a href="#section-2">2</a>.  Concerns  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   <a href="#page-5">5</a>
     <a href="#section-2.1">2.1</a>.  Diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   <a href="#page-5">5</a>
     <a href="#section-2.2">2.2</a>.  Harassment and Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   <a href="#page-7">7</a>
   <a href="#section-3">3</a>.  Constructive Participation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-11">11</a>
     <a href="#section-3.1">3.1</a>.  Access  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-11">11</a>
     <a href="#section-3.2">3.2</a>.  Engagement  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-12">12</a>
     <a href="#section-3.3">3.3</a>.  Facilitation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-12">12</a>
     <a href="#section-3.4">3.4</a>.  Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-12">12</a>
     <a href="#section-3.5">3.5</a>.  IETF Track Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-13">13</a>
     <a href="#section-3.6">3.6</a>.  Avoiding Distraction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-13">13</a>
   <a href="#section-4">4</a>.  Responses to Unconstructive Participation . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-14">14</a>
   <a href="#section-5">5</a>.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-14">14</a>
   <a href="#section-6">6</a>.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-15">15</a>
     <a href="#section-6.1">6.1</a>.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-15">15</a>
     <a href="#section-6.2">6.2</a>.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-15">15</a>
   Acknowledgements . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-18">18</a>
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  <a href="#page-18">18</a>



















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<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-1" href="#section-1">1</a>.  Introduction</span>

   This document discusses IETF participation, in terms of the nature of
   diversity and practical issues that can increase or decrease it.  The
   topic has received recent discussion in the IETF, and the document
   represents the authors' assessments and recommendations about it, in
   the belief that it is constructive for the IETF and that it is
   consonant with at least some of the IETF community's participants.

   The Internet Engineering Task Force [<a href="#ref-IETF" title="&quot;The Internet Engineering Task Force&quot;">IETF</a>] grew out of a research
   effort that was started in the late 1960s, with central funding by
   the US Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA,
   later DARPA) employing a collection of research sites around the
   United States, and including some participation by groups of the US
   military.  The community was originally restricted to participation
   by members of the funded research groups.  In the 1980s,
   participation expanded to include projects funded by other agencies,
   most notably the US National Science Foundation for its NSFNet
   effort.  At around the time the IETF was created in its current form,
   in the late 1980s, participation in the group became fully open,
   permitting attendance by anyone, independent of funding, affiliation,
   country of origin, or the like.

   Beyond the obvious effects of the resulting technology that we now
   enjoy, the process of producing today's Internet technologies through
   a culture of open participation and diverse collaboration has proved
   strikingly efficient and effective, and it is distinctive among
   standards organizations.  This culture has been sustained across many
   changes in participant origins, organizational structures, economic
   cycles, and formal processes.  However, maintenance of the IETF's
   effectiveness requires constant vigilance.  As new participants join
   the IETF mix, it is increasingly easy for the IETF's operation to
   gradually invoke models from other environments, which are more
   established and more familiar, but often are less effective.

   Historically, participation in the IETF and its antecedent was almost
   entirely composed of a small group of well-funded, American, white,
   male technicians.  No matter the intentions of the participants, such
   a narrow demographic demonstrated a distinctive group dynamic, both
   in management and in personal interactions, that persists into the
   current IETF.  Aggressive and even hostile discussion behavior is
   quite common.  In terms of management, the IETF can be significantly
   in-bred, favoring selection of those who are already well-known.  Of
   course, the pool of candidates from which selections are made suffer
   classic limitations of diversity found in many engineering
   environments.  Still, there is evidence and perception of selection
   bias, beyond this.




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   In the case of the IETF, the style of interaction can often
   demonstrate singularly aggressive behavior, including singularly
   hostile tone and content.  In most professional venues, such behavior
   is deemed highly unprofessional, or worse.  Within the IETF, such
   behavior has had long-standing tolerance.  Criticizing someone's
   hostility is dismissed by saying that's just the way they are, or
   that someone else provoked it, or that the person is generally well-
   intentioned.  Further, anyone expressing concern about the behavior
   is typically admonished to be less sensitive; that is, a recipient of
   an attack who then complains is often criticized or dismissed.

   As the IETF opened its doors to participation by anyone, its
   demographics have predictably moved towards much greater variety.
   However, the group culture has not adapted to accommodate these
   changes.  The aggressive debating style and the tolerance for
   personal attacks can be extremely off-putting for participants from
   more polite cultures.  And, the management selection processes can
   tend to exclude some constituencies inappropriately.

   Recently, members of an informal IETF women's interest group, called
   "systers", organized a quiet experiment, putting forward a large
   number of women candidates for management positions, through the
   IETF's "NomCom" process.  NomCom is itself a potentially diverse
   group of IETF participants, chosen at random from a pool of recent
   meeting attendees who offer their services.  Hence, its problematic
   choices -- or rather, omissions -- could be seen as reflecting IETF
   culture generally.

