On 19 July 2012 12:39, Kieren McCarthy <kierenmccarthy@gmail.com> wrote: *At the risk at getting embroiled in pointless name-calling, John I think
you are demonstrating precisely the mindset that is behind the reason that only one person is standing for each of the four positions.*
Kieren, you *are* getting embrolied in pointless name calling. Funny that you suddenly seem so interested in At-Large issues when it comes to our internals. We've been active in promoting end-user sensibilities in WHOIS, gTLD, trademark, internationalization and other issues. I've personally been trying -- practically begging, since before Prague -- to get you to even LOOK at the R3 white paper At-Large has produced, an broadly-crafted attempt to make ICANN more representative of (and accountable to) the world at large. You've been WAY too busy for that. But not too busy to gawk at an unfortunate personal issue, and pass judgement on a consensus process that seems to work for most. Like most decision-making systems, it's imperfect. But it does result in NARALO members' initiating more than its share of ALAC policy initiatives, and still being the one of the only regions with a formal acceptance of participants who aren't part of an ALS. And yet... Rather than focus on the substance of what we're actually trying to say -- which you have completely ignored to date -- you seek to dwell on the "what gives you the right to say it?" approach. Sorry there wasn't any tabloid fodder for you on Monday (the first NARALO call you've attended ... ever?). No meltdown. Not even raised voices. Just talk about policy, planning for the Toronto meeting, and ensuring the everyone who had something to say on our internal issues was heard, Smoothly run and ended on time. But judging from your takeaway comments, Plan B appears to be focusing on why At-Large doesn't function more like Amway. *So here are some questions:* Really? REALLY? Are you really asking volunteers to provide the research that you will then turn around and sell to others? And then complain that we don't have enough time for <insert your pet issue here>? If your questions are intended to discover holes in ICANN's At-Large outreach strategies, you'll have an easy time of it once you do the research. If your intentions are indeed constructive, you're welcome to join us in advocating At-Large growth through anywhere near the kind of resources that ICANN expends to grow its pool of registrars and TLDs. But the tone just appears as building a case for diverting our limited volunteer resources away from understanding and shaping the ICANN labyrinth, and towards recruitment. No thanks. My ALS (and a number of others) was discovered and brought in by Jacob Malthouse, an ICANN staffer whose job it was to go out and engage members of the public who'd never heard of ICANN -- let alone cared about it -- and convince them to get them involved. Jacob's job was difficult; too bad you can't ask him about it because his position no longer exists, so it's no surprise the job isn't being done anymore. NARALO has made proposals to duplicate this task using volunteers instead of staff, but our request to get even basic expenses covered for this project has been turned down for two (or it it three?) years in a row. *These are basic questions, basic steps for a grassroots organization.
And they all cost $0.*
How sad that you consider volunteer time to be worthless. Mine isn't. - Evan