[ripe-list] New Draft Document: RIPE NCC Staff Participation in the RIPE Community (Please review)

>> https://www.ripe.net/publications/docs/ripe-documents/other-documents/ripe-ncc-staff-participation-in-the-ripe-community
>>
>> Please review this document. If you have any comments, questions,
>> suggestions, please send them to this list or to me directly before 31
>> May 2023.

Whilst I'm happy with the document in general and especially with its 
clarity and brevity I'd like to sound a note of caution.

NCC staff are, as rightly noted, members of the community and have a 
right to contribute to its work. However they are in a slightly favoured 
position in that their management is fully aware of the community and 
are willing to allow them the time to contribute. This is not the case 
for many members of the community who may find it difficult to persuade 
their employer to allow the time for them to fully participate (our 
esteemed HPH, for example, had to take annual leave to participate as 
RIPE Chair).

This has the potential to skew the ability to contribute and over time 
could result in RIPE NCC staff being over represented in working groups 
and the like.

We've actually seen this in working groups where the NCC has provided, 
for example, minute taking resources. Now whereas this is a fine thing 
and relieves the WG Chair of the thankless task of browbeating someone 
to produce a set of minutes it does, doubtless, reduce the feeling of 
the WG being a truly community thing.

None of this should be interpreted as an attack in any way on RIPE NCC 
staff who generally do a fine job of decoupling their RIPE NCC and their 
RIPE hats.

Or am I just an Old Internet Fart (TM)? (Note that I'm not campaigning 
for the return of overhead transparencies).

Nigel