Frequently Asked Questions concerning
IEEE 802.3 Balloting and Comment collection procedures

This FAQ will attempt to answer the most commonly asked questions about the balloting process, and provide some additional explanatory material.

Click on any of the links below to see the FAQs.

• What is the deadline for comments?
• What is the deadline for ballots?
• How do I become a "voter"?
• Who can submit comments?
• Who can submit ballots?
• Who must submit ballots?
• What's the difference between an "Approve" and a "Disapprove" ballot?
• What obligations are associated with a "Disapprove" ballot?
• Why do we have all these "Abstain" categories?
• How do I submit comments?
• How do I decide whether a comment is Editorial, Technical, or Technical Required?
• What if I have a comment of a global or general nature?
• What happens to comments after I submit them?
• Can I submit comments before I submit a ballot?
• Can I submit comments after I submit a ballot?
• Can I change my mind and submit another ballot?
• What are the rules for closure and passage of Working Group ballots?
• What are the rules for closure and passage of Sponsor ballots?
• What is a Recirculation ballot?
• What is the Recirculation Ballot process?
• What are the rules for passage of a Recirculation ballot?
• What is "Piling on?"
• Why are these people "Hound Dogging" me? How do I make them stop?

What is the deadline for comments?

The deadline will be contained in the ballot announcement. However, the best thing that you as a commenter can do to help the Task Force is to submit your comments as early as possible. Every additional day that the editor(s) have to work on drafting responses will help. Please take this to heart, and please don't delay in submitting your comments.

What is the deadline for ballots?

The deadline will be contained in the ballot announcement. Please submit your ballot as soon as possible.

How do I become a "voter"?

If you wish to vote on an IEEE 802.3 draft standard at the Working Group Ballot stage you need to be a member of the IEEE 802.3 Working Group. If you wish to vote on an IEEE 802.3 draft standard at the Sponsor Ballot stage you need to either be a member of the IEEE Standards Association, or pay an equivalent per ballot fee, and join the particular balloting group.

Who can submit comments?

Anyone may submit comments. This includes Voters, and the public at large. All comments received before the close of ballot have to be considered, comments after the close of ballot may or may not be considered. Only DISAPPROVE comments from Voters are considered binding. The Working Group is obligated to respond to each such binding comment and should the commenter be unstaisfied with the response, the comment must be included in a recirculation. Common sense dictates that a real technical deficiency in the document must be addressed, regardless of who brings the deficiency to the attention of the Working Group.

If you wish to submit comments on a project but are not a voter please submit the comments in accordance with the instructions in the ballot announcement. If you are unable to do this for some reason please submit your comments to the IEEE 802.3 Working Group Chair. In either case comments must be submitted prior to the deadline for comments.

Who can submit ballots?

Voters are entitled to submit ballots.

Who must submit ballots?

Voters are obligated to submit ballots.

See also certain obligations concerning Recirculation Ballots.

What's the difference between an "Approve" and a "Disapprove" ballot?

Approve (Affirmative). This vote may be accompanied by comments suggesting corrections and improvements (Approve w/ Comments). Action on such comments is left to the discretion of the Working Group.

Disapprove (Negative). This vote shall be accompanied by specific reasons in sufficient detail so that the specific wording of the changes that will cause the negative voter to change his or her vote to "approve" can readily be determined.

What obligations are associated with a "Disapprove" ballot?

Voters who cast ballots marked "Disapprove" must provide specific Technical Required comments as the basis for their ballot. As with all other comments, a specific remedy must also be provided.

Voters who cast ballots marked "Disapprove" will receive a response which has been discussed and approved by the IEEE 802.3 WG (or its designated delegate, the Task Force). The voter will then be obligated to state, in writing, whether the response is acceptable and satisfies his or her comment. If all of the TR comments associated with a Disapprove ballot are satisfied, the voter is expected to convert their ballot to "Approve with Comments".

See also certain obligations concerning Recirculation Ballots.

Why do we have all these "Abstain" categories?

There are three categories for "Abstain" ballots. Note that ballots marked "Abstain" (regardless of the reason for the abstension) do count towards satisfying the 50% return requirement.

Abstain For Lack of Time is used when a voter wants to respond to the ballot, but simply lacks the time to give the document a thorough review. Abstain for lack of time does not discharge one's obligation to return ballots.

Abstain For Lack of Expertise is used when a voter feels that they don't have the required expertise to form an opinion about the state of the document.

Abstain Other requires a brief additional explanation. This is usually used when a voter encounters some extrordinary cirmstance that would normally inhibit them from casting a ballot, but wishes to return their ballot anyway. Abstain other may not discharge one's obligation to return ballots.

How do I submit comments?