   Over the years, some women have been chosen for IETF positions as
   authors, working group chairs, area directors, Internet Architecture
   Board [<a href="#ref-IAB" title="&quot;Internet Architecture Board&quot;">IAB</a>] members, and IETF Administrative Oversight Committee
   [<a href="#ref-IAOC" title="&quot;IETF Administrative Oversight Committee (IAOC)&quot;">IAOC</a>] members.  However, the results of the systers experiment were
   not encouraging.  In spite of their recruiting a disproportionately
   high number of female candidates, not a single one was selected.
   Although any one candidate might be rejected for entirely legitimate
   reasons, a pattern of rejection this consistent suggested an
   organizational bias.  The results were presented at an IETF plenary,
   and they engendered significant IETF soul-searching, as well as
   creation of a group to consider diversity issues for the IETF
   [<a href="#ref-Div-DT" title="&quot;Diversity Design Team wiki&quot;">Div-DT</a>] [<a href="#ref-Div-Discuss">Div-Discuss</a>].

   Other activities around that same time also engendered IETF
   consideration of unacceptable behaviors, generally classed as
   harassment.  This resulted in the IESG's issuing a formal IETF anti-
   harassment policy [<a href="#ref-Anti-Harass">Anti-Harass</a>].






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   Changing an organization's culture is difficult and requires not only
   commitment to the underlying principles, but also vigilant and
   sustained effort.  The IESG has taken essential first steps.  What is
   needed is going beyond the position papers and expression of ideals,
   into continuing education of the entire community, and immediate and
   substantive response to unacceptable behaviors.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-2" href="#section-2">2</a>.  Concerns</span>

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-2.1" href="#section-2.1">2.1</a>.  Diversity</span>

   Diversity concerns the variability of a group's composition.  It can
   reasonably touch every conceivable participant attribute.  It
   includes task-related attributes, such as knowledge and experience,
   as well as the usual range of "identified class" attributes,
   including race, creed, color, religion, gender and sexual
   orientation, but also extends to all manner of beliefs, behaviors,
   experiences, preferences, and economic status.

   The factors affecting the quality of group decision-making are
   complex and subtle, and are not subject to precise specification.
   Nevertheless, in broad terms, groups with greater diversity make
   better decisions [<a href="#ref-Kellogg" title="&quot;Better Decisions Through Diversity: Heterogeneity can boost group performance&quot;">Kellogg</a>].  They perform better at diverse tasks
   both in terms of quantity and quality, and a great deal of research
   has found that heterogeneity often acts as a conduit for ideas and
   innovation [<a href="#ref-WiseCrowd">WiseCrowd</a>] [<a href="#ref-Horowitz" title="&quot;The Effects of Team Diversity on Team Outcomes: A Meta-Analytic Review of Team Demography&quot;">Horowitz</a>] [<a href="#ref-Stahl" title="&quot;Unraveling the effects of cultural diversity in teams: A meta-analysis of research on multicultural work groups&quot;">Stahl</a>] [<a href="#ref-Joshi" title="&quot;The Role of Context in Work Team Diversity Research: A Meta-Analytic Review&quot;">Joshi</a>].  The implicit
   assumptions of one participant might not be considerations for
   another and might even be unknown by still others.  And, different
   participants can bring different bases of knowledge and different
   styles of analysis.  People with the same background and experience
   will all too readily bring the same ideas forward and subject them to
   the same analysis, thus diminishing the likelihood for new ideas and
   methods to emerge, or underlying problems to be noted.

   However, a desire to diligently attend to group diversity often leads
   to mechanical, statistical efforts to ensure representation by every
   identified constituency.  For smaller populations, like the IETF and
   especially for its small management teams, this approach is
   counterproductive.  First, it is not possible to identify every
   single constituency that might be relevant.  Second, the group size
   does not permit representation by every group.  Consequently, in
   practical terms, legitimate representation of diversity only requires
   meaningful variety, not slavish bookkeeping.  In addition, without
   care, it can lead to the negative effects of diversity where
   decision-making is slowed, interaction decreased, and conflict
   increased [<a href="#ref-Horowitz" title="&quot;The Effects of Team Diversity on Team Outcomes: A Meta-Analytic Review of Team Demography&quot;">Horowitz</a>].





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   Pragmatically, then, concern for diversity merely requires serious
   attention to satisfying two requirements:

      Participant Diversity:   Decisions about who is allowed into the
         group require ensuring that the selection process encourages
         varying attributes among members.  That is, this concerns
         variety in group demographics.

      Participation Diversity:   Achieving effective generation of ideas
         and reviews within a group requires ensuring that its
         discussions encourage constructive participation by all members
         and that the views of each member are considered seriously.
         This, then, concerns group dynamics.

