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tags:
  - IETF
  - quote
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We reject: kings, presidents and voting.
We believe in: <mark>rough consensus and running code.</mark>

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![Screenshot of slides](/assets/2025/rough-consenus-running-code.png)

> The standards elephant of yesterday - OSI
> 
> The standards elephant of today - it's right here.
> 
> As the Internet and its community grows, how do we manage the process of change and growth?
> * Open process -- let all voices be heard.
> * Closed process -- make progress
> * Quick process -- keep up with reality.
> * Slow process -- leave time to think
> * Market drive process -- the future is commercial
> * Scaling driven process -- the future is the Internet

Clark, D., "A Cloudy Crystal Ball - Visions of theFuture", Proceedings of the Twenty-Fourth Internet Engineering Task Force, pages 539-543, July 1992, <[http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/24.pdf](http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/24.pdf)>.



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See also [[RFC7282]], On Consensus and Humming in the [[IETF]]