Subject: IESG Statement On Oppressive or Exclusionary Language

From: The IESG <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2020 09:35:45 -0700

The IESG believes the use of oppressive or exclusionary language is 
harmful.  Such terminology is present in some IETF documents, including 
standards-track RFCs, and has been for many years. It is at odds with 
our objective of creating an inclusive and respectful environment in the 
IETF, and among readers of our documents.

The IESG realizes that the views of the community about this topic are 
not uniform. Determining an actionable policy regarding problematic 
language is an ongoing process. We wanted to highlight that initial 
discussions about this topic are taking place in the general area (a 
draft [1] is slated for discussion in GENDISPATCH [2] at IETF 108).  
Updating terminology in previously published RFCs is a complex endeavor, 
while making adjustments in the language used in our documents in the 
future should be more straightforward. 

The IESG looks forward to hearing more from the community, engaging in 
those discussions, and helping to develop a framework for handling this 
issue going forward.

[1] https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-knodel-terminology/
[2] https://www.ietf.org/proceedings/108/agenda/agenda-108-gendispatch-03