[arin-discuss] voting

[Bill Darte]

> 
> The issue here is this.  The Board is made up of individuals. 
>  We all know that it's impossible for anyone to be truly 
> objective on an issue they care about (and I would assume the 
> members of the Board would care about at least some of the 
> issues before the ARIN board, else why would they even seek election?)
> 
> The concern is that unless these biases are known in advance, 
> the Board is subject to accusations that they are influencing 
> policy "behind the scenes"
> 
> Given your whois example, let's say that all Board members 
> are in favor of increasing whois granularity and exposure, 
> while the membership is still undecided.  If this is a known 
> fact -before- the election yet the board members are elected 
> anyway, then when someone on the "anti-whois" camp accuses 
> the Board of trying to do a rush job on pushing increased 
> granularity on whois, the Board's response can simply be "No, 
> we aren't doing that but I'll point out that you knew we were 
> in favor of increased granularity and exposure yet you 
> elected us anyway"  In other words, you aren't going to 
> convince the person on the anti-whois camp that the Board 
> isn't trying to undermine his position - what you are doing, 
> however, is making it clear to the person that his argument 
> is -not- with the board, it's with the rest of the membership 
> who is arguing over the whois issue, and who elected the Board.


The Board does NOT make policy.... 

I am all for disclosure however.  I think a statement of why they are
running is good and a brief bio, too.


> If you try to hide the Board members biases then it seems to 
> me that accusations of the Board trying to sneak someting 
> behind the scenes would influence more people, because people 
> would always be wondering if it were true or not, and it ends 
> up blowing up the accusation worse than it is.
> 
> To make an analogy, if I go accuse the President of the 
> United States of being a war-mongering, fiscally 
> irresponsible leader, nobody really cares because the 
> President was -elected- on a platform of war-mongering and 
> fiscal irresponsibility.  It's old news, buddy, and if I 
> don't like it I need to go to the electorate and convince all 
> the people who voted for him to toss him out.
> 
> By contrast, if I accuse the President of the United States 
> of being a commie-loving, evolution-loving, closet liberal, 
> why then I can draw lots and lots of attention as people all 
> focus on trying to find out if my accusations actually hold 
> any water or not.
> 
> I personally would feel more comfortable knowing what the 
> Board's personal biases are.  If the members were to say "I 
> believe what your doing is wrong but your the boss and I'll 
> do my best to implement it" then that gives me the power to 
> decide if the particular person really is acting as I feel 
> they should, of if they are acting along their own biases.  I 
> feel a lot more comfortable with that sort of person than 
> with one who does their best to hide their personal views on 
> things and just be a "yes-man" to my face.
> 
> I feel if the Board were to show a bit more humanity as it 
> were, that it would strengthen their credibility.
> 
> If you follow commercial corporate boards at all, you will 
> probably know that for the large public companies, the 
> profiles of each board members are meticulously discussed in 
> public by a varity of stock analysts all attempting to guess 
> how they are going to jump next - and it appears not to hurt 
> their credibility at all.
> 
> It's human nature to attempt to dig into something that 
> appears hidden, and suspect ulterior motives.  I would 
> suggest that the less mysterious the ARIN board is, the less 
> that wild accusations about it's members will hold any water, 
> and the less attention that will be paid to them.
> 
> Ted
> 
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