   In other words, look for real variety in group composition and real
   variety in participant discussion.  This will identify a greater
   variety of possible and practical solutions.

   Obtaining meaningful diversity requires more than generic good will
   and statements of principle.  The challenges, here, are to actively:

   o  Encourage constructive diversity

   o  Work to avoid group dynamics that serve to reduce diversity

   o  Work to avoid group dynamics that serve to diminish the benefits
      of diversity

   o  Remove those dynamics when they still occur

   It also requires education about the practicalities of diversity in
   an open engineering environment, and it requires organizational
   processes that regularly consider what effect each decision might
   have on diversity.

   Examples abound:

   o  Formally, an IETF working group makes its decisions on its mailing
      list.  Since anyone can join the list, anyone with access to the
      Internet can participate.  However, working groups also have
      sessions at the thrice-annual IETF face-to-face meetings and might
      also hold interim meetings, which are face to face, by telephone,
      or by video conference.  Attendance at these can be challenging.
      Getting to a face-to-face meeting costs a great deal of money and
      time; remote participation often incurs time-shifting that
      includes very early or very late hours.  So, increased working
      group reliance on meetings tends to exclude those with less
      funding or less travel time or more structured work schedules.



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   o  Vigorous advocacy for a strongly held technical preference is
      common in engineering communities.  Of course it can be healthy,
      since strong support is necessary to promote success of the work.
      However, in the IETF this can be manifest in two ways that are
      problematic.  One is a personal style that is overly aggressive
      and serves to intimidate, and hence unreasonably gag, those with
      other views.  The other is a group style that prematurely embraces
      a choice and does not permit a fair hearing for alternatives.

   o  Predictably, engineers value engineering skills.  When the task is
      engineering, this is entirely appropriate.  However, many of the
      IETF's activities, in support of its engineering efforts, are less
      about engineering and more about human and organizational
      processes.  These require very different skills.  To the extent
      that participants in those processes are primarily considered in
      terms of their engineering prowess, those who are instead stronger
      in other, relevant skills will be undervalued, and the diversity
      of expertise that the IETF needs will be lost.

   o  IETF standards are meant to be read, understood, and implemented
      by people who were not part of the working group process.  The
      gist of the standards also often needs to be read by managers and
      operators who are not engineers.  IETF specifications enjoy quite
      a bit of stylistic freedom to contain pedagogy, in the service of
      these audience goals.  However, the additional effort to be
      instructional is significant, and active participants who already
      understand and embrace the technical details often decline from
      making that effort.  Worse, that effort is also needed during the
      specification development effort, since many participants might
      lack the background or superior insight needed to appreciate what
      is being specified.  Yet the IETF's mantra for "rough consensus"
      is exactly about the need to recruit support.  In fact, the
      process of "educating" others often uncovers issues that have been
      missed.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-2.2" href="#section-2.2">2.2</a>.  Harassment and Bullying</span>

   Many different behaviors can serve to reduce participant diversity or
   participation diversity.  One class of efforts is based on overt
   actions to marginalize certain participants by intimidating them into
   silence or departure.  Intimidation efforts divide into two styles
   warranting distinction.  One is harassment, which pertains to biased
   treatment of demographic classes.  A number of identified classes are
   usually protected by law, and community understanding that such
   biased behavior cannot be tolerated has progressively improved.






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   Other intimidation efforts are tailored to targeted individuals and
   are generally labeled bullying [<a href="#ref-Har-Bul" title="&quot;Harassment and bullying at work&quot;">Har-Bul</a>] [<a href="#ref-Workplace">Workplace</a>] [<a href="#ref-Signs" title="&quot;Employee Resource Council: 20 Subtle Signs of Workplace Bullying&quot;">Signs</a>]
   [<a href="#ref-Escalated">Escalated</a>] [<a href="#ref-Prevention">Prevention</a>].  The nature and extent of bullying in the
   workplace is widely underestimated, misunderstood, and mishandled.
   It is described as follows in a WikiHow article [<a href="#ref-wikiHow" title="&quot;How to Deal with Workplace Bullying and Harassment&quot;">wikiHow</a>]:

      ...[B]ehavior directed at an employee that is intended to degrade,
      humiliate, embarrass, or otherwise undermine their performance...
      [T]he sure signs of a bully that signify more than a simple
      misunderstanding or personal disagreement... might include:

      *  Shouting, whether in private, in front of colleagues, or in
         front of customers

      *  Name-calling

      *  Belittling or disrespectful comments

      *  Excessive monitoring, criticizing, or nitpicking someone's work

      *  Deliberately overloading someone with work

      *  Undermining someone's work by setting them up to fail

      *  Purposefully withholding information needed to perform a job
         efficiently

      *  Actively excluding someone from normal workplace/staff room
         conversations and making someone feel unwelcome

