There used to be two of us on this small Island, and he was good at talking over a beer, but then he (Randal) left :( -----Original Message----- From: at-large-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org [mailto:at-large-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org] On Behalf Of Karl Auerbach Sent: Monday, February 20, 2017 11:12 AM To: Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond Cc: At-Large Worldwide Subject: Re: [At-Large] Unsubscribe me please This is an interesting thread. However, it tends to express solutions that are all based on technology. It has been my experience that technical means of communication work best when they are punctuated by actual face-to-face meetings. Now, I do not mean grand and glorious jet-setting meetings but, rather, informal, self-organized get-togethers of people in two's, three's, ... even a dozen. This kind of face-to-face this is important. It is pretty amazing what people can do when they get past the friction and propensity to misconstrue that comes with electronic communications. So whatever might be done electronically, I suggest that people consider meet one another for coffee of a beer and just chat. Just possibly that chat might give rise to a solution to some hard problem. Or it might create an understanding that lets us step back from the tensions of electronic communications and say to ourselves - "I have met that person, I know that he/she is intelligent and well intentioned. Perhaps our disagreement arises out of misunderstanding one another's words rather than something of irreconcilable substance." For example, any one of us could put up a flag - as a tweet or an email or facebook post - and say something like "Hey, folks, I'm happy to meet with anyone in the area for coffee or lunch, just drop me a note a xxxx and let's see if we can get together." I realize that this is not a useful option for those of us who are not in population centers, on islands, or others who would find informal, largely unfocused, small meetings to be expensive or inconvenient. But consider that in our new era that we might look for several, overlapping, sometimes informal means of interaction rather than some single all-encompassing engine. --karl-- _______________________________________________ At-Large mailing list At-Large@atlarge-lists.icann.org https://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/at-large At-Large Official Site: http://atlarge.icann.org --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus