Peter, Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I share your view of the importance of feeding timely advice into the policy-making and coordinating processes handled via the Supporting Organizations; this is precisely what Advisory Committees are supposed to do. Im further appreciative of your assessment that an Advisory Body whose sole focus is upon the needs of the general registrant community "may be a useful development", and I will be happy to work with those on the GA and NARALO lists that have already endorsed this concept to see it carefully distinguished per the guidelines that you have tendered. It is my expectation that a more formal proposal will be put forth in advance of the Paris session that will clarify for the board the extent of the interests that are not being properly served by the current structure. With regard to your query on the topic of registrar contracts, I look forward to the self-regulatory activities that will be pursued by the registrar community and believe that the guidance offered by such an AC will doubtless facilitate work in the SO community to buttress that self-regulatory effort through the consensus policy process. Understanding that an Advisory Committee is, per the bylaws, a creation of the board, it would have been presumptive and inappropriate to act to self-form such a group, but I am willing to work with others to clarify the ACs likely future membership and its goals in much the same manner that the earlier At-Large Organizing Committee (ALOC) facilitated the emergence of the ALAC; additionally, per your request a clear cost benefit analysis will of course be provided. As bottom-up momentum is already developing with regard to this proposal, it is my expectation that the clarity of purpose you seek will soon emerge in upcoming discussions. Thank you for sharing your views. I look forward to further discussions as needed. best wishes, Danny ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs