You're absolutely right that ALAC is at a multi-pronged disadvantage compared to the SOs, whose members are paid to be self-serving and devote sufficient resources to ICANN work so as to immerse themselves in jargon and technical detail. The GAC and SSAC are also disadvantaged but not to the same extent as ALAC because their people are (generally) there because of their regular job duties. Most At-Largers are doing this on their own time.
My point is that we don't have to play their game.
ALAC has a singular bylaw task -- advise the Board on the interests of Internet end-users. It's not obligated to react to every Public Comment process. It's not obligated to react to ANY of them: At-Large is fully within its mandate fully independent of what the SOs think is important right now.
What do WE think is important? Why can't we set our own agenda?
Think of how many staff are devoted to At-Large. How much better could that resource be used in service to public education and public research, rather than deciding which wretched PCPs to follow and which do not. It has always been a frustration to me that Heidi has a doctorate in policy development yet spends most time on admin and herding cats. What other talents are we wasting that could be better spent directly in serve of those for whom we are mandated to speak? What good is being uber-inclusive but irrelevant? It is *our* job to de-jargonize ICANN, nobody else has an interest in doing so. Are we up to it?
ALAC has forever been plagued by "what will they think of us?" syndrome, fearful that setting our own agenda to fulfil our bylaw role will run us afoul of ICANN staff and other constituencies. First it was travel subsidies hanging over our heads -- play nice or you can't come to the meetings. Then have since been other implied threats that have caused us to stop short of asserting what we wanted to please the agendas of others. To me it's a subtle but insidious form of self-censorship.
It's not as if decades of doing what they want gains ALAC respect from elsewhere in the ICANN community. Look at the last At-Large Review. The SOs surveyed show contempt for ALAC when not forced to speak publicly. If they're going to hate us anyway, why not just follow the path we need and stop trying to please everyone else?
There is a path out, which is why I remain involved.