<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Dear Nigel,<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">We thank you for bringing this to our attention.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class="">The message was not targeted towards you per se but rather those that produce and propagate such content within the AFRINIC membership and community.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class="">We appreciate our community's kind understanding and support.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Regards,</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">AFRINIC Communication</div></div></div><div class=""><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On 28 Sep 2021, at 08:48, Nigel Kukard <<a href="mailto:nkukard@LBSD.net" class="">nkukard@LBSD.net</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class="">
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 9/27/21 12:28, AFRINIC Communication
wrote:<br class="">
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<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:C8F093E8-2954-45DE-A071-37C7B27E117B@afrinic.net" class="">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">Dear community members,
AFRINIC has taken note of a post together with a corresponding attachment that contains inaccuracies and presented out of context on this thread (<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/community-discuss/2021-September/004862.html">https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/community-discuss/2021-September/004862.html</a>) and was aimed at causing damage and prejudice to AFRINIC as Regional Internet Registry for the African region.</pre>
</blockquote><p class="">I was complaining that I too were getting unsolicited mails in a
thread that others were also complaining and providing samples.
How is my post out of context?<br class="">
</p><p class="">How is me complaining about getting unsolicited mails aimed at
causing damage and prejudice to AFRINIC?<br class="">
</p><p class="">Why am I being publicly targeted and singled out?<br class="">
</p><p class=""><br class="">
</p>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:C8F093E8-2954-45DE-A071-37C7B27E117B@afrinic.net" class="">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">AFRINIC wishes to inform its community that the information contained in the said attachment are presently the subject of several ongoing cases involving AFRINIC and Cloud Innovation Ltd as well as an ongoing police investigation in respect of a matter reported for misappropriation of IP number resources.</pre>
</blockquote><p class="">Yes, we know that. Your members are complaining about getting
unsolicited communications involving email and phone calls and
sharing this with each other on a <u class="">COMMUNITY</u> mailing list
and discussing it.<br class="">
</p><p class=""><br class="">
</p>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:C8F093E8-2954-45DE-A071-37C7B27E117B@afrinic.net" class="">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap=""> AFRINIC will not comment thereon but reserves its rights to apply its Code of Conduct against all persons making use of its mailing lists for the purposes of causing damage and harm to AFRINIC and to take such action as it may be advised.</pre>
</blockquote><p class="">Literally my second post, second complaint about getting
unsolicited communications and I'm being threatened by AFRINIC
with action because I'm causing damage and prejudice to AFRINIC?<br class="">
</p><p class=""><br class="">
</p><p class="">-N<br class="">
</p><p class=""><br class="">
</p>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:C8F093E8-2954-45DE-A071-37C7B27E117B@afrinic.net" class="">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">We have also noticed that some community members are not upholding the code of conduct in their exchanges.
We urge you all to read the AFRINIC Code of Conduct to make sure you are up to date on the processes that safeguard the discussion and community-driven policies at the heart of AFRINIC.
The code of conduct ensures that discussions are kept professional and that individuals are protected against defamatory, derogatory and personal attacks.
Please read the following blog post for more information on the AFRINIC Code of Conduct: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://afrinic.net/20200903-code-of-conduct">https://afrinic.net/20200903-code-of-conduct</a>
AFRINIC Communication
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite" class="">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">On 26 Sep 2021, at 19:03, Sander Steffann <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:sander@steffann.nl"><sander@steffann.nl></a> wrote:
Hi Omo,
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite" class="">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">Thanks. I was trying to understand the dialogue between you and Lu and the "clarification". How do you mean "may be of influence"?
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">At AFRINIC meetings I have seen many cases where there was a lot of "steering" (people being sent to the microphones with pre-defined statements they didn't write themselves, but where it was pretended that it was their own opinion) which I have never seen at other RIRs. AFRINIC seems to be unique in the way there are plays for power and influence that are undermining the true bottom-up way, and people seem to accept this as normal. In other regions there is much less hierarchy (we have no CoE for example) and everybody is treated more equally.
The "power games" I have seen in AFRINIC at all levels (board, management, RPD, community) and the distrust between for example Anglophone and Francophone parts of the community make it very hard to run a true bottom-up system. Such behaviour in AFRINIC and its community make it very vulnerable to top-down influences, because the framework for such influences is already there.
Cheers,
Sander
PS: I am only part of the global internet community, not directly of the AFRINIC community. I can therefore only state how I see things from the outside. I am sure there are many things I interpret differently because of my different background. Please do not take offence, I only try to hold up a mirror. I have no personal, commercial or financial stake in AFRINIC, but I do care about the bottom-up principle and fairness. Those are the only reasons I speak up on AFRINIC mailing lists.
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