At 25/09/2009 01:38 PM, William Drake wrote:
On Sep 25, 2009, at 6:59 PM, Alan Greenberg wrote:
With your relationship to EURALO, all of this should be an easy fit for you, and I for one would welcome more than just "liaising" on your part. But of course, you need to mold the job into something that both you and the ALAC feel comfortable with.
Thanks Alan. Your description matches well how you've operated in the council to my knowledge. This context seems a bit more charged at the moment, so I just don't want anyone feeling like there's this foreign entity in the room who's overstepping, or they can't say what they think or it'll be reported externally in the wrong way, or whatever.
The context is indeed more charged (perhaps that wins this month's award for understatement). What is on the main ALAC list (the one being used here) is fully public, so there are always potentially many foreign entities in the room. The ALAC also has an "internal" list which is not publicly viewable. It is generally supposed to be used for things where things such as travel plans or personnel issues can be discussed, but is also available if for cultural of other reasons, someone feels the need to say something that is not fully public. If you feel that having access to that list puts you in an awkward position because you cannot pass it on to your NCUC colleagues, you are of course free to be ask to be taken off. But I hope that will not be necessary. We can always plot using point-to-point e-mail if needed! ;-) (In case it is not clear, that was a joke.)
I actually would like to help facilitate inter-species understanding and conflict management if I can, while recognizing that I do have clear preferences on some matters where's there's been disagreement (e.g. the charter). Anyway, as long as folks understand the intent I think things will gravitate toward the right balance, and if my views on anything are desired it won't be hard to elicit them.
You certainly have a more land-mine laden path to follow than I do in the GNSO (except during last summer's GNSO restructuring exercise), and you do want to stay as a Liaison and not a negotiator. Although I do love the "inter-species" expression, perhaps we need to decide that we are the same species with different views and ideas. Alan
Cheers,
Bill
PS: Uh, just got an email notice that Milton has posted a reply to replies, sigh...it's characteristically assertive but at least sticks closer to the charter/constituency issue, on which I do think we really should have had serious and reasonably inclusive dialogue before and are dealing with the consequences of that failure now.