RE: [atlarge-discuss] Membership Lists, Thomas Roessler,distance from ICANN

[Joanna Lane <jo-uk@rcn.com>]

Richard,
One way to remove the personalities from this discussion is to agree upon
the basic principles of running a public interest organization, one of which
should be, "nobody is indispensible". Before any system is put in place,
whether it is mailing list management or website hosting, the question must
be posed, "If the person who currently has responsibility for this job were
to fall off a cliff, what would happen to that part of the organization for
which he has responsibility?' If any part of the organization would falter
or fail, then something is wrong, the operation must continue smoothly and
seemlessly.

As an example of how not to do it, witness the removal by Esther Dyson of
her funding pledge. The whole funding operation faltered as we realized that
a situation had developed wherbey one person had control over a sizaeable
chunk of the resources.

Therefore, regardless of whether it is Tom, Dick or Harry running the
mailing lists, there must be at least two set of keys, if not three, to list
controls, an independent back-up of the archive in needed, and for the same
reason, none of those people should have any control over the website. In
fact, the website should not be placed in the hands of any individual
webmaster, but a firm of webmasters, so that when cannot function, for
whatever reason, then another can take over.

This is what is in the best interests of the public and therefore the
organization. So, returning to Thomas, if he continues running the mailing
lists, he should not have anything to do with hosting or managing the
website at the same time. Eventually, all these straightforward technical
jobs would be paid contracts, but in the meantime, let's not head down the
same road as ICANN - giving a few members of Staff all the power - let's
have a division of powers and select those individuals who have demonstrated
an ability to show neutrality towards the full spectrum of opinion
represented by the membership.

Regards,
Joanna

p.s. Is it just me, or are we all receiving multiple copies of these posts?


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Richard Henderson [mailto:richardhenderson@ntlworld.com]
> Sent: Saturday, May 11, 2002 8:09 PM
> To: Jeff Williams; eric@hi-tek.com
> Cc: atlarge-panel@lists.fitug.de; atlarge-discuss@lists.fitug.de
> Subject: Re: [atlarge-discuss] Membership Lists, Thomas Roessler,
> distance from ICANN
>
>
> Jeff
>
> I wasn't exactly taking a stance for you to agree with. I was asking for
> advice. I don't know Thomas at all. My enquiry isn't personal (and several
> people have spoken up for him). My concern is that our mailing-list should
> be properly administered in a way that safeguards membership details. My
> concern is also that we should completely distance ourselves from ICANN,
> which I regard as corrupt.
>
> My question was more along the lines of : what do people think of Thomas
> Roessler and is he appropriate to (generously) do the work he does?
>
> It's quite a tough question, because it could be misinterpreted as an
> insult - but I assure my motives are honest. I just lack adequate
> information about Thomas and his association with ICANN. At the
> same time I
> have a responsibility to the people who elected our panel and to the
> organisation. My enquiry has begun to be answered and I appreciate all
> responses including your own. I see one of my roles on this panel as being
> something of an "outsider" who has no loyalties or "past" and who should
> therefore ask some hard questions.
>
> What other hard questions should I be asking? Why haven't we
> begun defining
> our bylaws and setting up our elections? Why are we still
> thinking in terms
> of "fitting into ICANN"? When does (real) Outreach begin and should we aim
> to have 10000 members by August?
>
> Richard
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com>
> To: <eric@hi-tek.com>
> Cc: Richard Henderson <richardhenderson@ntlworld.com>;
> <atlarge-panel@lists.fitug.de>; <atlarge-discuss@lists.fitug.de>
> Sent: Sunday, May 12, 2002 3:15 AM
> Subject: Re: [atlarge-discuss] Membership Lists, Thomas Roessler, distance
> from ICANN
>
>
> > Eric, Richard and all stakeholders or interested parties,
> >
> >   I am afraid for several reasons that are obvious and have
> been mentioned
> > before that I must agree with Richard here.  Thomas is not an
> appropriate
> > list manager for this list.
>
>
>
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