Experimental Procedure for Long Term Suspensions from Mailing Lists

This procedure is a procedure for mailing list suspensions under the RFC 4633 experiment. This procedure applies to all IETF mailing lists that are covered by RFC 4633. The IESG approved this procedure on 2006-08-31.

When area directors are involved in a situation where an IETF mailing list is undergoing disruption, they first work with interested parties to try and find a constructive solution to the underlying problem that leads to the disruption. This often involves talking to the disruptive parties to make sure their concerns are understood as well as to inform them of expected rules of conduct. When such constructive solutions fail to work and when a 30-day suspension has been tried and failed, the IESG may approve a posting-rights suspension of up to six months for a named set of individuals from the affected mailing lists. The IESG may delegate the authority to re-suspend some or all of the named individuals to the mailing list manager or area director should these delegates determine that disruption has resumed after the suspension expires. In no event shall a suspension last for more than six months nor shall any suspension last beyond the end of the RFC 4633 experiment.

Whenever a suspension or re-suspension is made under this procedure, a notice must be sent to the affected mailing lists announcing who has been suspended.

Any IESG member may ask to have a delegate's decision to re-suspend an individual reviewed by the whole IESG. This review should be much less formal than an appeal; it should be treated as the same sort of review that the IESG would perform if it had received a request to re-suspend an individual in a case where this authority was not re-delegated. The suspension remains in force during such a review.