   In addition, the Tim Field Foundation [<a href="#ref-Bully-Ser">Bully-Ser</a>] lists the traits of
   a "serial bully", paraphrased below:

   o  Jekyll and Hyde nature -- Dr Jekyll is 'charming' and
      'charismatic'; 'Hyde' is 'evil'

   o  Exploits the trust and needs of organizations and individuals, for
      personal gain

   o  Convincing liar -- Makes up anything to fit their needs at that
      moment

   o  Damages the health and reputations of organizations and
      individuals

   o  Reacts to criticism with Denial, Retaliation, Feigned Victimhood
      [<a href="#ref-Defensive">Defensive</a>], [<a href="#ref-MB-Misuse">MB-Misuse</a>]




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   o  Blames victims

   o  Apparently immune from disciplinary action

   o  Moves to a new target when the present one burns out

   Whether directed at classes or individuals, intimidation methods used
   can:

   o  Seem relatively passive, such as consistently ignoring a member

   o  Seem mild, such as with a quiet tone or language of condescension

   o  Be quite active, such as aggressively attacking what is said by
      the participant

   o  Be disingenuous, masking attacks in a passive-aggressive style

   If tolerated by others, and especially by those managing the group,
   these methods create a hostile work environment [<a href="#ref-Dealing" title="&quot;Dealing with Workplace Bullying: A practical guide for employees&quot;">Dealing</a>].

      When public harassment or bullying is tolerated, the hostile
      environment is not only for the person directly subject to the
      attacks.

      The harassment also serves to intimidate others who observe that
      it is tolerated.  It teaches them that misbehaviors will not be
      held accountable.

   The IETF's Anti-Harassment Policy [<a href="#ref-Anti-Harass">Anti-Harass</a>] uses a single term to
   cover the classic harassment of identified constituencies, as well as
   the targeted behavior of bullying.  The policy's text is therefore
   comprehensive, defining unacceptable behavior as "unwelcome hostile
   or intimidating behavior."  Further, it declares: "Harassment of this
   sort will not be tolerated in the IETF."  An avenue for seeking
   remedy when harassment occurs is specified as a designated
   Ombudsperson.

   Unified handling of bullying and harassment is exemplified in the
   policies of many different organizations, notably including those
   with widely varying membership, even to the point of open,
   international participation, similar to that of the IETF.  Examples
   include:

      Scouts Canada:
         Bullying/Harassment Policy [<a href="#ref-SC-Cybul" title="&quot;Bullying/Harassment Policy&quot;">SC-Cybul</a>]





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      IEEE:
         Code of Conduct [<a href="#ref-IEEE-Cybul">IEEE-Cybul</a>]

      Facebook:
         Community Standards [<a href="#ref-F-H-Cybul">F-H-Cybul</a>]

      LinkedIn:
         "Be Nice" in LinkedIn Professional Community Guidelines
         [<a href="#ref-L-H-Cybul">L-H-Cybul</a>]

      YouTube:
         Harassment and cyberbullying [<a href="#ref-Y-H-Cybul">Y-H-Cybul</a>]

      NetHui:
         Kaupapa and code of conduct [<a href="#ref-NetHui" title="&quot;Kaupapa and code of conduct&quot;">NetHui</a>]

      GeekFeminism:
         Conference anti-harassment: Adopting a policy [<a href="#ref-GeekFeminism">GeekFeminism</a>]

   In fact, there is a view that harassment is merely a form of
   bullying, given the same goal of undermining participation by the
   target:

      Sexual harassment is bullying or coercion of a sexual nature...
      [<a href="#ref-Wiki-SexHarass">Wiki-SexHarass</a>]

   The IETF has a long history of tolerating aggressive and even hostile
   behavior by participants.  So, this policy signals a formal and
   welcome change.  The obvious challenge is to make the change real,
   moving the IETF from a culture that tolerates -- or even encourages
   -- interpersonal misbehaviors to one that provides a safe,
   professional, and productive haven for its increasingly diverse
   community.

   Here again, examples abound, to the present:

   o  Amongst long-time colleagues, acceptable interpersonal style can
      be whatever the colleagues want, even though it might look quite
      off-putting to an observer.  The problem occurs when an IETF
      participant engages in such behaviors with, or in the presence of,
      others who have not agreed to the social contract of that
      relationship style and might not even understand it.  For these
      others, the behavior can be extremely alienating, creating a
      disincentive against participation.  Yet, in the IETF, it is
      common for participants to feel entitled to behave in overly
      familiar or aggressive or even hostile fashion that might be
      acceptable amongst colleagues, but is destructive with strangers.




