[sigcomm] attendance policies for SIGCOMM-affiliated events

[Scott Shenker]

There's no doubt that some of the issues we are discussing here are  
important, but I think we've ignored part of the story. A few years  
ago, Larry and David came up with the idea of creating a new kind of  
networking conference that became Hotnets.  I don't think anyone can  
reasonably question that Hotnets has been of great benefit to the  
field as a whole in terms of spurring discussions of new topics and  
new approaches; many people (myself included) consider it to be the  
most interesting networking conference our community has.  Moreover,  
I don't think Hotnets, at least not in recent years, has been a  
significant drain on SIGCOMM resources (Jen, please correct me if I'm  
wrong), nor do I think there have been cases of discretion-abuse by  
the PC chairs.  All in all, there seems little doubt that Hotnets has  
been a huge plus for the community.  I hope, in all our complaining,  
we don't forget all the good that has come from Hotnets, nor forget  
to thank Larry and David for taking the initiative to do something of  
great benefit for the community.  Given its focus on gripes, not  
gratitude, I'd say the discussion on this list only reinforces the  
maxim that no good deed goes unpunished.