[ga] Role of GA Chair

["Patrick Corliss" <patrick@quad.net.au>]

Hi Peter

Thank you for your kind reminder of the role of the GA Chair.  I'm sure that
your comments are appreciated by all members of the list.  You wrote:

> William, your "GA Chair" comments are excellent, and deserve re-inforcement.
> Everyone on this list would do well to keep this in mind. The position of
> "Chair" is a consensus-building responsibility. Necessary abilities include
> ability to prioritize an agenda based on inputs from the group, manifest
> diplomacy in all dealings, and, most importantly, put aside one's personal
> viewpoints while managing discussion.

But there's much more, some of which you've touched on below.

Roberto, and Harald, have worked very hard over an extended period just managing
day to day activities of the list.  When a major task, activity or project comes
along, the workload becomes intense.  Unfortunately that seems to be a common
occurrence.

But more important than hard work, even, is honour and integrity.  I am a
professional as are many others on the list.  We behave professionally.  The
standards expected of the Chair include being truthful and not misrepresenting
people's views, acting impartially in decision-making and behaving ethically and
with integrity.

> Qualifications also include enough experience in participating in lists so
> that the person is able to recognize and divert the tendancy to participate
> in "flame wars" and other diversions.

I agree with your sentiments especially as people may often try to derail a
legitimate process or just cause confusion.  Others, who may be
well-intentioned, often divert the debate into all sorts of side-alleys and
dead-ends.  The Chair must guide us all.

However, the Chair does have the advantage of a list monitor and a rule-book.
Not all decisions are ad hoc requiring patience, judgment and wisdom.  The Chair
can also call upon the members to participate in the process through discussion
and voting.

It was with great regret, therefore, that I made several postings which might be
seen as less than decorous.  I apologise to any member who felt it was
inappropriate.  My reasoning was clear.  The election process requires the
utmost trust.  Some of us have seen what happens with electoral interference in
an online environment.  After the debate on potential conflict of interest, I
felt that the best course was disclosure.  The privacy rule was waived.

> Once Integrity of the potential candidate is established to the satisfaction
> of the voting member, further evaluation should proceed along the guidelines
> William has so succiently set out.

Little mention was made yesterday of the fact that I am on the Board of auDA,
the body endorsed by the Australian government as the .au ccTLD.  I am also
trying to develop a project which I believe will have a significant impact of
the internet itself.  These sorts of conflicts will be normal for any candidate.

For example, my experience with a ccTLD will have an influence.  However, I
intend to work towards a fair balance in all of my dealings.  I hope I have
demonstrated honesty and integrity as well as transparency.  If elected, I will
serve to the best of my ability with a mature and sensible approach.

I have the experience you ask on lists and elsewhere.  I thank you again.

Yours faithfully
Patrick Corliss

> Peter de Blanc


> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-ga@dnso.org [mailto:owner-ga@dnso.org]On Behalf Of William
> X. Walsh
> Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2001 4:38 AM
> To: Eric Dierker
> Cc: Harald Tveit Alvestrand; jandl@jandl.com; jp@ADNS.NET; ga@dnso.org;
> babybows.com; admin@tlda.org
> Subject: Re[2]: [ga] Top Level Domain Association - NO CONFLICT OF
> INTEREST
>
>
> Hello Eric,
>
> Saturday, March 31, 2001, 2:56:49 AM, Eric Dierker wrote:
>
> > I am sorry but I have not seen anything about the man JW.  Where I come
> from a man
> > who stands for nothing will fall for anything.
>
> Eric, if you don't know who he is, then perhaps you need to take into
> account how new you are to the process, and that maybe you should look
> into more than just the events in few months that the At-Large has
> been around, which brought many "newbies" such as yourself to the process.
>
> I do not mean the term as derogatory, btw, I hope you understand
> that, I too was once a "newbie" to the domain policy arena, some 5
> years ago.
>
> > It seems as though Mr, Corliss stands for himself, regardless of
> affiliations.
>
> The GA Chair will need to stand for the GA, not for himself or his
> affiliations.  A GA chair is not elected for his VIEWS on the issues,
> but for his ability to help build consensus and to advocate that
> consensus to the NC, which is his primary role.  A good GA chair's
> views will be irrelevant.  Roberto is a perfect example of that. His
> past affiliation with CORE was a point that many people considered
> very carefully, but in his selection, most of us felt that as a
> person, Roberto's ability to work with diverse people in reaching
> compromise, and his ability to stay out of the more intense fray's,
> not to mention his integrity, were vastly more important than "where
> is stood" on various issues, such as non-profit "public trust"
> management of TLDs, and other issues were I and others have disagreed
> with him.
>
> A good Chair will not be elected for his views, but will be elected
> DESPITE his views.
>
> > If this seems rude I apologize but are we just supposed to know Jonathan?
>
> No, I gave a reason why I endorsed him.  Unlike many others, I take my
> endorsement seriously, and believe that when you endorse someone, you
> should state why you are doing so, so that others may benefit from it,
> or discount it as they see fit.
>
> > Keep in mind this is from someone that was kept from being a candidate by
> Mr.
> > Alternative Chair.
>
> You were not kept from being a candidate by anyone, Eric.
>
>
> --
> Best regards,
>  William                            mailto:william@userfriendly.com
>
>
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