Tao-Discuss N. ten Oever
Internet-Draft University of Amsterdam
Intended status: Informational G. Wood
Expires: 14 June 2024 IETF Administration LLC
12 December 2023
Retiring the Tao of the IETF
draft-tenoever-tao-retirement-00
Abstract
This document retires the Tao of the IETF as an IETF-maintained
document. It includes the rationale for the retirement and the last
edition of the Tao as published via the process described in
[RFC6722]. The updated content of the Tao will continue to be
updated on the website in a more accessible manner.
Status of This Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute
working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-
Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.
Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."
This Internet-Draft will expire on 14 June 2024.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2023 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/
license-info) 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. Code Components
extracted from this document must include Revised BSD License text as
described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are
provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.
ten Oever & Wood Expires 14 June 2024 [Page 1]
Internet-Draft Retiring the Tao of the IETF December 2023
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Reasons for Retirement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3. Infrequent updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
4. Unweildly format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
5. Changing participation modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
6. New communications opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
7. Going forward plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
8. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
9. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
10. Last Edition of the Tao . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
11. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
12. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
13. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
13.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
13.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1. Introduction
Since its publication as [RFC1391] in 1993, The “Tao of the IETFâ€
(“Taoâ€) has described the inner workings of IETF meetings and Working
Groups, discussed organizations related to the IETF, and introduced
the working processes to new participants. The Tao never was a
formal IETF process document, but rather a community-developed and
maintained informational overview. After the Tao was published as an
RFC for 13 years, it was published as a webpage for over a decade
following the process described in [RFC6722]. However, the Tao did
not keep up with the changes in the processes of the community and
the organization, and thereby ceased to be a reliable source of
information. We gratefully want to acknowledge all the individuals
who contributed to the Tao over the years. The changing nature of
IETF participation, a better understanding of how to most effectively
convey information to new participants, and experience with
publishing the Tao as a webpage all suggest a new approach to
collecting, updating, and communicating the information new
participants need to engage in the work of the IETF successfully.
This document formally retires the “Tao of the IETF†as a single
standalone document.
2. Reasons for Retirement
In short, the breadth of topics covered in the Tao, the unpredictable
and different schedule for updates to the topics, and the high
overhead for revising and reviewing the content did not match the
needs or preferences of the intended audience of the Tao.
ten Oever & Wood Expires 14 June 2024 [Page 2]
Internet-Draft Retiring the Tao of the IETF December 2023
3. Infrequent updates
The Tao was originally published as [RFC1391] in January 1993. In
the following 17 years, four additional versions of the Tao were
published as RFCs: [RFC1539] in October 1998, [RFC1718] in November
1994, [RFC3160] in August 2001, and [RFC4677] in September 2006. In
August 2012, [RFC4677] was published to document the process for
publishing the Tao as webpage so that it “can be updated more
easilyâ€. However, in the subseqent 11 years, only four additional
versions were published. The length of the Tao meant that review and
approval of the entire document took considerable effort and time,
leading to very infrequent updates.
4. Unweildly format
The large, consolidated document format of the Tao made for a heavy
investment by readers, in addition to the difficulty editors faced
keeping pace with the changes required to keep it current. For
example, the emergence of IETF Hackathons popularity with new
participants prompted an update, however, that content was
effectively buried in an already long document.
5. Changing participation modes
The original Tao aimed to welcome new participants to IETF meetings,
as attendance grew rapidly along with the growth of the Internet in
the 1990s. Other avenues for initial participation in the IETF
emerged over the ensuing decades, the main focus of the Tao remained
on in-person meeting participation. For example, remote
participation in IETF meetings has become a much more significant
aspect in the past few years.
6. New communications opportunities
* More focused guides, for example on IETF Hackathon participation,
starting new work
* Alternative formats, e.g. multiple shorter documents, on-demand
video
* New channels for communications, e.g. blog posts, improved
Datatracker, podcasts, slack, etc.
ten Oever & Wood Expires 14 June 2024 [Page 3]
Internet-Draft Retiring the Tao of the IETF December 2023
7. Going forward plan
The content of the Tao has already been integrated into the website
of the IETF, which is the main channel of communication for IETF
newcomers and a general audience. The content is continuously kept
up to date with a variety of media to serve different audiences. The
IETF seeks to ensure that the website continues to address the needs
of our ever-evolving community and potential newcomers.
8. Conclusion
In short, the Tao coverage of a wide range of topics, the
unpredictable and different schedule for updates to the topics, and
the high overhead for revising and reviewing the content, means that
the document required a lot of effort to maintain and was commonly
out of date, and thus did not serve its intended purpose.
9. Acknowledgements
The next phase of work to welcome new participants to the IETF builds
on and gratefully acknowledges, everyone who has contributed to the
Tao, and other efforts to help newcomers to the IETF become engaged
and productive participants.
We acknowledgements of all past Tao of the IETF editors:
* Gary Scott Malkin
* Sue Harris
* Paul Hoffman
* Kathleen Moriarty
* Niels ten Oever
We also acknowledge all the work of the translators that made the Tao
accessible to many different audiences.
10. Last Edition of the Tao
For archival purposes, the last edition of the Tao as published under
the process described in RFC6722 is included below. Note that links
to the Tao and archives below may not work in the future.
[Insert from here: https://github.com/ietf/tao/blob/main/Tao.md]
ten Oever & Wood Expires 14 June 2024 [Page 4]
Internet-Draft Retiring the Tao of the IETF December 2023
11. Security Considerations
This document has no security considerations.
12. IANA Considerations
This document has no IANA actions.
13. References
13.1. Normative References
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.
13.2. Informative References
[RFC1391] Malkin, G., "The Tao of the IETF: A Guide for New
Attendees of the Internet Engineering Task Force",
RFC 1391, DOI 10.17487/RFC1391, January 1993,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1391>.
[RFC1539] Malkin, G., "The Tao of IETF - A Guide for New Attendees
of the Internet Engineering Task Force", RFC 1539,
DOI 10.17487/RFC1539, October 1993,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1539>.
[RFC1718] IETF and G. Malkin, "The Tao of IETF - A Guide for New
Attendees of the Internet Engineering Task Force",
RFC 1718, DOI 10.17487/RFC1718, November 1994,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1718>.
[RFC3160] Harris, S., "The Tao of IETF - A Novice's Guide to the
Internet Engineering Task Force", RFC 3160,
DOI 10.17487/RFC3160, August 2001,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3160>.
[RFC4677] Hoffman, P. and S. Harris, "The Tao of IETF - A Novice's
Guide to the Internet Engineering Task Force", RFC 4677,
DOI 10.17487/RFC4677, September 2006,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4677>.
[RFC6722] Hoffman, P., Ed., "Publishing the "Tao of the IETF" as a
Web Page", RFC 6722, DOI 10.17487/RFC6722, August 2012,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6722>.
ten Oever & Wood Expires 14 June 2024 [Page 5]
Internet-Draft Retiring the Tao of the IETF December 2023
Authors' Addresses
Niels ten Oever
University of Amsterdam
Email: mail@nielstenoever.net
Greg Wood
IETF Administration LLC
Email: ghwood@staff.ietf.org
ten Oever & Wood Expires 14 June 2024 [Page 6]