The subject of being off the subject in the nanog list

Wed Sep 10 17:48:28 UTC 1997

With the thread that has been going around about being flamed for
posting inappropriate subject matter on this list I believe I have an
easy rule-of-thumb.  Not saying by any means that I would try and impose
my own beliefs on anyone or that mine are superior.  Merely a suggestion
to keep in mind.

This list is not the following:

	Where I can I find this?
	Who can tell me what where this company peers?
	Why doesn't my router work?
	Anyone know if there is a patch for such and such IOS?
	Can you tell me how to add a route to my commodore 64?
	Politics
	What is the meaning of life?

Now with that said, if someone were to ask hey anyone know where I can
find gated? Then fine that's acceptable but 40 different people
shouldn't post to address hey get it here at ftp.gated.com  Why not send
e-mail directly to that person.  If somebody else says hey I am looking
for that too, don't post it to nanog, send e-mail to the person who
posed the question, hey if you get a good answer forward to me.  By
applying this practice we can eliminate the unnecessary e-mail and make
life a little easier for yourself.  It might be easier for you to post
to the group and wait for some other people to post to the group but you
are inconveniencing the rest of us, you want the benefits you bear the
inconvenience of looking up that person's e-mail address and replying to
them.  Concept discussions are generally well received here, but hey my
router keeps rebooting doesn't really need a thread of weeks to follow. 

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now and prepare to get flamed myself.

Bill Clark

New Century Computer Solutions
Network Engineer

bclark at nccsinc.com