[sigcomm] attendance policies for SIGCOMM-affiliated events

[Jay Lepreau]

Some quick comments (not in the form you requested).

Some of this I said at the microphone at the SIGCOMM business meeting.

0. I have long experience with the closed WWoS/HotOS, the closest
precursor to HotNets.  I've always liked it and found it valuable,
as I did the first HotNets.

BUT:

1. Open is obviously the appropriate default for an academic/research
venue.  All sponsored gatherings should be open if possible.  Closed should
have the burden of proof.  That is consistent with your proposed policy.

2. I'm not at all sure that limiting attendance at the ~65 level is
required to maintain the good aspects of the Hot* workshops.  There
are lots of arguments why allowing more attendees might not have
have a significant negative impact.  Many of those arguments have
been stated here; I could add more.

3. I expect that many or most of us are uncertain on the effect.
We're researchers, so let's find out!  We should experiment-- try
one or two open HotNets.  If they suffer significantly, go back to closed.

4. The point about the year-to-year degree of turnover among attendees
was brought up.  In the spirit of transparency, we can allow people
to study that issue by publishing attendee lists, from all 4 HotNets
and future ones.

5. Sponsorship and risks:  this is a non-factor, for Usenix is always
a great option for sponsorship and imposes no "openess" rules.  In fact,
HotOS was started under IEEE sponsorship, and is now Usenix-sponsored.