[ALAC] ALAC/At-Large Mailing Lists

Wed Oct 24 21:12:36 UTC 2012

On Wed, Oct 24, 2012 at 3:27 PM, Alan Greenberg
<alan.greenberg at mcgill.ca> wrote:
> My thoughts below.  Alan
>
>
> At 24/10/2012 12:21 PM, Dev Anand Teelucksingh wrote:
>>
>> Hi, Alan
>>
>> the ALS Starter Kit is a document which has relevant material on the
>> public facing ALAC/At-Large mailing lists
>> https://community.icann.org/display/atlarge/ALS+Starter+Kits (meaning
>> the ALAC_internal and ALAC Excom lists are not mentioned)
>>
>> Re: the At-Large and ALAC_announce lists, I think both lists need to
>> be kept as these lists serve different purposes.
>>
>> * The ALAC_announce list - all ALS representatives are added to this
>> list by At-Large Staff when their ALS is formally accredited by ALAC
>> and is the primary channel by which ALSes are informed on
>> ALAC/At-Large activity by At-Large Staff and the ALAC chair.
>
>
> Can individuals subscribe as well?
>

The page at https://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/alac-announce
suggests that anyone can subscribe.

>> * The At-Large list - Anyone on the list can post on any topic
>> (typically ICANN policy issues) for others to comment on. I believe
>> that  ALS representatives and ALAC members are NOT added automatically
>> but can "manually' join if they know how to.
>>
>> Re: ALAC Excom....a bigger question is the necessity of the Excom list
>> - shouldn't policy discussions on the Excom list be on the ALAC list?
>> IF Excom calls are open to ALAC members, shouldn't the Excom call
>> announcements also be on the ALAC list?
>
>
> Announcing ExCom calls on the ALAC list is a good idea. Don't think in
> precludes a list for ExCom discussions.

Perhaps also the ALAC_announce list. Reviewing the emails on the ALAC
Excom list and the volume of emails indicates the need for the Excom
list.

>
>
>
>> Re: creating shadow lists for the ALAC and ALAC Excom - I would
>> investigate the ability to have RSS feeds for these (and for that
>> matter all At-Large WG lists and GNSO WG lists) to make it easier for
>> anyone to monitor activity.
>
>
> Agree RSS should be an option. Not sure that it replaces the ability to
> receive via e-mail though.
>
Solutions like feedmyinbox.com could alleviate that issue if RSS were
to be implemented.

Dev Anand Teelucksingh

>
>
>
>> Kind Regards,
>>
>> Dev Anand Teelucksingh
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 11:37 PM, Alan Greenberg
>> <alan.greenberg at mcgill.ca> wrote:
>> > While working on the Rules of Procedure, it became obvious that we
>> > needed a document describing the various ALAC mailing lists giving a
>> > summary of their usage and describing who must of should be
>> > subscribed. This list will not include RALO lists or the multitude of
>> > working group and committee lists
>> >
>> > Currently there are five such lists. All are archived and are
>> > publicly viewable except as noted.
>> >
>> > ALAC - General ALAC list used for the majority of ALAC e-mail
>> > interactions. Originally only ALAC members, RALO leadership, formal
>> > Liaisons selected by the ALAC, Liaisons to the ALAC, At-Large Board
>> > member and Staff were on it. More recently, it has included (either
>> > by accident or intentionally), selected former ALAC member, selected
>> > former RALO leadership, and others. (I am using the term "formal
>> > Liaisons" to refer to the ccNSO, GNSO and SSAC Liaisons - those to
>> > other ICANN or external bodies.)
>> >
>> > ALAC-Internal - Used for things that we do not want to be publicly
>> > viewable. Most commonly, this is travel arrangements, social plans
>> > and occasionally semi-confidential issues or issues where we want
>> > targeted ALAC feedback. Membership is similar to the ALAC list, but no
>> > "others"
>> >
>> > ALAC-ExCom - Publicly viewable list for the ALAC ExCom. Membership is
>> > traditionally ExCom members, formal Liaisons appointed by the ALAC,
>> > and Staff. More recently a few others were added.
>> >
>> > ALAC-Announce - General list for announcements. Only ICANN staff and
>> > the ALAC Chair (I think) have sending privileges. This list includes
>> > pretty much everyone in the ALAC list plus about 175 others.
>> >
>> > At-Large - General public list. This list has Most but not all of
>> > those onthe ALAC list (missing about 10 ALAC members and RALO
>> > leadership) plus about 160 others.
>> >
>> > ALAC-Announce and At-Large membership overlaps. There are 98 people
>> > on both lists (about 1/3 of which are ALAC/RALO Leadership), 126 just
>> > ALAC-Announce and 98 just At-Large
>> >
>> > For mail sent to lists from senders not on the lists, there are four
>> > possible outcomes, it goes through, it is held for moderation, it
>> > bounces or it is discarded without a reject message (moderation
>> > requires staff action). Based on a test, I believe that for the ALAC
>> > list, such messages are discarded, for the ALAC-Internal list, such
>> > mail bounces, and for the ExCom it is moderated. Not sure about the
>> > two larger lists.
>> >
>> > My suggestions for going forward are:
>> >
>> > ALAC
>> > - Membership for ALAC, RALO Leadership, formal Liaisons appointed by
>> > the ALAC, Board member and Staff
>> > - Membership for Liaisons appointed TO the ALAC
>> > - Perhaps membership to WG Chairs if not already included above
>> > - Membership for past holders of above categories (my preference, or
>> > could be receive only - see below)
>> >
>> > ALAC-Internal
>> > - Membership for ALAC, RALO Leadership, formal Liaisons appointed by
>> > the ALAC, Board member and Staff
>> >
>> > ALAC-ExCom (with a new name mapping to the ALAC Leadership Team name
>> > used in the new RoP)
>> > - Members of the ExCom, formal Liaisons appointed by the ALAC, Board
>> > member and Staff
>> >
>> > I think we need to discuss the ALAC-Announce and At-Large lists
>> > further. I am not at all sure we need two lists for this.
>> >
>> > I suggest we create two additional lists that "shadow" the ALAC and
>> > ExCom lists. That is, subscription open to all and they receive all
>> > messages that got to the ALAC and ExCom lists. This allows those who
>> > want to follow the discussions to receive them without the
>> > inconvenience of having to go to the archive. This is equivalent to
>> > adding the to the lists in receive-only mode, but since we have had
>> > regular problems ensuring that the membership of the ALAC and ExCom
>> > lists is correct, having a shadow list would be a lot cleaner.
>> >
>> > Please let me know what you think about these issues.
>> >
>> > Alan
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > ALAC mailing list
>> > ALAC at atlarge-lists.icann.org
>> > https://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/alac
>> >
>> > At-Large Online: http://www.atlarge.icann.org
>> > ALAC Working Wiki:
>> > https://community.icann.org/display/atlarge/At-Large+Advisory+Committee+(ALAC)
>> _______________________________________________
>> ALAC mailing list
>> ALAC at atlarge-lists.icann.org
>> https://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/alac
>>
>> At-Large Online: http://www.atlarge.icann.org
>> ALAC Working Wiki:
>> https://community.icann.org/display/atlarge/At-Large+Advisory+Committee+(ALAC)
>
>