?Dear all, This is to inform you that the ianatransition@icann.org<mailto:ianatransition@icann.org> mailing list has been reopened in response to community feedback. Please see below for a note from Theresa Swinehart, also accessible here<mailto:http://discuss-stewardship.icann.org/t/reopening-ianatransition-icann-org-ma...>. --- All, Thank you for your raising some important issues in relation to the migration of the IANA Transition mailing list to a web forum. We were trying to serve the broadest community we could as efficiently, transparently and as accessibly as we could, but recognize that the migration raised some concerns, which was not at all the intention, and I apologize for this. To address the feedback we have received, we are reinstating the mailing list and we are looking into the points raised around the terms of service. Further we apologize for instituting the previous changes without discussion or further feedback. While we are restoring the mailing list, there was - and still is - a purpose in setting up the forum, and though it's after the fact, it's nonetheless appropriate to share with you what motivated the change. We had input that some prospective participants are uncomfortable using email lists. We also had input that many people wanted additional functionality or different ways to manage communications. Specifically, the migration sought to provide a tool to those also less familiar with using only email lists. The forum was set up to provide the functionality expected from a mailing list, including that participants can send and receive posts via email just like the mailing list. It also some additional aspects some may find easier to manage via, including: * ??Ability to choose what they want to see (rather than have to set up email rules to filter out what they don^1t want). They can mute or follow specific threads; * Ability to sign up for digests (full or topic specific) on a schedule of their choosing; * Ability for search engines to search posts; * Ability to view and respond to specific topics; * Ability for participants to identify the most valuable contributions by liking them; * It can be easier for some less familiar with email lists to see new topics and to navigate to different topics; * Questions can be made and answered and referred to, saving repetition; * Future options include such as user selectable machine translation of posts, thereby allowing multiple language participation in the same discussion, without the conversation fragmenting by language or locality. We appreciate that a forum only option raised other concerns, including many don't like to use discussion forums or manage communications that way. Given the interests expressed to retain the mailing list it will be reopened shortly. Thank you again for your continued feedback and suggestions for improvements, they are important to continue to improve the mechanisms and engagement in these important discussions. Kind regards, Theresa