On 17-Sep-14 08:41, Kathy Kleiman wrote:
> +1 to avoiding acronyms! Even I am having trouble following some
> postings - and I have been here forever...


I think avoiding them is impossible and asking people to do so is
unreasonable.  And I think that newcomers need to learn them, that is
the first step in becoming active.

I argue instead, that people, especially experienced people, should give
a translation on first use in an email, text or speech.  Though even
there, how far does one need to go? Does one need to translate all of
these on first use in NCSG discussions: e.g. (for example) ICANN
(Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), GNSO (Generic
Names Supporting Organization), NCSG (Non Commercial Stakeholder Group),
SCI (Standing Committee on Improvements), IRTP-D (Inter Registrar
Transfer Policy - the 4th WG in the sequence of IRTP WGs (Working
Groups)).

In fact on some of these I would argue that knowing that - GNSO is the
name for the group the NCSG belongs to ... - is more important than
knowing what the letters stand for.  Also if we require newcomers to use
the proper names instead of the acronyms they can learn easily, I expect
we would actually slow down their involvement.  It is hard to remember
what every acronym stands for, even when you know perfectly well what it
is. Isn't just knowing the name of the group IRTP-D, even if you don't
know the exactly meaning of every letter (i had to confirm whether it
was policy or process) easier to remember?

However, until such time as we all become perfect and find the right
balance point, do remember to use the acronym helpers.  My favorite is:

http://www.andalucia.com/acronym/home.htm

Perhaps we can include it in the list's message footer. There is also an
official ICANN one, but i forget its url and as is often the case, could
not find it quickly on the improved web site - I would put it in the
message footer as well.


On 17-Sep-14 08:21, Nuno Garcia wrote:

> I will start tomorrow to bring new interested members to the
> Non-Commercial Users Constituency.


Why NCUC (Non-Commercial Users Constituency) instead of the NCSG
(Non-Commercial Stakeholder group)?  Not only is that the group they are
required to join first, they do not need to join a constituency, so
perhaps new members should be allowed to watch the constituencies in
action and decide on their own if and when they want to join a constituency.

I would also argue that while getting new members is good, more
important is getting more of the hundreds of members we now have,
involved.  We are already the biggest and most diverse group in ICANN.
What we are not, is sufficiently involved.

avri


Ps. another helpful aid, which i often forget, when you spin a thread
onto a tangent, change the subject.