[ARIN-consult] [arin-announce] ACSP Consultation 2021.5: Consultation on ARIN’s Membership Structure

[John Curran]

On 29 Oct 2021, at 10:38 AM, Michael Richardson <mcr at sandelman.ca> wrote:
> 
> Signed PGP part
> 
> John Curran <jcurran at arin.net> wrote:
>> The reason for inclusion of this language is because we do not know
>> what the long-term general member count will be and felt that a modest
>> floor was a reasonable precaution.   While we’re making it possible for
>> more than 7000 end-user organizations to now also become general
>> members and participate in the election, we may see some attrition of
>> existing general members population (i.e. those who don’t tend to vote
>> in ARIN’s elections.)
> 
> I asked how many end-user organizations were potentially new members, and
> this tells me 7000.  And previously we've had ~600 ISP members involved in
> things.

Indeed.   About 600 to 700 - it varies by election and we believe encompasses about 1000 organizations total (there’s some consolidation of organizations which makes a precise number difficult) 

> There is definitely the potential to swamp the current "enfranchisment", but
> I doubt more than 10% of the 7000 will notice or care.
> And if they *do* get involved, then they should be enfranchised.

Agreed.  And they opt to be general members simply by asking (and assigning a voter point of contact to their organization)

> The only reason I can see to do this 3-elections-miss and you are out is if
> there is some quorum issue. That's not to trivialize that issue, but maybe a
> better definition of quorum would be better.

We should have a easily quantified community of those interested in ARIN governance, as this would allow for the Board and organization to more easily engage with the members who wish to be involved. 

Thanks,
/John

John Curran
President and CEO
American Registry for Internet Numbers