Joes, > Then again, having these deadlines at all is a bit silly. > > It just forces authors to "informally distribute" updates directly on > the list, and cuts off access to work that doesn't need to happen in > sync with an IETF meeting.
I agree with your point to a large extent, but I'm sure there are reasons. On the one hand, having a cut-off time could help WG chairs make a decision as to whether to entertain a discussion on a draft. On the other hand, having no cut-off date might mean that drafts are submitted extremely late and it makes it more challenging or impossible to prepare an agenda. Perhaps having a "soft" cut-off is more reasonable. If the document is "late", then it would be up to the WG chair to decide whether to entertain it. If there are no documents by the deadline, the chair could decide to cancel the meeting. What one would not want, though, are hundreds of drafts submitted the night before the IETF meeting starts with some expectation of discussion time. Paul
