RE: [ga] Substance over rhetoric - a constructive challenge

["Hugh Blair" <hblair@hotfootmail.com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> On Behalf Of Mike Roberts
> 
> The system was built on a shoestring, operated by an incredibly 
> overworked and loyal contract project manager on a $200,000 budget, 
> of which over $100,000 went into postal charges for the pin letters. 

Of course you *are* kidding, aren't you? $100,000 to manage a voting
app and server? Can I bid for this next time?

> Beyond the issue of historical revisionism, dredging this stuff up 
> serves no purpose at this time.  The Board has clearly stated in its 
> Accra resolution that
> 
> "Whereas, the Board wishes to move forward with energy and enthusiasm 
> to build a meaningful structure for informed participation by the 
> full range of Internet users, and seeks avenues to achieve these 
> objectives that are bottom-up, self-organized, and self-sustaining;"

"energy"? What energy are they expending?
"enthusiasm"? Huh?
"to build"? But what does the Board want to build? Now read the 
next paragraph...
> 
> The phrase " bottom-up, self-organized, and self-sustaining"  means 
> exactly that.  If At Large can not demonstrate substantial progress 
> toward that goal in the next several months, then the death sentence 
> for an At Large organization with representation on the ICANN Board 
> will undoubtedly be carried out.

Ah, now we understand. The Board wants to give - with "energy" and
"enthusiasm" - some lip-service to the *concept* of an At Large, but 
they sure won't expend any "energy" or "enthusiasm" helping it get
organized or funded. Nope, it needs to be "bottom-up, self-organized, 
and self-sustaining". And it'll have to pay the Board just to get
heard - if at all.

Why not just tell the truth: "We don't want you folks, but if you
do something that we just can't ignore, make enough global noise
that ignoring you might just hurt our personal positions a little,
we'll acknowledge that you're there and maybe, just maybe, listen
to you a little. We probably won't really do anything about you, 
but a few press releases might fool the world in to thinking that
we -really- listen. Yup, that'll work."

Not that we won't try to build a working At Large, but it's for
SURE that we don't really expect many of the Board to be of
any help. In fact, we really expect the Board to constantly be in our
way instead.

-Hugh
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