The preferred mechanism for Working Group Ballot is to use the Balloting Tool which will be placed on the IEEE 802.3 web site. The URL to access the tool will be supplied in the Ballot Announcement. This file output is normally then imported into a database. By using this tool, you will help the Working Group address each of your comments in a timely and accurate fashion. The Balloting Tool executable is designed for systems capable of running Windows based programs. For those with systems unable to open and use the Balloting Tool executable, an ASCII version of the ballot form for use with e-mail is provided.

For Sponsor Ballot a Web page is provided where comments may be submitted either individually or as a file for bulk comments.

How do I decide whether a comment is Editorial, Technical, or Technical Required?

Editorial comments are those comments concerning spelling, punctuation, grammar, and style. In addition, if the essence of the comment and remedy are that some text should be reworded, without altering the technical meaning of the text, then the comment should be labled as "Editorial".

Technical comments are those comments which affect the technical requirements identified in the document (i.e., sentences with the word "shall" in them). In addition, changes to parameters, values, tables, or figures that alter their meaning or substance should also be associated with Technical comments. As an example, consider the following sentence:

The value of Rmax shall be 1.5 k +/- 5%.

If a commenter wished to point out that an "omega" symbol was missing in this sentence, it would be appropriate to submit an Editorial comment to that effect.

If a commenter wished to suggest a different value for Rmax, say 2 k ohms, it would be appropriate to submit a Technical comment to that effect.

Technical Required comments are those comments which a voter feels must be addressed before they can convert their ballot from "Disapprove" to "Approve with Comments". In the example above, if a voter felt that the change to 2 k ohms was essential, it would be appropriate for them to submit a Technical Required comment to that effect, and to mark their ballot "Disapprove".

What if I have a comment of a global or general nature?

If you have a comment which affects many subclauses (for instance, a spelling or gramatical error which appears multiple times in the document) use the Clause number "00" in the "Clause" field. This will remind the editors to perform a global search and replace operation. This Clause number should not be used for technical issues, because technical changes should be given more thorough evaluation, lest they be made inappropriately.

What happens to comments after I submit them?

Wonderous and magical things, indeed. Comments submitted are normally loaded into a database. The editor(s) will have the responsibility of drafting a proposed response for each of the comments. The editor(s) may solicit the assistance of any one they wish in performing this task. These responses will be accepted or revised as necessary, by the Task Force at its next meeting.

Once the Task Force reaches agreement on the proposed response, it will be formally accepted by the Task Force, and any required changes to the document will be made in the next draft. The comment and response will also be posted on a WWW page for all the world to see.

Can I submit comments before I submit a ballot?

No problem. In fact, we encourage it. Go ahead and start submitting your comments as soon as you can. You can follow up with your ballot at any point before the deadline.

Can I submit comments after I submit a ballot?

You can do it, but all comments must be received prior to the deadline.

Can I change my mind and submit another ballot?

This practice is discouraged by the IEEE Balloting Services Department.

After the deadline has passed you can withdraw a comment or "Disapprove" ballot but you may not enter a new "Disapprove" ballot or change an "Approve" or "Approve w/ Comment" ballot to "Disapprove" on the initial Sponsor ballot. However, the Recirculation ballot stage does provide a window of opportunity for you to change your ballot to "Disapprove".

What are the rules for closure and passage of Working Group ballots?

Once the deadline has been reached, the ballots received are counted. At least 50% of the voting members of the Working Group must return their ballots in order for the ballot to close successfully. If less than 50% of the ballots are returned, we have a problem.

The ballot will stand approved if the ratio:

is greater than or equal to 0.75 (75% approval rate)

Note that "Abstensions" don't count in the demominator.

If the ballot stands approved, life is good. We work on comment resolution, and focus on resolving the technical deficiencies in the document. We will make every effort to address the concerns of the voters who cast "Disapprove" ballots, and we will make every effort to address the comments from the voters who cast "Approve w/ Comments" ballots. Note that while it is IEEE 802.3 practice to address every comment, the rules only require us to address the comments of Working Group voting members.

Once comment resolution has been completed, we will reassess the approval rate, because it is expected that some of the "Disapprove" ballots will convert to "Approve w/ Comments" as a result of the comment resolution process. At this point, the approval rate is usually higher than the initial approval rate. In some cases, it has been unanimous. However, we aren't done yet, because a Recirculation ballot may be required.

If the ballot fails to garner a 75% approval rate, we have a problem. We will attempt to address the concerns of the voters who cast "Disapprove" ballots, in the hopes of getting enough of them to convert their ballots to "Approve w/ Comments" for the ballot to pass. At the same time, we must take care to heed the will of the majority, and maintain consensus.

What are the rules for closure and passage of Sponsor ballots?

Once the deadline has been reached, the ballots received are counted. At least 75% of the voting members of the Sponsor Ballot group must return their ballots in order for the ballot to close successfully. If less than 75% of the ballots are returned, we have a problem.