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   o  The instant a comment is made that concerns any attribute of a
      speaker, such as their motives, the nature of their employer, or
      the quality of their participation style, the interaction has
      moved away from technical evaluation.  In many cultures, all such
      utterances are intimidating or offensive.  In an open,
      professional participation environment, they therefore cannot be
      permitted.

   o  As a matter of personal style or momentary enthusiasm, it is easy
      to indulge in condescending or dismissive commentary about
      someone's statements.  As a discussion technique, its function is
      to attempt to reduce the target's influence on the group.  Whether
      nonverbal (such as rolling one's eyes), paternalistic (such as
      noting the target's naivete), or overtly hostile (such as
      impugning the target's motives), it is an attempt to marginalize
      the person rather than focus on the merits of what they are
      saying.  It constitutes harassment or bullying.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-3" href="#section-3">3</a>.  Constructive Participation</span>

   The goal of open, diverse participation requires explicit and ongoing
   organizational effort, concerning group access, engagement, and
   facilitation.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-3.1" href="#section-3.1">3.1</a>.  Access</span>

   Aiding participants with access to IETF materials and discussions
   means that it is easy for them to:

   o  Know what exists

   o  Find what is of interest

   o  Retrieve documents or gain access to discussions

   o  Be able to understand the content

   After materials and discussions are located, the primary means of
   making it easy to access the substance of the work is for statements
   to be made in language that is clear and explanatory.  Writers and
   speakers need to carefully consider the likely audience and package
   statements accordingly.  This often means taking a more tutorial
   approach than one might naturally choose.  In speech, it means
   speaking more deliberately, a bit more clearly and a bit more slowly
   than needed with close collaborators.  When language is cryptic or
   filled with linguistic idiosyncrasies and when speech is too fast, it
   is dramatically less accessible to a diverse audience.




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<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-3.2" href="#section-3.2">3.2</a>.  Engagement</span>

   Once content is accessible, the challenge is to garner diverse
   contribution for further development.  Engagement means that it is
   easy for constructive participants to be heard and taken seriously
   through constructive interaction.

   Within the IETF, the most common challenge is choosing how to respond
   to comments.  The essence of the IETF is making proposals and
   offering comments on proposals; disagreement is common and often
   healthy, depending upon the manner in which disagreement is pursued.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-3.3" href="#section-3.3">3.3</a>.  Facilitation</span>

   In order to obtain the best technology, the best ideas need first to
   be harvested.  Processes that promote free-ranging discussion, tease
   out new ideas, and tackle concerns should be promoted.  This will
   also run to:

   o  Encouraging contributions from timid speakers

   o  Showing warmth for new contributors

   o  Preventing dominance by, or blind deference to, those perceived as
      the more senior and authoritative contributors

   o  Actively shutting down derogatory styles

   It is important that participants be facilitated in tendering their
   own ideas readily so that innovation thrives.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-3.4" href="#section-3.4">3.4</a>.  Balance</span>

   There is the larger challenge of finding balance between efforts to
   facilitate diversity versus efforts to achieve work goals.  Efforts
   to be inclusive include a degree of tutorial assistance for new
   participants.  They also include some tolerance for participants who
   are less efficient at doing the work.  Further, not everyone is
   capable of being constructive, and the burdens of accommodating such
   folk can easily become onerous.

   As an example, there can be tradeoffs with meeting agendas.  There is
   common pushback on having working group meetings be a succession of
   presentations.  For good efficiency, participants want to have just
   enough presentation to frame a question, and then spend face-to-face
   time in discussion.  However, "just enough presentation" does not





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   leave much room for tutorial commentary to aid those new to the
   effort.  Meeting time is always too short, and the primary
   requirement is to achieve forward progress.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-3.5" href="#section-3.5">3.5</a>.  IETF Track Record</span>

   The IETF's track record for making its technical documents openly
   available is notably superb, as is its official policy of open
   participation in mailing lists and meetings.  Its track record with
   management and process documentation is more varied, partly because
   these cover overhead functions, rather than being in the main line of
   IETF work and, therefore, expertise.  So, they do not always get
   diligent attention.  Factors include the inherent challenges in doing
   management by engineers, as well as challenges in making management
   and process documents usable for non-experts and non-native English
   speakers.

   On the surface, the IETF's track record for open access and
   engagement therefore looks astonishingly good, since there is no
   "membership", and anyone is permitted to join IETF mailing lists and
   attend IETF meetings.  Indeed, for those with good funding, time for
   travel, and skills at figuring out the IETF culture, the record
   really does qualify as excellent.

   However, very real challenges exist for those who have funding,
   logistics, or language limitations.  In particular, these impede
   attendance at meetings.  Another challenge is for those from more
   polite cultures who are alienated by the style of aggressive debate
   that is popular in the IETF.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-3.6" href="#section-3.6">3.6</a>.  Avoiding Distraction</span>

   For any one participant, some other participant's contributions might
   be considered problematic, possibly having little or no value.
   Worse, some contributions are in a style that excites a personal,
   negative reaction.

