Postings from staff@atlarge.icann.org vs postings from individuals
Dear All: Since there have been various queries and concerns raised about how and why postings which come from the 'corporate' staff account, I thought I would mention the reasons why the account exists and why and when we use it. The main purpose of the staff account is so that all of you can send a message to a single place and reach all of us. Of course, when it was just me, it didn't really matter whether my personal account was used, or the staff account. Now that there are three of us, it definitely makes a difference: It helps us respond to you faster, and it helps us to work efficiently. In a similar vein, sending mail from the staff account is that the reply will reach all three of us - you don't have to wonder whom to send your message to; you can just send it and leave it to us to ensure that the right one of us replies. The other reason that we send messages from the staff is when we are acting in a non-personal capacity - posting announcements, minutes, or the like, and where more than one of us has a hand in preparing the output. Of course, once again there's a benefit in that these are exactly the kinds of emails which generate requests in reply for one reason or another - which again means we all receive the note. On the question of accountability: we are all accountable for what we do or say of course - when an email comes out from the staff, it will now list all three of our names. However, if you feel someone has said or done something that you disagree with, or which is not proper in some way, you can always hold me responsible, since I'm the supervisor of the team. I hope that this makes it clear what the purpose of these corporate emails is and why we use them. In the main, it is to make it easier for you to have a 'one stop shop' - but also to differentiate the acts we make in our individual staff capacities, and when we are acting as a unit. -- Regards, Nick Ashton-Hart Director for At-Large Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Main Tel: +33 (450) 40 46 88 USA Tel: +1 (202) 657-5460 Fax: +41 (22) 594-85-44 Mobile: +41 (79) 595 54-68 email: nick.ashton-hart@icann.org Win IM: ashtonhart@hotmail.com / AIM/iSight: nashtonhart@mac.com / Skype: nashtonhart Online Bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashtonhart
Nick Ashton-Hart wrote:
Since there have been various queries and concerns raised about how and why postings which come from the 'corporate' staff account, I thought I would mention the reasons why the account exists and why and when we use it.
As one who has been raising this specific issue, I appreciate and understand the answer. It still will be helpful to know which of you "owns" each specific initiative -- you're not clones of each other and I'm sure not everything you do is by committee. It's important for the people you talk to, to know the main point of contact in any specific initiative, together with the understanding that any of you can fill in for the other as needed. Personally, I would still prefer to work with individuals -- especially on small details -- leaving the group address to issues that really do involve multiple people. I still don't believe that the impersonal character of the group email suits a part of ICANN designed to address the concerns of the public. It's like my telephone company's "automated phone attendant" -- superbly efficient, I'm sure, from the POV of service delivery but intensely irritating nonetheless. Still, it's not something I'll lose sleep over if you don't agree. - Evan
On 2008-04-03 13:02:48 -0400, Evan Leibovitch wrote:
Personally, I would still prefer to work with individuals -- especially on small details -- leaving the group address to issues that really do involve multiple people.
It's in fact very easy to set an expectation that all e-mail to staff be copied to staff@alac.icann.org, while still *sending* messages from personal addresses. (Yes, I work in an environment where precisely that approach is part of the overall work style, and functions pretty decently.) -- Thomas Roessler <roessler@does-not-exist.org>
Thanks Evan for your thoughtful reply. What I had it in mind to do was to is prepare a brief note which summarises the various roles we each fill, now that the posts are all filled :) It may take us a couple of weeks to put this out - apologies for that - but with two new people learning their way around we are not operating at 300% of what we were with just me yet as you can imagine. We will be very soon though! On 03/04/2008 19:02, "Evan Leibovitch" <evan@telly.org> wrote: Nick Ashton-Hart wrote:
Since there have been various queries and concerns raised about how and why postings which come from the 'corporate' staff account, I thought I would mention the reasons why the account exists and why and when we use it.
