In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Ll
oyd Wood writes:
>On Fri, 23 Mar 2001, Steven M. Bellovin wrote:
>
>> We're getting far afield, but "tourist" refers to someone who attends
>> and possibly tries to participate in working groups without having done
>> their homework. I've lost track of how many times this week I heard "I
>> haven't read the drafts, but..." or "Did you read the draft? No,
>> but..."
>
>But isn't cross-group fertilisation and wider exposure of work
>supposed to be good for the open process and peer review?
>
>(A stupid idea often remains a stupid idea, whether you've read the
>draft describing it or not.)
Of *course* we want wide exposure and cross-group fertilization. And
we also want to educate newcomers. But a WG meeting is generally not
the right place to do it. And although stupid ideas need to be
criticized, what we're often dealing with is the least-bad choice in an
over-constrained situation. You need background to know what questions
have already been asked (and answered).
--Steve Bellovin, http://www.research.att.com/~smb
