The Council of Elrond

re: The Council of Elrond

Barry Leiba — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:30:12 GMT

No, no, it's a very good analogy, really. I'm the IETF DKIM working group chair, am about to be the IETF liaison to MAAWG, and have attended MAAWG before... and as I read what you were saying about the LotR stuff I was chuckling and nodding.

The difference is that not only are <i>you</i> no Frodo, there <i>is</i> no Frodo. So it's all the council of Elrond without the innocent, likable, believable Hobbits to go with it.

The good part is that even though at first, every argument starts as you describe, after a bit of chipping away, some side discussions, some mediation and some rumination... these organizations do usually come to consensus on something useful.

re: The Council of Elrond

tzink — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:40:02 GMT

Thanks, Barry. I'm glad you can relate.

re: The Council of Elrond

J.D. — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:45:58 GMT

Yep, very apt indeed. You may be invited to give the next keynote. *grin*

In MAAWG's case, when agreement is reached it usually results in a document published on maawg.org; though hard to find in the current site design (boring-looking text links on the lower right), we try to make sure they're easier to understand than the Silmarillion.

re: The Council of Elrond

Ken Simpson — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:55:47 GMT

MAAWG is actually quite well funded and organized as these things go. Your analogy to lotr is insightful. But I think it would be sad if we were to win the battle because then where would us Antispam geeks go for a good time?

re: The Council of Elrond

Mike O'Reirdan — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:56:55 GMT

Very amusing, I have just spent a few minutes trying to associate Board Members with the LOTR characters, I know who I would like to be, but am not sure anyone would agree :) Seriously though, we do achieve results and it is because intelligent, helpful and thoughtful people put in a great deal of work and effort and one thing I always got out of LOTR was that you had to work as a team.