Does the ALAC engage in any work at all?

[Danny Younger <dannyyounger@xxxxxxxxx>]

ALAC New GTLD WG -- no comments in last 3 months
ALAC Domain Tasting WG -- no comments -- ever.
ALAC IDN WG -- no member discussions in last 9 months
ALAC IPv6 WG -- no discussion in last six months
ALAC MGTPLAN WG -- no discussion in last seven months
ALAC WHOIS WG -- one post in last ten months

ALAC list -- devoid of any user issues discussion 
Monthly meetings -- 98% of time spent on internal matters

If user issue discussions happen only rarely during the ALAC monthly meetings, 
and if user issues are almost never discussed on-line between these meetings by 
ALAC members on the ALAC list, and if nothing is happening at the working group 
level, how can anyone support the ALAC as an institution or place any credence 
whatsoever in the ALAC Statements?

This is not an organization that merely needs a tweek here and there, this is 
an organization that has redefined the meaning of dysfunctional, that is no 
longer bringing anything of value to the table.  

When one reads the mid-term review one gets the impression that everything is 
dandy in ALAC-land, and that just a few recommendations will cure whatever ails 
this body.  Apparently the reviewers believe that with a little bit more 
navel-gazing (Statement of Intent, Strategic Plan, Operational Plan) the ALAC 
will properly get itself up to speed...

Good luck with that.

A better suggestion would be to take off your rosy-colored glasses and ask 
yourselves if these people on the ALAC are getting the job done that they have 
volunteered to do.  I don't see it happening, nor do I see any self-improvement 
on the way.  Instead, I see a patient on life-support whose plug needs to be 
pulled. 

The ALAC was supposed to be a central coordination point -- but they aren't 
coordinating anything.  They're just going through the motions with one or two 
workers carrying the load for everyone else.

You will be tempted to offer up recommendations to re-design this ongoing 
failure.  Please don't do it.  It won't work.  Don't stick us with another 
three years of folk that usually have nothing to say and who never have any 
plans as to how one might ameliorate the user condition.  Let the ALAC die and 
replace it with a different model that might have a better chance of success.

The real users out there, the ones that take the time to write in to ICANN with 
complaints, observations, suggestions and recommendations deserve real 
representation -- they have no interest in being represented by this Civil 
Society clique that would rather pontificate at the IGF than bring home the 
bacon to their community.  Throw out these bums and find a better way of 
getting the user voice through to the ICANN Board.  

We don't need this Advisory Committee; what we need is a place wherein users 
can join active well-managed working groups and contribute to policy 
development initiatives.