On 24 June 2011 11:48, Danny Younger <dannyyounger@yahoo.com> wrote:
I well understand that when one openly criticizes an organization, the typical organizational response is a concerted effort to circle the wagons, to adopt a bunker mentality and to declare that everything is just dandy within the group. So be it.
Heaven knows At-Large is the target of plenty of criticism. A good amount of it has been constructive, and leads to better operations, better policy, and indeed constant self-analysis and evolution. And some is needlessly distracting, and obsess with disenfranchisement at a time when quality volunteer person-hours are so hard to come by. The response is predicable because the complaint is familiar, repetitive, and unchanging in the face of At-Large's substantial and high-profile evolutionary achievements. Of course improvement is always possible and the infrastructure is still in evolution. The self-evaluation process continues to be an integral part of At-Large activity at and between ICANN meetings. The money spent on At-Large by ICANN pales next to the value of the time and expertise provided by its participants, most of whom incur out-of-pocket expense to augment ICANN's resources both in travel and other areas. I make no apologies for our reduced level of formality, for it provides an atmosphere that enables participants to cut through the clutter of excessive process to actually get things done. Achievements such as forcing applicant support into the gTLD agenda are nothing to apologize for, and if making that process easier to traverse means the participants wear bunny ears to meetings, then so be it. We do what we can, in moving forward while engaging in constant self-improvement along the way. Yet some will continue to disparage individual efforts from a convenient distance, using stale arguments that haven't changed significantly since ALAC was all-appointed, while themselves refusing to step up and match the standards they set for others. So be it. Just don't expect me to take such complaints seriously. Even this response, in retrospect, seems a waste of useful volunteer time and energy better spent elsewhere. I'll be far more frugal in the future when dealing with such distractions. - Evan