Daniel,
I am not sure that I have anything to say that has not been said, but
since you were very clear about wanting guidance on how to proceed, here
are my analysis and suggestions.
# Valid Concerns
I think that the points raised by various people in this forum and
others are valid. To me, the most important points are around the change
in circumstances since the call for candidates for the RIPE Chair
position ended. Specifically:
1. The change in Hans Petter's role was not known.
2. The possibility for the RIPE Chair position to be a paid position was
not presented.
My personal feeling is that these differences are important enough that
they would have resulted in a different set of candidates coming forward.
# Clarification Needed
I think that it would be best to make clarifications as others have
called for, for example drawing bright lines between RIPE NCC staff and
RIPE community positions, as well as having clarity about how the RIPE
NCC intends to fund the RIPE Chair and RIPE Vice Chair positions.
# Reset Desireable
Since we can select a new interim RIPE Chair, I do not feel that there
is any great urgency in moving forward in any particular time frame. In
fact, I think that we should select a new interim RIPE Chair as soon as
possible. That gives us a bit of time to fix the flaws in the current
situation.
The next step would be to clarify the things mentioned above. After we
have clarification on these important details, then I think it would be
best to re-start the RIPE Chair selection process.
# Constitutional Crisis
I recognize that making any kind of decision about the process itself is
beyond the remit of the NomCom. Indeed changing the process itself would
be a breach of trust that I cannot imagine the NomCom creating.
We have a number of people raising doubts about the state of the RIPE
Chair selection process. This is not just one or two people, but several
long-standing members of the RIPE community. Contrariwise, we have a
number of highly respected and committed people encouraging the process
to move forward, "warts and all".
Historically the way this sort of disagreement would be resolved is by
fiat; the RIPE Chair would make a decision, and we would either applaud
it or grumble about it and move on with the work and fun of improving
the Internet.
So I think that Hans Petter, acting as the interim RIPE Chair, needs to
either:
1. Make a statement that the time for discussion is over and that the
current process will stand.
2. Call for specific actions to change the process (hopefully along the
lines above).
3. Propose some other way forward.
I can respect that Hans Petter may feel uncomfortable with this, but I
do not see any other way to resolve the issue.
# About the Future RIPE Chairs
My own feeling is that the next RIPE Chair will have her or his ability
to represent the community weakened if we continue on with the current
selection, at least initally. If Hans Petter declares that the process
stands, at least we have that official stamp, which I think will help a bit.
One final note is that neither Hans Petter nor Rob were subjected to any
kind of selection process, so the most important thing for any future
RIPE Chairs will probably be the relationship with the RIPE community
not how they got the role. My sympathy and best wishes to them all!
Cheers,
--
Shane
