Hello Arnold and others.
I keep hearing that there were some problems with the process, or that concerns were raised late into the process. But I wonder how the potential conflict of interest was not detected or taken seriously considering the independence of RIPE community from NCC was a well established principle. Was it not clear? Is this not perceived as a problem?
In 2015, when I was a relatively newb at a ripe meeting, I presented some ideas about institutional accountability. The community members (rightly so) repeatedly corrected me when I kept conflating RIPE NCC and RIPE community. So to my mind the independence is a well established principle and has always been.
To me, it was not clear whether NomCom perceived this situation as a problem since it had alternative candidates. What do we need to do to establish the circumstances under which the independence of community from NCC might be undermined? Do we need to come up with examples and criteria for application? Does NomCom need processes in place to prohibit employees to become community leaders fresh out of their NCC job? Is such a prohibition needed? Do we need criteria for employees to become community leaders? For example must have left RIPE NCC for this many months/years or have a job in a different org?
This is not an issue specific to RIPE. We see it from time to time in other Internet orgs (sometimes in much more serious ways) But I think would be good to establish once and for all whether it’s a problem or not. Then if we think it is a problem we should find solutions.
This is of course not to doubt the dedication of NomCom and people who volunteered for these positions.
And I end this email by congratulating the new chair and vice chair. Would be also good to know how and whether they can address the concerns that were raised and how they can make sure community will remain independent from ncc.
(I wanted to create another thread not to spoil this congratulatory thread, but I thought we might not even want to reopen the issue)