Hi Eric,

> The chairs proposed the poll with this wording. 

Okay… the chairs are proposing polls at the IETF TLS session asking people 
whether they want “draconian” moderation, which the dictionary defines as 
“going further than what is right or necessary” and for which the dictionary 
example is  "He criticized the draconian measures taken by the police in 
controlling the demonstrators.”

Finding that I’m unable to express in words how I feel about this, I was forced 
to take a photo of my face which I think captures it much better (I do not plan 
to make this a standard way of expressing myself) [1].

> I think people largely understood this to mean that the chairs should be 
> moderating more actively.

See, the problem is that this isn’t what will matter for the record. What 
matters for the record is (a) the wording of the poll (b) the results of the 
vote. I think that if people were misled to support a poll where the chairs got 
an overwhelming positive vote because they were told “oh, we’ll write draconian 
in the poll text but actually we just mean “more active””, then this is a 
serious mistake and those who voted on the poll were likely misled.

If that was the intended meaning and if everyone understood that “in context”, 
then why didn’t the chairs propose the poll as “Should chairs be more active in 
doing moderation”?

> I would suggest you watch the recording so you can see the discussion in 
> context.

Repeating my comments on “context” in the above paragraph, I also note that I 
don’t know where to find the recording. It’s not on the IETF YouTube channel 
(yet), which is where last year’s recording was.

[1] https://imgur.com/a/PCz0u5P 

Nadim Kobeissi
Symbolic Software • https://symbolic.software

> On 23 Jul 2026, at 11:54 AM, Eric Rescorla <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, Jul 23, 2026 at 2:49 AM Nadim Kobeissi <[email protected]> 
> wrote:
>> Hi everyone,
>> 
>> Thanks Rich for these meeting notes.
>> 
>> I’m a bit alarmed at the following item in the notes:
>> 
>> "Poll: Should chairs be more draconian in doing moderation? y/n/no-opinion 
>> 65/2/7”
>> 
>> The Cambridge Dictionary defines “draconian” as “goes further than what is 
>> right or necessary”. Um… is “draconian” really the term that was used by the 
>> poll?
> 
> Yes. 
> 
>> And were those really the results of the poll?
> 
> Plus or minus. It takes a while for the session to be posted, so I don't have 
> the exact numbers to hand to verify, but I assume Rich transcribed this in 
> real time.
> 
>  
>> Who proposed a poll where the chairs are being asked to “go further than 
>> what is right or necessary”,
> 
> The chairs proposed the poll with this wording. There was a bit of discussion 
> about the wording, IIRC, and I think people largely understood this to mean 
> that the chairs should be moderating more actively.
> 
>  
>> and who’s supporting this?
> 
> People's individual positions aren't recorded, but a number of people 
> expressed support for more active moderation, including me.
> 
> 
>> This is creepy to say the least.
> 
> I don't think so. I would suggest you watch the recording so you can see the 
> discussion in context.
> 
> -Ekr
>  
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