Colleagues this message from ombudsman is for your information. Once again, I humbly call for decorum. Thanks for your understanding. Regards Sent from my mobile Kindly excuse brevity and typos Every word has consequences. Every silence does too! ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Herb Waye <herb.waye@icann.org> Date: Tue, 2 May 2023, 18:47 Subject: Message from the ICANN Ombudsman To: seun.ojedeji@gmail.com <seun.ojedeji@gmail.com> Cc: ombudsman <ombudsman@icann.org> Dear Seun, could you please post the following message to the AFRALO Discuss email list for me. Message from the ICANN Ombudsman Dear AFRALO membership, As you may or may not be aware, part of my job is to monitor the community environment and that includes reading the RALO archives to keep appraised of what’s going on in the regions. I have noticed, and several people have also brought it to my attention, that recent emails posted to the AFRALO archives have contained language that is perceived to be aggressive, abusive, inappropriate, and that violates the ICANN Expected Standards of Behavior and potentially the Community Anti-Harassment Policy. Comments attacking individuals personally, regardless of being prefaced with “this is not a personal attack”, and comments attacking ICANN staff’s professionalism and work ethic, are not behaviors that foster a safe, respectful and harassment free environment. There are appropriate and established mechanisms, including my Office, for expressing concerns regarding policies, elections, rules of procedure, etc. Voicing allegations on email lists is never a constructive or effective way of dealing with such matters. I would ask that members of AFRALO take a moment to review the ICANN Expected Standards of Behavior and the Community Anti-Harassment Policy to ensure this email list, and the AFRALO region, remains a safe and respectful place for all. ICANN Expected Standards of Behavior: https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/expected-standards-15sep16-en.pd... Community Anti-Harassment Policy https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/community-anti-harassment-policy-2017-... Sincerely Herb Herb Waye ICANN Ombudsman https://www.icann.org/ombudsman https://www.facebook.com/ICANNOmbudsman [facebook.com] <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.facebook.com/ICANNOmbudsman__;!!PtGJa...> Twitter: @IcannOmbudsman ICANN Expected Standards of Behavior: https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/expected-standards-15sep16-en.pd... Community Anti-Harassment Policy https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/community-anti-harassment-policy-2017-... Confidentiality All matters brought before the Ombudsman shall be treated as confidential. The Ombudsman shall also take all reasonable steps necessary to preserve the privacy of, and to avoid harm to, those parties not involved in the complaint being investigated by the Ombudsman.The Ombudsman shall only make inquiries about, or advise staff or Board members of the existence and identity of, a complainant in order to further the resolution of the complaint. The Ombudsman shall take all reasonable steps necessary to ensure that if staff and Board members are made aware of the existence and identity of a complainant, they agree to maintain the confidential nature of such information, except as necessary to further the resolution of a complaint