[rpd] Policy Development Process and Elections

[Owen DeLong]

> On Aug 16, 2020, at 05:15 , Sami Salih <sami.salih at outlook.com> wrote:

> 

> So we ended up with a situation when "sleeping Cells" walkup and mobilize trying to manipulate the system.


I’m not sure I understand what this “sleeping cells” concept means in this context, but I will assume that you are referring to a massive registration effort to sway the election.

In the US, it is common for politicians to work very hard to “get out the vote” and voter registration campaigns by politicians are quite common. (At least the ones who expect
that new registrants are more likely to vote for them than their opponent).


> I also understand point (g) as those recent subscribers will allow to upsetting our voting equilibrium, I hope I misunderstand it but we need confirmation from AFRINIC.

> I only believe that the Holy Book is Perfect, any other systems, laws, and regulations made by human beings are full of loophole, so we are here participating in this list to batch any of them as cached.

> "spirit of law vs letter of law" we are not robots.


So there are two things here… I agree that an attempt at organizational capture is a concern. I have no problem with the idea of a reasonable time before enfranchisement IF the community makes that choice collectively.

In this case, I think that the obvious statistical anomaly shows a clear indication that something is afoot which is not well understood. It certainly should serve as a lesson for consideration in conducting future elections. I’m of mixed emotions about the current proposed solution as it does, indeed, have the potential to disenfranchise some number of legitimate voters. I’m not 100% convinced that the 177 new registrants on the list in July are not legitimate voters under the rules as they exist at this time, even if they are people who were mobilized as an effort towards organizational capture.

I will say that whoever mobilized them is taking a rather significant set of risks in doing so. First, I’m sure that the community would take a dim view of that person if their identity were to be discovered. Second, unless this actor has resorted to foul play beyond merely encouraging them to register and vote, then there is no assurance that they will vote in the manner he or she wants.


> On related remarks, for a long time we didn't see comments like (I support "--Name--"), we need to teach those new commers that we are not support (and / or) oppose people, it's all about ideas , so you need to justify your position.


We are perfectly free to be people who support or oppose policy proposals or ideas, but you are right, we should not be supporting and especially not opposing people. As far as I am concerned such a statement is borderline in violation of the rules against ad hominem.


> I also see it is rude if someone ask you to introduce yourself and you wont. So, I urge anyone who believe he is not well known to the group to introduce himself before make lengthy intervention.


If you want me to introduce myself, please inform me directly and I will be happy to do so. However, I suspect that I am somewhat known to the group. As to before making lengthy intervention, I am afraid that time is long passed, sir.

Owen

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