As one who has been raising this specific issue, I appreciate and understand the answer. It still will be helpful to know which of you "owns" each specific initiative -- you're not clones of each other and I'm sure not everything you do is by committee. It's important for the people you talk to, to know the main point of contact in any specific initiative, together with the understanding that any of you can fill in for the other as needed. Personally, I would still prefer to work with individuals -- especially on small details -- leaving the group address to issues that really do involve multiple people. I still don't believe that the impersonal character of the group email suits a part of ICANN designed to address the concerns of the public. It's like my telephone company's "automated phone attendant" -- superbly efficient, I'm sure, from the POV of service delivery but intensely irritating nonetheless. Still, it's not something I'll lose sleep over if you don't agree. - Evan -- Regards, Nick Ashton-Hart Director for At-Large Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Main Tel: +33 (450) 40 46 88 USA Tel: +1 (202) 657-5460 Fax: +41 (22) 594-85-44 Mobile: +41 (79) 595 54-68 email: nick.ashton-hart@icann.org Win IM: ashtonhart@hotmail.com / AIM/iSight: nashtonhart@mac.com / Skype: nashtonhart Online Bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashtonhart
Well, if nothing else, having e-mails come in to all three of you will be a good learning exercise for the new people. Now that we know who "ICANN Staff" is, its not so much of a problem, in my POV anyways. Cheers, D Darlene A. Thompson Community Access Program Administrator Nunavut Dept. of Education / N-CAP P.O. Box 1000, Station 910 Iqaluit, NU X0A 0H0 Phone: (867) 975-5631 Fax: (867) 975-5610 E-mail: dthompson@gov.nu.ca -----Original Message----- From: alac-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org [mailto:alac-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org] On Behalf Of Nick Ashton-Hart Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 2:30 PM To: Evan Leibovitch Cc: At-Large Worldwide Subject: Re: [At-Large] Postings from staff@atlarge.icann.org vs postings from individuals Thanks Evan for your thoughtful reply. What I had it in mind to do was to is prepare a brief note which summarises the various roles we each fill, now that the posts are all filled :) It may take us a couple of weeks to put this out - apologies for that - but with two new people learning their way around we are not operating at 300% of what we were with just me yet as you can imagine. We will be very soon though! On 03/04/2008 19:02, "Evan Leibovitch" <evan@telly.org> wrote: Nick Ashton-Hart wrote:
Since there have been various queries and concerns raised about how and why postings which come from the 'corporate' staff account, I thought I would mention the reasons why the account exists and why and when we use it.
As one who has been raising this specific issue, I appreciate and understand the answer. It still will be helpful to know which of you "owns" each specific initiative -- you're not clones of each other and I'm sure not everything you do is by committee. It's important for the people you talk to, to know the main point of contact in any specific initiative, together with the understanding that any of you can fill in for the other as needed. Personally, I would still prefer to work with individuals -- especially on small details -- leaving the group address to issues that really do involve multiple people. I still don't believe that the impersonal character of the group email suits a part of ICANN designed to address the concerns of the public. It's like my telephone company's "automated phone attendant" -- superbly efficient, I'm sure, from the POV of service delivery but intensely irritating nonetheless. Still, it's not something I'll lose sleep over if you don't agree. - Evan -- Regards, Nick Ashton-Hart Director for At-Large Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Main Tel: +33 (450) 40 46 88 USA Tel: +1 (202) 657-5460 Fax: +41 (22) 594-85-44 Mobile: +41 (79) 595 54-68 email: nick.ashton-hart@icann.org Win IM: ashtonhart@hotmail.com / AIM/iSight: nashtonhart@mac.com / Skype: nashtonhart Online Bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashtonhart _______________________________________________ ALAC mailing list ALAC@atlarge-lists.icann.org http://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/alac_atlarge-lists.icann .org At-Large Official Site: http://atlarge.icann.org
participants (4)
-
Evan Leibovitch -
Nick Ashton-Hart -
Thomas Roessler -
Thompson, Darlene