But Wolfgang, the elections were abolished. (The wrong people won the elections).
Civil society was disempowered and at large turned into an ICANN-managed playpen. 
So yes, let's not forget history.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: NCSG-Discuss [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
> Of "Kleinwächter, Wolfgang"
> Sent: Friday, February 3, 2017 4:01 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: AW: [NCSG-Discuss] At-Large Review - new draft report
> 
> Don´t forget history. In the original plan of the first Bylaws from 1998 "At
> Large" was the place for civil society/individual users. The At Large election
> was driven by activities of civil society groups. This played also a crucial role in
> the early phase of WSIS where ICANNs At Large was the driving force behind
> the CS IG Caucus.    (see attachment)
> 
> wolfgang
> 
> 
> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: NCSG-Discuss im Auftrag von Olévié Kouami
> Gesendet: Do 02.02.2017 22:34
> An: [log in to unmask]
> Betreff: Re: [NCSG-Discuss] At-Large Review - new draft report
> 
> The competition is coming very soon, i imagine.
> Wait and see.
> Le 2 févr. 2017 12:52, "Norbert Klein" <[log in to unmask]> a écrit :
> 
> > +1
> >
> > Thanks Bill:
> > "I am puzzled that the section starts out by saying, "we have noted
> > that there is a widely shared perception of duplication, even of
> > outright competition between At-Large and the GNSO's Non-Commercial
> > Users Constituency (NCUC) - and to a certain extent, with the
> > Not-for-Profit Operational Concerns Constituency (NPOC)."
> >
> > "I don't know among whom these are "widely shared" perceptions..., but
> > in my 3 years as NCUC chair I never experienced any duplication or
> > competition.  I can't see how such vague assertions unconnected to
> > anything real are helpful."
> >
> >
> > Norbert Klein
> >
> >
> > On 1.2.2017 11:37 PM, William Drake wrote:
> >
> > Hi
> >
> > On Feb 1, 2017, at 16:43, Ayden Férdeline <[log in to unmask]
> > <[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
> >
> > On the ICANN wiki, ICANN staff have uploaded a new draft of the report
> > of the Review of the At-Large Community. You can read it in PDF format
> here:
> > https://community.icann.org/display/ALRW/Review+of+the+
> > ICANN+At-Large+Community+-+Draft+Report+for+Public+Comment
> >
> > The report will open for public comment today, and I think it is
> > important we respond (and also read it closely to see whether or not
> > there are any lessons we can learn, ahead of the GNSO Review). To aid
> > us in drafting our comments, I am going to compare the changes in this
> > second draft against those from the initial report released in
> > December - before members of the At-Large Review Working Party
> > requested signifiant revisions - and I'll try to produce a redlined
> > version, which I'll share on our list. The initial draft was an honest
> > assessment of At-Large. A cursory glance at the revisions in this new
> > draft suggests the inclusion of flowery language praising the current
> > leadership of At-Large for their stewardship of the community over
> > time; I hope the original recommendations have not been materially
> > toned down, but I haven't read the report close enough just yet to assess
> whether or not this is the case.
> >
> >
> > Thanks Ayden for the offer.  I hope that in any comment we submit we
> > bring a little clarity to the section on "Mission overlap with NCUC &
> > NPOC."  I am puzzled that the section starts out by saying, "we have
> > noted that there is a widely shared perception of duplication, even of
> > outright competition between At-Large and the GNSO's Non-Commercial
> > Users Constituency (NCUC) - and to a certain extent, with the
> > Not-for-Profit Operational Concerns Constituency (NPOC)."  I don't know
> among whom these are "widely shared"
> > perceptions (feels a bit like the Westlake Report all over again), but
> > in my 3 years as NCUC chair I never experienced any duplication or
> > competition.  I can't see how such vague assertions unconnected to
> > anything real are helpful.  Moreover, the authors say the differences
> > between NCSG and ALAC are simply that
> >
> > . -  The role of the ALAC is to provide advice on policy and other
> > issues being discussed within ICANN that have implications for end users.
> > . -  The role of NCUC and NPOC, as constituencies of the
> > Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG) within the GNSO, is to provide
> > policy advice related to work of the policy- development function
> > within the GNSO
> >
> > One would think that the fact that At Large is a multistakeholder
> > formation with a lot of folks from various commercial parts of the
> > community merits mention.  Of course there are civil society folks
> > there too and some of us have participated extensively in AL, but on
> > the whole we are talking about very different beasts, and not simply
> > because of the AC/SO roles.
> >
> > Sigh.
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> > Bill
> >
> >
> > ************************************************
> > William J. Drake
> > International Fellow & Lecturer
> >   Media Change & Innovation Division, IPMZ
> >   University of Zurich, Switzerland
> > [log in to unmask] (direct), [log in to unmask] (lists),
> >   www.williamdrake.org
> > ************************************************
> >
> >
> >
>