   The manner chosen for responding to such contributions dramatically
   affects group productivity.  Attacking the speaker's style or motives
   or credentials is not useful, and primarily serves to distract
   discussion from matters of substance.  In the face of such challenges
   and among the many possible ways to pursue constructive exchange,
   guidance includes:

   o  Ignore such contributions; perhaps someone else can produce a
      productive exchange, but there is no requirement that anyone
      respond.




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   o  Respond to the content, not the author; in the extreme, literally
      ignore the author and merely address the group about the content.

   o  Offer better content, including an explanation of the reasons it
      is better.

   The essential point here is that the way to have a constructive
   exchange about substance is to focus on the substance.  The way to
   avoid getting distracted is to ignore whatever is personal and
   irrelevant to the substance.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-4" href="#section-4">4</a>.  Responses to Unconstructive Participation</span>

   Sometimes problematic participants cannot reasonably be ignored.
   Their behavior is too disruptive, too offensive, or too damaging to
   group exchange.  Any of us might have a moment of excess, but when
   the behavior is too extreme or represents a pattern, it warrants
   intervention.

   A common view is that this should be pursued personally, but for such
   cases, it rarely has much effect.  This is where IETF management
   intervention is required.  The IETF now has a reasonably rich set of
   policies concerning problematic behavior.  So, the requirement is
   merely to exercise the policies diligently.  Depending on the
   details, the working group chair, mailing list moderator,
   Ombudsperson, or perhaps IETF Chair is the appropriate person to
   contact [<a href="#ref-MlLists" title="&quot;IESG Guidance on the Moderation of IETF Working Group Mailing Lists&quot;">MlLists</a>] [<a href="#ref-Anti-Harass">Anti-Harass</a>].

   The challenge, here, is for both management and the rest of the
   community to collaborate in communicating that harassment and
   bullying will not be tolerated.  The formal policies make that
   declaration, but they have no meaning unless they are enforced.

   Abusive behavior is easily extinguished.  All it takes is community
   resolve.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-5" href="#section-5">5</a>.  Security Considerations</span>

   The security of the IETF's role in the Internet community depends
   upon its credibility as an open and productive venue for
   collaborative development of technical documents.  More diverse
   scrutiny leads to increased rigor, so the quality of technical
   documents will potentially improve.  The potential for future legal
   liability in the various jurisdictions within which the IETF operates
   also indicates a need to act to reinforce behavioral policies with
   specific attention to workplace safety.





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<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-6" href="#section-6">6</a>.  References</span>

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-6.1" href="#section-6.1">6.1</a>.  Normative References</span>

   [<a id="ref-Anti-Harass">Anti-Harass</a>]
              IESG, "IETF Anti-Harassment Policy", November 2013,
              &lt;<a href="https://www.ietf.org/iesg/statement/ietf-anti-harassment-policy.html">https://www.ietf.org/iesg/statement/</a>
              <a href="https://www.ietf.org/iesg/statement/ietf-anti-harassment-policy.html">ietf-anti-harassment-policy.html</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-MlLists">MlLists</a>]  IESG, "IESG Guidance on the Moderation of IETF Working
              Group Mailing Lists", August 2000,
              &lt;<a href="https://www.ietf.org/iesg/statement/moderated-lists.html">https://www.ietf.org/iesg/statement/</a>
              <a href="https://www.ietf.org/iesg/statement/moderated-lists.html">moderated-lists.html</a>&gt;.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-6.2" href="#section-6.2">6.2</a>.  Informative References</span>

   [<a id="ref-Bully-Ser">Bully-Ser</a>]
              Tim Field Foundation, "Introduction to the Serial Bully:
              Serial Bully Traits", &lt;<a href="http://bullyonline.org/workbully/serial_introduction.htm">http://bullyonline.org/workbully/</a>
              <a href="http://bullyonline.org/workbully/serial_introduction.htm">serial_introduction.htm</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-Dealing">Dealing</a>]  Government of South Australia, "Dealing with Workplace
              Bullying: A practical guide for employees", Interagency
              Round Table on Workplace Bullying, South Australia, 2007,
              &lt;<a href="https://crana.org.au/uploads/pdfs/SAgov_bullying_employees.pdf">https://crana.org.au/uploads/pdfs/</a>
              <a href="https://crana.org.au/uploads/pdfs/SAgov_bullying_employees.pdf">SAgov_bullying_employees.pdf</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-Defensive">Defensive</a>]
              Bickham, I., "Defensive Communication",
              &lt;<a href="http://www.people-communicating.com/defensive-communication.html">http://www.people-communicating.com/</a>
              <a href="http://www.people-communicating.com/defensive-communication.html">defensive-communication.html</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-Div-Discuss">Div-Discuss</a>]
              IETF, "Diversity Discussion List", &lt;<a href="http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/diversity/current/maillist.html">http://www.ietf.org/</a>
              <a href="http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/diversity/current/maillist.html">mail-archive/web/diversity/current/maillist.html</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-Div-DT">Div-DT</a>]   IETF, "Diversity Design Team wiki", 2013,
              &lt;<a href="https://wiki.tools.ietf.org/group/diversity-dt/">https://wiki.tools.ietf.org/group/diversity-dt/</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-Escalated">Escalated</a>]
              Namie, G., "Workplace bullying: Escalated incivility",
              Ivey Business Journal 9B03TF09, November/December 2003.

