[rpd] Report of the Soft Landing isuue

Tue Mar 21 10:04:11 UTC 2017

Hi Dewole,

Please understand that no insult was meant to the policy chairs in what I said, the phrase "creating consensus" were words I saw used in the past and are not my own.  I fully and totally believe that policy must be driven through consensus and if there is no consensus, a policy should be allowed to die - as has happened many times in the past.

If indeed the policy proposal that is coming is owned by others and the community finds consensus in passing it, then obviously the policy once it has passed consensus should receive the backing of the collective community, since at the end of the day consensus is found.  What was concerning me was that reading the emails there seemed to be an indication that policy was effectively being thrown together from various points of agreement and no clear indication was given as to who would own this policy or drive it from the community perspective.  That raised red flags in my mind and if there was any misinterpretation or misreading of what I saw, I apologise, again, no offense was meant.

As stated - personally I do not believe that a change to the soft landing is indeed necessary at this point - we're too late in the game - but that is just one view and I am quite open to hearing the voices of others and seeing if there is consensus for a change (I just do not see that happening at this point, based on past history of the current policy)

Andrew

From: Dewole Ajao [mailto:dewole at forum.org.ng]
Sent: 21 March 2017 11:51
To: Andrew Alston <Andrew.Alston at liquidtelecom.com>; Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack at gmail.com>; Lu Heng <h.lu at anytimechinese.com>
Cc: rpd List <rpd at afrinic.net>
Subject: Re: [rpd] Report of the Soft Landing isuue

Good day All,

I would like to clarify that the points put together by the co-chairs are as captured from the 2 previous proposals as well as the resulting community discussions. Volunteers are encouraged to pick any points that they deem beneficial and draft new proposals (if they feel inclined to do so). To correct Andrew's words: "their own policy", I should point out that any resulting policy proposals are not owned by the co-chairs.

What we are recommending is that the community should refrain from throwing conflicting proposals at one other (without extensively discussing and considering the views of others). Archives of all RPD discussions are in the public domain and unless one wants to be deliberately mischievous (or is desirous of stalemate conditions), co-chairs providing guidance to prevent deadlock should not be likened to "creating consensus". Personally, I am appalled by the suggestion.

We encourage volunteers that are interested enough to pick up on any areas of interest and draft proposals towards same in a consultative manner. Policy development should not be all-or-nothing or the exclusive preserve of a subset of the community; I believe we can improve things in bite-sized pieces and we should encourage more people to participate.

Regards,

Dewole.

On 21/03/2017 05:17, Andrew Alston wrote:
Hi All,

The co-authors of the original policy stand by what we have originally said. In the meeting in Mauritius a clear indication was given by authors of both policies that both policies would be withdrawn and a mutual policy would then be worked on. Unfortunately following the meeting one side renegaded on this and chose to refuse to withdraw. We felt that, in our opinion, this was done in bad faith, and felt that it would be impossible to work closely on a policy with individuals who refused to show good faith and act on their indicated commitments to the community. This is what caused the deadlock originally and this is the current status quo.

With regards to the co-chairs working on a policy that combines elements of rough consensus - while in theory this sounds like a good idea - at the same time I have to raise a big red flag and say that I cannot support this. It is the job of the co-chairs of the PDP to gauge consensus. It is not the job of the co-chair's to CREATE consensus. Indeed there is a fundamental conflict of interest when the individuals who are required to gauge consensus will effectively be gauging consensus on their own policy, since the moment the elements are combined based on what the belief of rough consensus is into another policy, while the elements may have been drafted by others in other policies, it is still in effect a new policy, and it is untenable to have those that much gauge consensus doing so against their own policies.

If this community truly DOES wish a change to the soft landing policy then it is incumbent on those that wish that change to go ahead and draft a policy that is mutually acceptable. It was clearly demonstrated in Mauritius that neither of the current proposals was acceptable, as neither reached consensus. At this point the process is clear, either the authors of one of the current policies (though one has been formally withdrawn), modify their own policies to reach a point of consensus, or a new policy is drafted *by the community* that CAN reach that consensus point, or nothing is done and the status-quo remains.

What CANNOT happen though is that the co-chairs of the PDP go into policy drafting mode - because that creates a situation is untenable conflict of interest in gauging of consensus on the new draft.

If the community wishes a change to policy - let the community draft such - and let it go through the normal process. If the community is incapable of drafting to find common consensus, it stands to reason that there simply IS not consensus that change is required and therefore under the rules as clearly defined the status quo shall remain.

Andrew

-----Original Message-----
From: Barrack Otieno [mailto:otieno.barrack at gmail.com]
Sent: 21 March 2017 06:57
To: Lu Heng <h.lu at anytimechinese.com><mailto:h.lu at anytimechinese.com>
Cc: rpd List <rpd at afrinic.net><mailto:rpd at afrinic.net>
Subject: Re: [rpd] Report of the Soft Landing isuue

Dear Alan and Co-Chairs,

Many thanks for the summary of the progress made. It is unfortunate that we have reached a deadlock, i still hope that the authors can reconsider their stands and agree to work together in the Interest of the African Internet Community. In the absence of that it is my humble suggestion that we proceed as suggested by the co-chairs focusing on incorporating proposals that have already been agreed on as well as the ones on which we have rough consensus.

Best Regards

On Tue, Mar 21, 2017 at 2:33 AM, Lu Heng <h.lu at anytimechinese.com><mailto:h.lu at anytimechinese.com> wrote:
> Hi
>
> We have no opinions in this debate.
>
> However, as member of AFRINIC, we would appreciate an workable policy,
> easy for both technical people as well as management to understand, to
> implement, at minimum cost both for AFRINIC as well as for member.
>
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 21, 2017 at 03:25 Dewole Ajao <dewole at forum.org.ng><mailto:dewole at forum.org.ng> wrote:
>>
>> Thanks, Alan. The "version control" snapshot will serve as a
>> reminder to co-chairs not to fiddle with the document while it is under consideration.
>> :)
>>
>> Dewole.
>>
>> Sent from a mobile device. Please excuse typos and autocorrect
>> strangeness.
>>
>> > On 20 Mar 2017, at 7:55 PM, Alan Barrett <alan.barrett at afrinic.net><mailto:alan.barrett at afrinic.net>
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> >
>> >> On 20 Mar 2017, at 22:24, SamiSalih <sami at ntc.gov.sd><mailto:sami at ntc.gov.sd> wrote:
>> >> The extracts from discussions till date are at
>> >> https://goo.gl/AWCCWd and we would like to receive feedback and
>> >> suggestions from the community over the next 7 days.
>> >
>> > For the record, here's a snapshot in PDF format of the document as
>> > it exists today.
>> >
>> > Alan Barrett
>> >
>> > <Soft-landing Making Progress.pdf>
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > RPD mailing list
>> > RPD at afrinic.net<mailto:RPD at afrinic.net>
>> > https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo/rpd
>>
>>
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--
Barrack O. Otieno
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+254733206359
Skype: barrack.otieno
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