Re: [atlarge-discuss] My two cents...

[espresso@e-scape.net]

YJ Park wrote:
>
>> I don't want to blame anybody in this course especially within
>> ICANNatlarge.org and if there should be a person who should
>> be responsible for it, I admit I can be one of those people.
>
to which Sotiris Sotiropoulos responded:
>Then do the right thing and resign ASAP.

Without necessarily applauding the tone of remarks made by
Sotiris and Joe Baptista, I would tend to agree that
resigning (and standing for re-election if desired) is the
only honourable course.

At the risk of boring everyone yet again, I believe the single
most-incapacitating factor in this group is not differences
of opinion -- that's normal and even good in a democracy --
but the inability of some people to understand that an
elective position is not
a) some kind of personal popularity contest
or
b) permission to do whatever one feels like (or do nothing at all
   if one prefers) with the business of the collective group.

To stand for an electoral office is to undertake a responsibility
to the people who elected you for doing what they elected you to
do.

Some elective positions entail special individual responsibilities:
for example, the treasurer of an organization has personal duties
as well as whatever duties come from being part of a board of
directors, executive committee or whatever.

Other elective positions are specifically to participate in a
collective entity -- a Board of Directors or, in our case, a
Panel is such a collective entity. Decisions are to be made by
a collective resolution.

Each individual (director or Panelist) has an individual
responsibility to
a) participate faithfully in the collective deliberations, and
b) vote for what seems best for the **organization as a whole**
   rather than a personal preference.

The Board or Panel has a collective responsibility to
a) ensure the organization operates according to its own rules
   and any applicable laws
b) deliberate matters arising from the organization's stated
   mission and make sure its business is conducted efficiently
   and effectively
c) make decisions about what needs to be done when for the
   proper achievement of the goals (set agendas, prioritize
   and delegate tasks, make sure elections are run properly,
   etc.)
d) be answerable to the membership/shareholders for what it
   does and does not do on behalf of the organization.

To complain that it is too time-consuming to discuss the
business of the organization or vote on decisions about its
future is to say "I want the status of an elected representative
but I don't want to do the job!"

To say that the failure of a Board or Panel to carry out its
collective responsibilities is equivalent to authorizing any
individual member of it to make decisions for the organization
without an individual mandate to do so is simply illegal, as
well as grossly unfair to the organization as a whole.

We have no formal impeachment process because we have no
constitution and bylaws yet, but the current Panel Chair
would otherwise have been eligible for impeachment on grounds
of both negligence and improper assumption of an authority
which the membership conferred on the Panel as a whole.
The other Panel members who did not either perform their duties
in good faith or promptly resign when they found themselves
unable to fulfil their obligations are every bit as culpable.

To be blunt, there is *no* point prolonging the agony. An
organization saddled with an ineffective administration
must find ways to change that administration or it may as
well give up and dissolve since it won't accomplish anything
anyhow.

If we can't find 11 people willing and able to devote a couple
of hours a week to keeping this effort on track, there's no
justification for our claim that we can organize or
represent other Internet users. If we can (and I believe we
can), let's do it and get on with the work.

My two cents from "Soviet Canuckistan"

Judyth


##########################################################
Judyth Mermelstein     "cogito ergo lego ergo cogito..."
Montreal, QC           <espresso@e-scape.net>
##########################################################
"A word to the wise is sufficient. For others, use more."
"Un mot suffit aux sages; pour les autres, il en faut plus."
##########################################################



---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: atlarge-discuss-unsubscribe@lists.fitug.de
For additional commands, e-mail: atlarge-discuss-help@lists.fitug.de