[NA-Discuss] Suspension of Posting Privileges for Eric Brunner Williams

[Garth Bruen]

Thank you Olivier.

Folks, while this is serious, things are not nearly as grim as they are
being made out to be and there are a variety of possible solutions. I have
cc'ed Eric so he Is aware of two critical items:

1. I am insisting (in contradiction to my colleagues) that Eric Brunner
Williams remain on the ballot for chair. It has been pointed out for a
variety of reasons that Eric is not eligible for election, but in the
interest of democracy, openness and to truly serve the At-Large membership
in the region: I WANT Eric's name on the ballot.

2. The list is merely one of our channels for input in At-Large. I am
inviting Eric, in full view of the community, to A) Appear on our next
Monthly Call and/or B) Submit a written statement which will be included in
the meeting agenda and in the monthly reports explaining his position on
this or any other topic.

The list has rules and has rules for a reason. If the community is unhappy
with the rules there is a formal process for changing them.

Thanks, Garth



-----Original Message-----
From: Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond [mailto:ocl at gih.com] 
Sent: Friday, June 21, 2013 9:05 PM
To: NA-Discuss
Cc: Thompson, Darlene; Garth Bruen at KnujOn; ICANN At-Large Staff
Subject: Re: [NA-Discuss] Suspension of Posting Privileges for Eric Brunner
Williams

Dear all,

as Chair of the ALAC, I am always concerned about a breaking of the
inclusive atmosphere in any part of our community.

One such cause is the writing of ad-hominem accusations on the list.
This ends up being archived, picked up by search engines and ultimately
makes everybody look bad.
I too am sad that it had to come to this - but we are all grown up people
here and we do not need to pick at each other personally. I understand
sometimes that debates and discussions can get out of hand.
But offending other people is not the way that we'll manage to better
channel the points of view of Internet users into the ICANN process - and it
is not the way we'll encourage more people to get involved and to
contribute, because a hostile atmosphere will scare them away.
For this reason, Garth had my full support for his actions that he had to
take as NARALO Chair.

If Eric feels he has been unfairly treated, the Ombudsman is indeed a
possible avenue for appeal.

Best regards,

Olivier Crépin-Leblond
ALAC Chair

On 21/06/2013 17:07, Thompson, Darlene wrote:
> Our Chair can add conditions to re-instatement before a person is allowed
back on the list.  This particular case was discussed with the ALAC Chair as
well as the NARALO leadership and this course was accepted.  The Code of
Conduct is a document that was agreed to by the NARALO.  This action was
also not taken upon just one instance of a violation of the Code of Conduct.
This was the third time showing a pattern of abuse.  Garth really did not
want to take this action because of the perception of a "rival to his
position" being silenced.  However, as Chair, he did have to take action
because this was about abuse of our members.

--
Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond, PhD
http://www.gih.com/ocl.html