   [<a id="ref-F-H-Cybul">F-H-Cybul</a>]
              Facebook, "Community Standards", 2015,
              &lt;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/communitystandards">https://www.facebook.com/communitystandards</a>&gt;.





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   [<a id="ref-GeekFeminism">GeekFeminism</a>]
              Geek Feminism Wiki, "Conference anti-harassment: Adopting
              a policy", &lt;<a href="http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Conference_anti-harassment">http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/</a>
              <a href="http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Conference_anti-harassment">Conference_anti-harassment</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-Har-Bul">Har-Bul</a>]  UK Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development,
              "Harassment and bullying at work", January 2015,
              &lt;<a href="http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/harassment-bullying-at-work.aspx">http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/</a>
              <a href="http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/harassment-bullying-at-work.aspx">harassment-bullying-at-work.aspx</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-Horowitz">Horowitz</a>] Horwitz, S. and I. Horwitz, "The Effects of Team Diversity
              on Team Outcomes: A Meta-Analytic Review of Team
              Demography", Journal of Management, Vol. 33 (6),
              p. 987-1015, DOI 10.1177/0149206307308587, December 2007.

   [<a id="ref-IAB">IAB</a>]      "Internet Architecture Board", &lt;<a href="https://www.iab.org/">https://www.iab.org/</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-IAOC">IAOC</a>]     "IETF Administrative Oversight Committee (IAOC)",
              &lt;<a href="https://iaoc.ietf.org/">https://iaoc.ietf.org/</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-IEEE-Cybul">IEEE-Cybul</a>]
              IEEE, "IEEE CODE OF CONDUCT", June 2014,
              &lt;<a href="https://www.ieee.org/about/ieee_code_of_conduct.pdf">https://www.ieee.org/about/ieee_code_of_conduct.pdf</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-IETF">IETF</a>]     IETF, "The Internet Engineering Task Force",
              &lt;<a href="https://www.ietf.org/">https://www.ietf.org/</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-Joshi">Joshi</a>]    Joshi, A. and H. Roh, "The Role of Context in Work Team
              Diversity Research: A Meta-Analytic Review", Academy of
              Management Journal, Vol. 52, No. 3, 599-627,
              DOI 10.5465/AMJ.2009.41331491, 2009,
              &lt;<a href="http://www.ilo.bwl.uni-muenchen.de/download/unterlagen-ws1415/josh-roh-2009.pdf">http://www.ilo.bwl.uni-muenchen.de/download/</a>
              <a href="http://www.ilo.bwl.uni-muenchen.de/download/unterlagen-ws1415/josh-roh-2009.pdf">unterlagen-ws1415/josh-roh-2009.pdf</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-Kellogg">Kellogg</a>]  Kellogg Insight, "Better Decisions Through Diversity:
              Heterogeneity can boost group performance", Kellogg School
              of Management, Northwestern University, Oct 2010,
              &lt;<a href="http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/better_decisions_through_diversity">http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/</a>
              <a href="http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/better_decisions_through_diversity">better_decisions_through_diversity</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-L-H-Cybul">L-H-Cybul</a>]
              LinkedIn, "LinkedIn Professional Community Guidelines",
              2015,
              &lt;<a href="https://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/34593">https://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/34593</a>&gt;.







