Are you Gay? (The Internet wants to know.)

CIRA elections and Barry Shell.

I was really disappointed by the lack of information provided by Barry Shell. In between chuckles and gags, he doesn't see like he really has that much of a grasp about CIRA.

Barry, in your candidate statement, you said that you've only had a year on the board and that's not enough time to get up to speed. Huh? Jack Welch, the CEO of General Electric only took 6 months... why are you not up to speed after a year?

The financial statements are public... and I'm sure any CIRA employee or board member colleague would have been more than happy to explain things to you. Heck, I'd be happy to have coffee with you one say and fill you in sir.

As a professional, to say that you aren't up to speed yet is silly. Especially since you have been remunerated in your role as a director. A year has passed and you failed in your responsibility to familiarize yourself with the organization, how it operates, costs, policies, strategies, etc.

Why should we vote for you?

You couldn't even answer the softball questions lobbed at you by Jesse... why would you agree (beg) for an interview with a journalist if you aren't prepared or equipped to provide correct information about the organization you're serving?

Personally, I think it's disgraceful that as a current member of the board you handled yourself in such an inappropriate fashion. Not only did you do yourself a disservice, but you did a disservice to CIRA as well.

posted by Ben Lucier on 29 September 2009 at 3:52 PM

Responding to Ben Lucier

If it does not sound like I have a grasp of CIRA it's not for lack of trying, Ben. I asked a number of times to have a look at raw survey results paid for by CIRA, but never did get them. For some reason management holds a great deal of information very close and does not share it with directors. Being a director is not the same as being CEO like Welch.

Over the course of the year I've tried more than once to contact staff directly to find out things about the operation of CIRA and I've been reprimanded by Byron Holland the CEO.

I once talked to Michael Geist about strategies for how I might influence the CIRA board, and was also taken aside and reprimanded by CIRA's Chairman of the board and their chief legal counsel. They accused me of breaking my sworn confidence, which I did not.

Any attempt I have made to learn intimate details about CIRA has been thwarted. As a director I am not shown fine details of how the financials work, nor how the technical operations work. I've tried to find things out, but it's not that easy Ben. I think I tried to communicate this in the interview with Jesse--I mean just how limited one's abilities are to influence operations as a director. As far as I can understand, all you are allowed to do is to participate in very high level strategic plans. Not much more. What's most irritating is that as a director you are fiducially responsible if CIRA fails, but they don't let you into the intimate details of how it's being run. Kind of scary.

What "softball" questions did I not answer, Ben?

Why should you vote for me? Because I'm the only guy on that board asking the hard questions. I'm the only one there that is opposed to running CIRA like a for-profit business, which is what is going on now. I'm the only guy suggesting alternatives to the straight-ahead MBA style management that is currently at the helm. CIRA should be run as a public service, as efficiently as possible, and preferably free. If Craigslist can do it, so can CIRA.

posted by bshell on 29 September 2009 at 6:02 PM

A response to Barry Shell

I'm sorry Barry, but your points related to information request sound like leadership deficiencies. Your direct approach of staff would be an annoyance to me as well.

Maybe you're right. Maybe CIRA is full of staff and board members out to "thwart" you. But what will change if you're re-elected? How will you deal with the challenges of those out to stop you from getting what you want?

I don't understand the point of being a "rebel nominee, "changing the system from within" (quoted from Jesse Brown) if you're ignored in your role as director? Flailing your arms come election time and making disparaging remarks about the organization doesn't inspire confidence in members either. How will you deliver results and be successful as a director without support from your board colleagues, the president of the org and the staff?

Furthermore, why do you keep trying to compare CIRA, a non-profit corporation with Craigslist, for-profit, privately held corporation?

Craigslist 2008 revenues are $80,000,000 USD. What about this can be compared to CIRA? Is it because Craigslist has half the headcount and 8x the revenue? Should CIRA be making MORE money to meet its goals sooner?

Consider that: - Craigslist costs are unknown. - Craigslist does not operate in a 100% uptime environment. - Craigslist has a completely different business model. They're not beholden to any customer for any period of time greater than the time it takes to place an ad. (CIRA registrations can be for 10 years!)

In your opinion as a board member, with the information you have available to you, how many employees do you think CIRA should have? How much reserve funds should CIRA maintain for operations?

posted by Ben Lucier on 29 September 2009 at 7:27 PM

Barry, come on....

Barry:

I listened to the interview with mild surprise at some of the things which were said. I read the above post with amazement.

As all CIRA Directors (such as myself) can confirm, the CIRA Board receives very detailed financial information at every Board meeting, especially so at the annual budget time, with updates at eeach quarterly Board meeting.

