An Impartial View

emmet

Hi folks,

Having lurked on this forum for a very considerable length of time, taken down several sites in support of the blackout, made my views on the state of net access known to a number of politicians, and generally being an all-round white-hat, I felt that it was time, finally, that I posted my first post with the intention of making a few constructive suggestions aimed at furthering the aims and objectives of Ireland Offline.


First of all, I think that a second forum should be established for topics not directly related to the subject matter which, clearly, concerns us all. I respectfully suggest that this forum be entitled: "Ireland Offline Destructive Infighting". In this way, the casual visitor will see a presentable facade which deals with the bona fide issues, rather than the more usual subject matter of everyday threads. Rather than deleting, locking, or other contentious methods of staying "on message", postings inappropriate to the "issues" forum could simply be reassigned. If "boards.ie" doesn't support this functionality, get a forum host that does.

Secondly, I believe that the idea of a written petition should be pursued vigorously. The contrary arguments of excessive expense
hold no discernable merit --- there is no expense in making a cover page, lined extension page, and return address available. I am confident that I could gather and return 50 signatures with little or no effort.

In the same vein, making a form letter available for download, customisation, and despatch to political representatives is cheap and potentially effective. Having seen previous attempts posted from numerous sources, however, I'd solicit the involvement of someone who has some rudimentary knowledge of old-fashioned nonsense like grammar, syntax, spelling, punctuation, formulating sentences, and organising these into a logical sequence.

Thirdly, it is my view that the emphasis here appears to be excessively on domestic broadband. Whilst I do agree that this is important, I believe that is is more important that affordable broadband be made available to small businesses. An Irish Internet-oriented company simply cannot compete with his US counterpart with connectivity overheads 20 times that of the competitor. It is not simply surf speed that is at stake, it is the national interest. Currently, our politicians are tacitly endorsing the continuation of the Eircom monopoly, and thereby selling out the economic future of our country for short-term political gain, while simultaneously crowing about our puted (and fictitious) position in the international digital economy.

To put it another way, I believe that the impotence of the ODTR, and the high-level political indifference toward LLU, in particular, but also the development of broadband infrastructure generally, can be explained in terms of delaying the further collapse of the Eircom share-price, something which will hurt voters and, by extension, politicians. The "vote cost" to politicians of our country being entirely omitted from international electronic commerce will prove to be immeasurably higher. This is a persuasive argument which may be brought to the attention of our political leaders to the benefit of domestic, business, and organisational internet users alike.

Fourthly, I must say something disagreeable. It is not my intention to disparage the intentions or the efforts of the standard-bearers of Ireland Offline. Their largely thankless committment to our cause in terms of time, effort, and heartache is laudable in the extreme. Nevertheless, it is sadly true that the level of public awareness of Ireland Offline which might be inferred from the enthusiastic postings in this forum, and the level of public awareness which I experience outside, are severely at odds. In other words, Ireland Offline is not nearly so well known as a lot of people in here seem to think.

Fifthly, and less importantly, the "branding" of Ireland Offline is deficient in the {com,net,org} confusion and the inconsistency of appearance which arises from using "boards.ie". If my counsel were sought, it would be to consolidate the {com,net,org} domains, pick one and make it the canonical URL for Ireland Offline; then set up one of the freely available forum packages to handle the forum with Ireland Offline "look".

Finally, ignore the trolls completely. It may be excessively paranoid, but is not beyond the bounds of possibility that these are penned by the stooges of the vested interests to lower the signal-to-noise ratio and thereby damage the credibility of this forum and, by extension, the wider Ireland Offline organisation.

Regards,

Emmet.

Phantom XP

Dear sir ... your 5 suggestion about forum layout mearly suggest that the trolls were right ... but yeah .. just go on ignoring them .. send them to [url deleted by moderator]

[Bard: GOODBYE again, Medion... :rolleyes: ][/url]

MarcusGarvey

I agree with what you say Emmet, apart from the focus on small companies. IrelandOffline is for the masses and if it can get home users cheaper quality broadband then small firms will also benefit.

Its a pity the Eircom Sponsored Small Firms Association don't take up this cause for their paying members.

SkepticOne

Originally posted by emmet
To put it another way, I believe that the impotence of the ODTR, and the high-level political indifference toward LLU, in particular, but also the development of broadband infrastructure generally, can be explained in terms of delaying the further collapse of the Eircom share-price, something which will hurt voters and, by extension, politicians. The "vote cost" to politicians of our country being entirely omitted from international electronic commerce will prove to be immeasurably higher. This is a persuasive argument which may be brought to the attention of our political leaders to the benefit of domestic, business, and organisational internet users alike.

Can you elaborate on this. I agree that it is likely that pressure was not put on Eircom due to its declining share price and that this may have been the cause of the delay in the Communications (Regulation) Bill and other measures. What I am interested in is the ways this can be used to our advantage.

Lemming

Originally posted by emmet
Hi folks,

Currently, our politicians are tacitly endorsing the continuation of the Eircom monopoly, and thereby selling out the economic future of our country for short-term political gain, while simultaneously crowing about our puted (and fictitious) position in the international digital economy.

To put it another way, I believe that the impotence of the ODTR, and the high-level political indifference toward LLU

Firstly, Hi Emmet (and a happy new year)

Whilst I agree with much of what you said, it could also be noted that the government recently recieved a very ominous warning from the EU over the state of LLU. Whether this is the EU merely barking, or preparing to use some of its rather large teeth remains to be seen. There are links somewhere on this board about it. I can't remember any of the url's for it though Sorry!!