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   [<a id="ref-MB-Misuse">MB-Misuse</a>]
              Rachel Burger, R., "Three Common Ways Libertarians Misuse
              Myers-Briggs Part 2: Misunderstanding the Feeling
              Preference", July 2013, &lt;<a href="http://thoughtsonliberty.com/three-common-ways-libertarians-misuse-myers-briggs-part-2-misunderstanding-the-feeling-preference">http://thoughtsonliberty.com/</a>
              <a href="http://thoughtsonliberty.com/three-common-ways-libertarians-misuse-myers-briggs-part-2-misunderstanding-the-feeling-preference">three-common-ways-libertarians-misuse-myers-briggs-part-2-</a>
              <a href="http://thoughtsonliberty.com/three-common-ways-libertarians-misuse-myers-briggs-part-2-misunderstanding-the-feeling-preference">misunderstanding-the-feeling-preference</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-NetHui">NetHui</a>]   InternetNZ, "Kaupapa and code of conduct", NetHui 2015,
              &lt;<a href="http://2015.nethui.nz/code-of-conduct">http://2015.nethui.nz/code-of-conduct</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-Prevention">Prevention</a>]
              WorkSafe Victoria, "Workplace bullying - prevention and
              response", October 2012,
              &lt;<a href="http://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/42893/WS_Bullying_Guide_Web2.pdf">http://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/</a>
              <a href="http://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/42893/WS_Bullying_Guide_Web2.pdf">pdf_file/0008/42893/WS_Bullying_Guide_Web2.pdf</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-SC-Cybul">SC-Cybul</a>] Scouts Canada, "Bullying/Harassment Policy", May 2012,
              &lt;<a href="http://www.scouts.ca/cys/policy-bullying-and-harassment.pdf">http://www.scouts.ca/cys/</a>
              <a href="http://www.scouts.ca/cys/policy-bullying-and-harassment.pdf">policy-bullying-and-harassment.pdf</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-Signs">Signs</a>]    Workplace Bullying Institute, "Employee Resource Council:
              20 Subtle Signs of Workplace Bullying", November 2013,
              &lt;<a href="http://www.workplacebullying.org/2013/11/10/erc/">http://www.workplacebullying.org/2013/11/10/erc/</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-Stahl">Stahl</a>]    Stahl, G., Maznevski, M., Voigt, A., and K. Jonsen,
              "Unraveling the effects of cultural diversity in teams: A
              meta-analysis of research on multicultural work groups",
              Journal of International Business Studies 41, 690-709,
              DOI 10.1057/jibs.2009.85, May 2010,
              &lt;<a href="http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jibs/journal/v41/n4/full/jibs200985a.html">http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jibs/journal/v41/n4/</a>
              <a href="http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jibs/journal/v41/n4/full/jibs200985a.html">full/jibs200985a.html</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-Wiki-SexHarass">Wiki-SexHarass</a>]
              Wikipedia, "Sexual harassment", November 2015,
              &lt;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sexual_harassment&amp;oldid=689426449">https://en.wikipedia.org/w/</a>
              <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sexual_harassment&amp;oldid=689426449">index.php?title=Sexual_harassment&amp;oldid=689426449</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-wikiHow">wikiHow</a>]  WikiHow, "How to Deal with Workplace Bullying and
              Harassment", November 2015, &lt;<a href="http://www.wikihow.com/index.php?title=Deal-with-Workplace-Bullying-and-Harassment&amp;oldid=18828395">http://www.wikihow.com/</a>
              <a href="http://www.wikihow.com/index.php?title=Deal-with-Workplace-Bullying-and-Harassment&amp;oldid=18828395">index.php?title=Deal-with-Workplace-Bullying-and-</a>
              <a href="http://www.wikihow.com/index.php?title=Deal-with-Workplace-Bullying-and-Harassment&amp;oldid=18828395">Harassment&amp;oldid=18828395</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-WiseCrowd">WiseCrowd</a>]
              Wikipedia, "The Wisdom of Crowds", November 2015,
              &lt;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Wisdom_of_Crowds&amp;oldid=689201384">https://en.wikipedia.org/w/</a>
              <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Wisdom_of_Crowds&amp;oldid=689201384">index.php?title=The_Wisdom_of_Crowds&amp;oldid=689201384</a>&gt;.





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   [<a id="ref-Workplace">Workplace</a>]
              "Workplace Bullying", YouTube video, 12:30, posted
              by "QualiaSoup", February 2013,
              &lt;<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAgg32weT80">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAgg32weT80</a>&gt;.

   [<a id="ref-Y-H-Cybul">Y-H-Cybul</a>]
              Google, "Harassment and cyberbullying - YouTube Help",
              2015, &lt;<a href="https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2801920?hl=en&amp;rd=1">https://support.google.com/youtube/</a>
              <a href="https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2801920?hl=en&amp;rd=1">answer/2801920?hl=en&amp;rd=1</a>&gt;.

Acknowledgements

   This document was prompted by the organizational change, signaled
   with the IESG's adoption of an anti-harassment policy for the IETF,
   and a number of follow-on activities and discussions that ensued.  A
   few individuals have offered thoughtful comments during private
   discussions.

   Comments on the original draft were provided by John Border and SM
   (Subramanian Moonesamy).

Authors' Addresses

   Dave Crocker
   Brandenburg InternetWorking
   675 Spruce Drive
   Sunnyvale, CA  94086
   United States

   Phone: +1.408.246.8253
   Email: dcrocker@bbiw.net


   Narelle Clark
   Pavonis Consulting
   C/- PO Box 1705
   North Sydney, NSW  2059
   Australia

   Phone: +61 412297043
   Email: narelle.clark@pavonis.com.au










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