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 IETF” (“Tao”) 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 easily”. 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, . 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, . [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, . [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, . [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, . [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, . [RFC6722] Hoffman, P., Ed., "Publishing the "Tao of the IETF" as a Web Page", RFC 6722, DOI 10.17487/RFC6722, August 2012, . 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]