Greg and Paul,

Thanks for modifying the Motion on the Sub Pro Supplemental Recommendations to allow for further consideration of the ICANN Org proposal to handle the String Similarity singulars/plurals issue.  (l am also glad the Council confirmed to staff the request for an Issues Report on the diacritics question with the caveat not to delay the next round based on this inquiry.)

I'm confused as to why Council did not have any further discussion on how to handle the staff proposal on String Similarity singulars and plurals going forward.   Often we talk about the need not to further delay the next round and the tight timeline associated with that.  I had advocated amending the Small Team Plus assignment to permit that team to study the staff proposal on singulars and plurals further.  Paul said that the Council has other ways of dealing with this but it wasn't clear what other ways were being suggested and why. 

I think the Small Team Plus is the appropriate avenue for further analysis and discussion of the proposal presented by Lars because

(1) other members of the community have been participating actively on the Small Team Pus, including with respect to deliberations on the String Similarity Supplemental Recommendation that was forwarded to Council prior to yesterday's meeting.

(2) equally important is the fact that per Lars,  the Board Sub Pro Caucus members have stated their willingness to pursue discussion of the proposal in the Small Team Plus context.  

If there is an alternative proposal  for handling analysis of the staff proposal on String Similarity singulars and plurals, I hope that will emerge in the near future rather than being delayed for another month.  Could Leadership and Paul please advise whether there is any way to move this forward expeditiously before the May meeting given that Council did not address that question yesterday?   By the time we get to the May meeting, everyone will be focused on the agenda items for the meeting in Kigali and that could further delay appropriate work to be done with the community and the Board reps to address the staff proposal. 

Thank you,

Anne