NANOG/IEPG/ISOC's current role

Tue Apr 2 16:47:56 UTC 1996

On the other hand.....

It has been clear over the past (years?..... time sure flies....)
there has been a strong and very vocal pro-filtering Keep
the Routing Table Small at *any* cost, group of advocates and
protagonists in the NANOG mailing list.

It is easy to reach the conjecture that the _perception_ of *others*
is; having many strong and vocal pro-filtering  protagonists in NANOG;
and given the fact that the few who warned that selective
route filtering was very problematic were flamed-broiled and
none came to their defense 

\Metaphor

.........................after all, if a town in the
days of the Salem witch trials watched as the zealots burned
the heretics, is the town without blood on their hands just
because they remained silent in their comfy homes?

\EndMetaphor

It is not a strong leap of the imagination to believe that NANOG,
the vocal majority, supports selective route-filtering to control
routing table growth and was very aggressive to oppress the
those whom dared to stand alone and challenge there will.

Please keep in mind that as in *any* group, NANOG included, by 
virture of allowing a few dominate voices to represent the
group, does bear responsibility for the perception others
view the group.  

Best Regards,

Tim

> 
> After scanning the on-line notes from the NANOG meetings, I did
> not find any "recommendations" made by the group.  In fact, the
> group has mentioned many times that it is inappropriate to set
> policy.  What the group does is discuss various technical problems,
> share work-arounds, fixes, kludges, and as individuals adopt what
> is useful.
>           --Elise
> 
> >Sean Donelan writes:
> > 
> > What is NANOG's role?
> > 
> > I was surprised to read in the March 25 issue of NetworkWorld Alecia Cooper
> > at Sprint comments that Sprint is just following NANOG's recommendations
> > to block addresses to minimize the number of router table entries.  I
> > must have missed something, because I don't remember NANOG ever making
> > any recommendation, of any sort.
> > 
> > Is this just a case of bad reporting by Joanie Wexler at NetworkWorld?  A
> > bad case of passing the buck by Alecia Cooper at Sprint?  Or something else?
> > -- 
> > Sean Donelan, Data Research Associates, Inc, St. Louis, MO
> >   Affiliation given for identification not representation
> > 
> 