Thank you Olivier. Folks, while this is serious, things are not nearly as grim as they are being made out to be and there are a variety of possible solutions. I have cc'ed Eric so he Is aware of two critical items: 1. I am insisting (in contradiction to my colleagues) that Eric Brunner Williams remain on the ballot for chair. It has been pointed out for a variety of reasons that Eric is not eligible for election, but in the interest of democracy, openness and to truly serve the At-Large membership in the region: I WANT Eric's name on the ballot. 2. The list is merely one of our channels for input in At-Large. I am inviting Eric, in full view of the community, to A) Appear on our next Monthly Call and/or B) Submit a written statement which will be included in the meeting agenda and in the monthly reports explaining his position on this or any other topic. The list has rules and has rules for a reason. If the community is unhappy with the rules there is a formal process for changing them. Thanks, Garth -----Original Message----- From: Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond [mailto:ocl@gih.com] Sent: Friday, June 21, 2013 9:05 PM To: NA-Discuss Cc: Thompson, Darlene; Garth Bruen at KnujOn; ICANN At-Large Staff Subject: Re: [NA-Discuss] Suspension of Posting Privileges for Eric Brunner Williams Dear all, as Chair of the ALAC, I am always concerned about a breaking of the inclusive atmosphere in any part of our community. One such cause is the writing of ad-hominem accusations on the list. This ends up being archived, picked up by search engines and ultimately makes everybody look bad. I too am sad that it had to come to this - but we are all grown up people here and we do not need to pick at each other personally. I understand sometimes that debates and discussions can get out of hand. But offending other people is not the way that we'll manage to better channel the points of view of Internet users into the ICANN process - and it is not the way we'll encourage more people to get involved and to contribute, because a hostile atmosphere will scare them away. For this reason, Garth had my full support for his actions that he had to take as NARALO Chair. If Eric feels he has been unfairly treated, the Ombudsman is indeed a possible avenue for appeal. Best regards, Olivier Crépin-Leblond ALAC Chair On 21/06/2013 17:07, Thompson, Darlene wrote:
Our Chair can add conditions to re-instatement before a person is allowed back on the list. This particular case was discussed with the ALAC Chair as well as the NARALO leadership and this course was accepted. The Code of Conduct is a document that was agreed to by the NARALO. This action was also not taken upon just one instance of a violation of the Code of Conduct. This was the third time showing a pattern of abuse. Garth really did not want to take this action because of the perception of a "rival to his position" being silenced. However, as Chair, he did have to take action because this was about abuse of our members.
-- Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond, PhD http://www.gih.com/ocl.html