Yep, I've been in this industry since.. '94 or so, and the absolute number one reason that I do not participate in NANOG is that even going back as far as I can remember it's been a good-old-boy's club. Yes, there are some very smart people that speak up, but I see time and time again the cliques and good-old-boys club mentality inherent in NANOG. And because of this, the thinking and mindset of NANOG in general will (in my opinion) never change. As you mention there is definitely a 'cool kids' or Ivory tower mentality. And I'm not sure that it really *can* be fixed and more welcoming of newer members without risking alienating the old guard. So for the most part I tease out the nuggets of wisdom I can, and ignore most of the mindless arguments that we have been over time and time again about. Ken On Sun, Sep 10, 2017 at 6:00 PM, Scott Weeks <surfer@mauigateway.com> wrote:
--- bryan@shout.net wrote: From: Bryan Holloway <bryan@shout.net>
Had I been a first-time attendee, I would've felt like a high-school freshman being told who all the "cool seniors" were.
Frankly, it was awkward and off-putting. ---------------------------------------------------
Not only first time attendees, but also long time list participants are made to feel that way; me included for making comments about vendor spam or top posting. I note that not only randy is doing what he says, but other old schoolers are now gone (such as vixie, li and others) who are folks that a person could learn a lot from.
scott
ps. I always shot peas at the "cool kids" table in the lunch room in high school. From time-to-time I want virtual peas to shoot now days... >;-)