Dear Stephanie

Greetings and Thanks for this. I think the things you mention we should do in the NCSG are valid, but they should be done all the time and not just election time. Election time is to find the best candidates, the other things should be in place anyway before that.

I would also ask for one clarification. What is the evidence for expressions of support suppressing candidates? Why do we need a ruling of the leadership on free expressions of the populous? If these kind of rulings are needed, which other things should be ruled by the leadership as they are so clearly in the interest of all? We need more people to run, yes, but as I said before, we should not start to look for new people during the election in order to cover up for our own failures to bring in and foster new blood before it. BTW, if you like we can suggest a number of candidates from the ranks of NPOC, if that is seen as helpful!.

What's wrong with letting people express themselves? Are we not in danger to implement benign dictatorships?. Sometimes it is better to be messy but preserving the freest level of speech. Is that not something we as NCSG are all about, preserving freedom of speech on the Internet. How can we do that if we don't practise that in our own family?   

Just some thoughts

Klaus

[log in to unmask]" type="cite">

Having served on council now for two years, I think we should consider better how we want to run these elections.  DO people out there really understand the work we do on council?  How do we want our council members to act?  How do we want them to discuss issues on our monthly policy calls?  How collaborative should the decision making be?  How do we do succession planning and mentoring?  These are issues that are fundamentally important in my view, and should be discussed during the campaign, not relegated to nominee's statements.

I agree with Niels and Milton that if expressions of support are suppressing candidates from coming forward, we need a rule against it.  We desperately need more people to run....there was only one contested seat the last time I ran, when gender balance and regional balance were taken into consideration.

Best,

Stephanie

On 2016-08-03 10:24, Carlos Raúl Gutiérrez G. wrote:

[log in to unmask]" type="cite">Dear Milton.

I agree that this is a very fine procedural point, that should be managed clearly by the people responsible for the process, from the first mail on, so as to allow for others to consider participating. Maybe it should even become a written rule of internal netiquette.

But in the meantime, coming from a Hyperdemocratic and Hyper-freedom-of-expression rights country like Costa Rica (and the re-election being a possibility for some incumbents)  I done´t see anything wrong in feeling the temperature of the room early on as a way to recognise how hard some of them have worked in the past. We might have chosen the wrong place to make this type of comments, but space should be available for making them in the list anyhow. Maybe just under a different heading, like “I don´t like the re-election of incumbents” for example.

Now, do we have an explicit rule as suggested by Niels and you? How and where do we express our support for that rule? Should we draw a redline and asked for a renewed call for the election process with the new rule and forget the past? Lets be practical and move forward ASAP.

Best

Carlos Raúl Gutiérrez
+506 8837 7176
Skype: carlos.raulg
Current UTC offset: -6.00 (Costa Rica)
On 3 Aug 2016, at 8:11, Mueller, Milton L wrote:

I second Niels's views. I have refrained from expressing any opinion about the nominations until the nominations are closed and we are discussing candidate statements. I have always done so.

--MM

-----Original Message-----
From: NCSG-Discuss [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Niels ten Oever
Sent: Tuesday, August 2, 2016 10:30 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: +1's and support

Dear all,

Even though I think the regular display of +1's is a signal of mutual support
and camaraderie. I have the feeling that sometimes it is drowning out other
discussions about content on the list.

May I also remind people that the voting happens later, so the candidates
need your support is even more then.

I'm greatly looking forward to the statements of the candidates.

All the best,

Niels



--
Niels ten Oever
Head of Digital

Article 19
www.article19.org

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