All, when thinking about an appropriate response to the communication on the list over the last 48 hours, I was thinking of counting the e-mails that were focused on tasks our group is chartered with versus those dealing with interpersonal issues. I have abandoned this idea as I was afraid the result might be too disappointing. We should take pride in the strength of this group, which has had very good and fruitful discussions and has made great progress so far. These results could only be achieved because our group is diverse and truly multi-stakeholder. We have different geographic, cultural, linguistic and professional backgrounds and different approaches and personalities. This makes the model we all support so unique and powerful. At the same time, we have different characters, different goals, different use of language and different working methods, which can be demanding and requires us all to be patient and sympathetic at times. Let us all try to be constructive in our discussions. We do not have to agree on everything, but we should treat each other respectfully and focus on the substance, rather than trying to campaign against each other. We will discuss these matters and the various cases amongst the co-chairs during our next call tomorrow, but please do not expect public responses. In the meantime I would like to remind everyone that I sent a note to the list on the 16th, which is still valid and from which I quote: *** We do not think that a public mailing list is the right forum issue nor to respond to the complaints. Complaints, if any, should be addressed to us offlist to allow us to deal with them appropriately. "At the same time, we would like to encourage the whole group to focus on the plethora of questions we have to work on and thank Roelof for reminding us of the wise encouragement to be conservative in what we send and liberal in what we receive." *** Let us not allow that our and the wider community’s attention is distracted from the good work we are doing. Thank you, Thomas Rickert