The ballot will stand approved if the ratio:

is greater than or equal to 0.75 (75% approval rate)

Note that "Abstensions" don't count in the demominator.

If the ballot stands approved, life is good. We work on comment resolution, and focus on resolving the technical deficiencies in the document. We will make every effort to address the concerns of the voters who cast "Disapprove" ballots, and we will make every effort to address the comments from the voters who cast "Approve w/ Comments" ballots. Note that while it is IEEE 802.3 practice to address every comment, the rules only require us to address the comments of voting members of the Sponsor Ballot group.

Once comment resolution has been completed, we will reassess the approval rate, because it is expected that some of the "Disapprove" ballots will convert to "Approve w/ Comments" as a result of the comment resolution process. At this point, the approval rate is usually higher than the initial approval rate. In some cases, it has been unanimous. However, we aren't done yet, because a Recirculation ballot may be required.

If the ballot fails to garner a 75% approval rate, we have a problem. We will attempt to address the concerns of the voters who cast "Disapprove" ballots, in the hopes of getting enough of them to convert their ballots to "Approve w/ Comments" for the ballot to pass. At the same time, we must take care to heed the will of the majority, and maintain consensus.

What is a Recirculation Ballot?

Once the initial ballot has closed and stands approved, it is expected that some technical changes may have to be made to the document in order to resolve comments. It is also possible that there may remain some Technical Required comments associated with "Disapprove" ballots that have not been resolved to the satisfaction of the commenter. This might occcur, for instance, if the commenter's SuggestedRemedy is at odds with the consensus of the rest of the Working Group.

If either technical changes have been made to the document, or if unresolved Technical Required comments exist, then the document must be sent out for a Recirculation Ballot. This ballot is sent to all of the original members of the ballot group, including all voters and observers . Any unresolved Technical Required comments, along with the response to such comments as adopted by the Working Group, must also be included with the Recirculation Ballot, so that all members of the ballot group have a chance to see them.

What is the Recirculation Ballot process?

The duration of a Recirculation Ballot is usually much shorter than the initial ballot because there should be substantially less material to review. The same ballot form and response categories are used for Recirculation Ballots as for the initial ballot. However, there is an important difference in the ballot procedure. During a Recirculation Ballot, it is not necessary to return the ballot, unless a voter wishes to change his or her vote (in either direction). If they do return a ballot, then the new ballot supercedes the ballot cast during the initial ballot. If they do not return a ballot, then the ballot they cast during the initial ballot stands as the official record of their vote. Voters who cast "Disapprove" ballots during the initial ballot are expected to respond and change their ballot to "Approve w/ Comments" if their comments have been resolved to their satisfaction.

As a consequence, it should be obvious that there is no return rate requirement for Recirculation Ballots, and by definition, they always close. Also note that as a consequence of restricting the Recirculation Ballot document to those areas which have undergone technical changes, the only areas which are considered "fair game" for new comments during a Recirculation Ballot are the areas which underwent change from the initial ballot draft or were the subject of a rejected disapprove.

What are the rules for passage of a Recirculation Ballot?

After a Recirculation Ballot closes, the approval rate is reassessed. The same formula is used to calculate a final approval rate. If the final approval rate is greater than or equal to 75%, and if no new "Disapprove" ballots were received during the recirculation, and no new technical deficiencies identified in the document, the document may be forwarded to the next level of balloting in the case of a Working Group ballot or onto approval by the Standards Board in the case of a Sponsor Ballot.

The primary goal during a Recirculation Ballot is to maintain consensus, on the assumptions that consensus was reflected by the outcome of the initial ballot, and that the primary responsibility of the Working Group is to respect the wishes of the majority. Furthermore, though the Working Group must perform a Recirculation under the circumstances described above, it is also obligated to move the document forward through the standards process once consensus has been achieved. Thus, Recirculation Ballots are to be performed without delay.

What is "Piling on" ?

If during a Recirculation Ballot you see an unresolved Technical Required comment that you decide you agree with then you can change your current (assumed to be) "Approve" vote to "Disapprove" to "Pile On". A Technical Required comment that may have been rejected on the initial ballot might get accepted after a Recirculation Ballot if (1) enough folks pile on or (2) additional convincing rationale shows up in support of the unresolved comment.

Why are these people "Hound Dogging" me? How do I make them stop?

A all-volunteer Hound Dog force may be charged with the task of pestering the voting membership of the ballot group to beg, plead with, cajole, (did I mention beg) them to return their ballots. With the monumental return requirement faced with a large voting membership, a certain amount of "get out the vote" activity is necessary. Voters are however reminded that it is an obligation of voting membership to return ballots.

The Hound Dogs will also ask you to submit your comments as early as possible, so that the editors can begin work on drafting responses. Getting the Hound Dogs off your tail is simplicity itself. Just submit your ballot and comments!