[anti-abuse-wg] Appointment & Removal of Working Group Chairs

Hi Brian (and WG),

On 10/09/2014 11:48 PM, Brian Nisbet wrote:

> Thanks for this. It's... not straight forward, but always happy to talk
> about these things.

Which makes you a good chair :)

> Unfortunately for me physical presence is important, if in no small part
> to allay the previously vouched fears regarding "bussing people in"
> which would be far easier virtually than physically.

I wouldn't say easier - but certainly less expensive. Which is my major
grievance with the local presence: it excludes people on economic
grounds. And probably the global impact increases roughly with the
distance to Amsterdam. Besides, it seems to me that meeting attendance
is heavily influenced by the location - so that local participants are
always overrepresented.

> While policy decision and, of course, discussion takes place on the
> mailing list, the work of the Working Group, traditionally in both AA-WG
> and other WGs the appointment of new Chairs (or removal) has taken place
> at meetings, something I would be keen to continue.

Apparently that is one of the points where WGs have no clear common
ground. It also feels a bit 'unbalanced': obviously the policy making is
were real "damage" could be done, and nothing protects that from
'bussing people in' - except the consensus declaring. Chairs on the
other hand are rather the 'wise guides' (and that is in no way meant to
belittle your work!) than dictators, so their "powers" are limited. So
are the chair positions really attractive for hostile takeover?

So in the interest of an open and inclusive community I still think that
a large consensus should be tried first, and voting more or less
reserved to removal and cases when there are >1 suitable candidate
(where you could also roll the dice, IMHO). Or at the very least allow
remote participants to, well, participate. That would require some
additional effort over simple mailing-list stuffing.

Finally: I won't try to object to your plans, and I do recognize your
experience. My hope is to maintain and extend the openness and
friendliness of the RIPE WGs as far as reasonable.

best,
Gilles

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