IETF has a history of being hostile to network operators. I mean actual network operators - not the people who show up at conferences or work the mailing list who just happen to get a paycheck from a company that runs a network (and have zero production access / not on call / not directly involved in running shit). It's gotten better in the last few years in certain areas (and credit to the people who have been willing to fight the good fight). But it's very much a painful experience where you see good ideas shot down and tons of people who want to put their fingerprint on drafts/proposals - it's still a very vendor heavy environment.

Even the vendor representatives are mostly getting paid to post on mailing lists and show up at conferences.

They're not building products, and they're not supporting, visiting or even talking to their customers. Design-by-committee is a full time job that people actually building things for a living tend to not have time for.