In these meetings, CIRA's budget items are broken down in exacting detail, and Directors spend hours questioning Staff on any and all items. It is not unusual for budgets to go thruogh successive drafts before approved by the Board.

I went back and checked, the last CIRA budget (current year) was approved by the Board on March 17. according to what I am told, Barry, you were at that meeting and you aparently voted in favour of the budget.

Likewise, you, me and the most other CIRA Directors attended last week's AGM in Toronto, where you and the rest of us voted to approve the annual report of CIRA, including the financial statements.

The annual report is available for anyone to read here: http://www.cira.ca/annual-reports/2009/en/index.html

Likewise, the financial statements are available here: http://www.cira.ca/annual-reports/2009/en/f_financial_01_en.html

It is healthy for Board members to have different ideas on how priorities should be set asnd funds spent, this is part of healthy governance. We discuss, modify, agree, disagree, this is how healthy Boards work.

However, it is not so healthy to say that "As a director I am not shown fine details of how the financials work, nor how the technical operations work. I've tried to find things out, but it's not that easy."

I do not think those are accurate statements regarding how CIRA works.

posted by Rick Anderson on 29 September 2009 at 8:28 PM

CIRA and the Board

Okay, that's it.

Barry, I respect you as a person. I genuinely do. You are a very nice and sincere guy. But you are blaming your failure to understand what CIRA is and does on everyone else. I've been reluctant to engage in what could only be called "negative campaigning" but as a current director as well as a candidate in this election, I'm simply insulted by your depiction of the situation.

To everyone reading this thread, I'd urge you to review the full CIRA board. You can do so here:

http://www.cira.ca/bios/

Now, you can either buy into Barry's theory that the entire organization is out to get him or you can consider the possibility that he himself is the problem. I leave that analysis to you. But considering what I've just heard on this program I don't believe it should be a hard decision.

In reply to Jesse Brown, I am simply stunned that you would host a discussion on a topic you admittedly know nothing about and therefore can't possibly control or take any responsibility for. Your thin assertion that you invited a "director" from CIRA to explain the organization on your show is ludicrous. You invited a candidate for the board on your show to promote his candidacy - as well as his ignorance. If you had any intention of presenting accurate information about CIRA you'd have invited the organization to send someone qualified. You could easily have had Paul Andersen our Chair, or Byron Holland our CEO, or even our founder John Demco - whom Barry invokes without having the first clue about John's own thoughts or opinions.

This show was frankly an embarrassment. I'm embarrassed on behalf of CIRA, and I hope that no one takes Mr. Shell's statements as representative of our organization. My only consolation, Jesse, is that you've embarrassed yourself at least as badly.

Sincerely, Jeff Rybak

posted by Jeff Rybak on 29 September 2009 at 8:31 PM

Thank You

Thanks Jesse for doing the follow up on the Gay Iraqi issue. I will let you know what else I find out about it and will forward you more interesting stories as I find them.

-Philip

posted by Arthur Twosheds on 29 September 2009 at 10:12 PM

Congratulations Mr Shell

Woah. I am amazed at the vitriol in these comments aimed at Barry Shell for his comments during this quite enlightening interview. I never realised the competition for the CIRA board was quite so cut-throat.

Jeff Ryback - you are insulted by his viewpoint and embarrassed for yourself, for CIRA, for Jesse, for everyone. LOL @ U for having such a thin skin. You accuse Shell of being ignorant, of thinking the organisation is out to get him, and of being "the problem". What, are you 14 years old? Nah,actually most 14 year olds are more adept at trolling than you are.

Instead of using hyperbole and insults to express yourself, maybe you could let us know what YOU stand for, like Mr Shell has done. Or maybe even, I dunno, listen to the CIRA registrants, who overwhelmingly voted in favour of Barry Shell in the election, much to your chagrine, no doubt. Maybe some of them read your rant upthread and decided they prefered a more level-headed, honest candidate for this important position.

Congratulations Barry, you must be doing something right, even if some of your colleagues refuse to understand that.

posted by RMCMURRAY on 08 October 2009 at 3:57 PM

Other, Cheaper .ca Registrars?

How is it that I can register a .ca domain with almost any registrar (GoDaddy, domains.ca, etc.) for much cheaper than doing so through CIRA directly? Is CIRA ultimately behind all of those registrations as well?

And do they still get 8 bucks from my 11-dollar domain registration? That wouldn't leave the registrar with much of a profit.

If, on the other hand, we don't need to go through CIRA to register .ca domains, then their existence is even less relevant.

posted by Mike Mella on 20 October 2009 at 1:33 PM