Hi Mirjam! On Oct 24, 2024, at 14:32, Mirjam Kuehne <mir@zu-hause.nl> wrote:
Over the last few years, we worked on the recommendations by the RIPE NomCom 2020 [1]. One recommendation was still open: "to document community consensus on the relationship between RIPE and the RIPE NCC".
We are excited to share a first draft document with you that describes this relationship as it has evolved from 1992 until the present time.
I served on the 2020 NomCom. I speak only for myself, though. One of the things I struggled with during the NomCom process was over a specific issue that you are very familiar with, which is the independence of the RIPE chair, as the leader of the RIPE community, from the RIPE NCC. In 2020 the NomCom arrived at the decision that we are quite familiar and happy with, which was to appoint a person who was (at the time of selection) both an employee of the RIPE NCC and a well-known and well-qualified member of the RIPE community, so perhaps it's reasonable to say that the question was dodged because there was a highly-agreeable solution at hand that did not require that question to receive much attention. However, I remember hearing feedback from people not on the NomCom that they would prefer more separation between the RIPE NCC and the RIPE community when such decisions are made in the future. To speak directly, the general concern (not directed at our current esteemed leader!) is whether it is reasonable to ask someone to represent the RIPE community in difficult discussions with the RIPE NCC, perhaps in some future area of conflict, if that person is functionally indistinguishable from being a RIPE NCC employee. I do not see anything in this document that mentions this particular issue. I appreciate this document is answering a more general question, but since the origins of the request lie in precisely that area of uncertainty, it seems pertinent. The role of RIPE chair is, after all, an important part of the RIPE community. The fact that the document does not speak to it seems like an omission. Joe