Q: What is Gen-ART?
A: The General Area Review Team. They provide generalist reviews for the General Area director (currently the IETF Chair), providing an additional set of eyes for documents as they are being considered for publication.
Q: Who is Gen-ART?
A: The current membership list is maintained at https://datatracker.ietf.org/group/genart/about/
Q: How can I join the Gen-ART review team?
A: Interested volunteers should contact the General Area Director and/or secretary, listed on the membership page.
Q: What does the Gen-ART secretary do and how do I find him/her?
A: The Gen-ART secretary is also listed on the membership page. The Gen-ART secretary tracks documents submitted for publication and assigns them to reviewers.
Q: Why is my document being reviewed?
A: Three possible answers:
Q: How was my Gen-ART reviewer selected?
A: Your Gen-ART reviewer was the next available reviewer selected from a list of Gen-ART reviewers. The Gen-ART reviewer provides a generalist review, and is not expected to be an expert in your draft's particular area. A fresh set of eyes on a draft can provide valuable feedback, and a Gen-ART reviewer may recuse his or herself if they are too close to the subject matter. The Gen-ART reviewer who reviewed your draft at IETF Last Call will also review your draft when it is placed on the Telechat, if the draft has been revised and there is sufficient time between LC end and the Telechat deadline to provide a review.
Q: Are the reviews public or private?
A: The reviews are sent to the Gen-ART mailing list (which includes the General Area director). Ordinarily, copies are sent to authors/editors, shepherding ADs, document shepherds, working group chairs, and may be sent to the IETF discussion list. Gen-ART archives are publicly viewable at https://datatracker.ietf.org/group/genart/archives/.
Q: Are Gen-ART comments binding?
A: Only if IESG review process makes them so - i.e., if the General Area director agrees with the comments and incorporates them in the IESG ballot as "DISCUSS" comments. Gen-ART does not have a formal role in the standards approval process - we're simply providing input for the General Area director who is deciding how to ballot the document. If the General Area director agrees with a serious concern expressed in a Gen-ART review, and uses it as the basis for a "DISCUSS", the General Area director may later ask the Gen-ART reviewer, "does the new version of the draft address your concerns?" See the next question for when to produce a new version.
Q: I have comments from a Gen-ART reviewer - do I revise the document immediately?
A: Not unless your AD/document shepherd asks you to revise the document. Some comments may be resolved with Notes to the RFC Editor, and the IESG may choose to approve the document without requiring changes to address all Gen-ART comments, since Gen-ART reviews are not a formal part of the approval review cycle. The AD/document shepherd may also prefer to complete the entire approval review cycle before requesting an updated version of the document, in order to avoid confusion about exactly what version is being last-called, reviewed and approved. In no case should you submit an updated version of the document without consulting the AD/document shepherd.
Q: What if the Gen-ART reviewer is just flat wrong?
A: The General Area director understands that these are reviews by generalists who are not experts in every protocol the IETF works on, plus security and MIBs. If you disagree with comments, say so. The gen-art reviewers want to hear feedback. They want to learn more about your area, and appreciate feedback about how helpful their comments are. And always remember that the IESG ballot position is called "DISCUSS", a request to have a discussion; see https://www.ietf.org/about/groups/iesg/statements/handling-ballot-positions/.
Q: Is there any written Gen-ART procedure?
A: In addition to this wiki, see http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6385.txt.
The content of this page was last updated on 2018-05-01. It was migrated from the old Trac wiki on 2023-01-24.