On Jan 10, 2011, at 7:25 AM, Jack Bates wrote:
On 1/9/2011 5:27 PM, John Curran wrote:
Excellent question. To the extent that it is best practices on these types of services, then that's relatively easy for ARIN to interface with... if it is specific direction to ARIN to "do xyz", then ultimately the decision rests with the ARIN Board regarding that input, since that involves how we spend the service fees of the members.
Which ARIN membership does have some resources on, though I do believe they could be improved, as most membership input deals more with the NRPM and not with auxiliary services.
Members may bring any topic of interest to arin-discuss. The fact that there is more traffic on ppml dealing with the NRPM than there is on arin-discuss dealing with other issues is a matter of where the members choose to focus their attention more than anything else.
The role is served by the ARIN Board, which is member-elected and composed of volunteers (and myself as CEO). If folks think that a more formal structure for operational input (either within ARIN or via liaison to another body) is called for, I'd suggest continued discussion on the various mailing lists.
It's always a stickler, too. PPML works well for NRPM, but ARIN doesn't have enough auxiliary services to warrant a mailing list dealing with them. It becomes more of a suggestion, proposal, feedback, implementation, more feedback process. ARIN is generally good at notification of implementation concerning new services, though it would be nice if they had better channels for feedback through the entire process of new services so that they could be closer in sync with the membership. I don't believe services should reach the PDP level, but better communication wouldn't hurt, especially with members who generally don't know how or realize they can participate.
PPML is a forum for the community (not just ARIN members, the entire community). There is a separate mailing list... arin-discuss which is for members of ARIN to discuss any ARIN-related topic of interest to the membership. They can and sometimes do discuss operational matters there. Additionally, there is the ACSP which allows members or the community to send comments and suggestions to ARIN regarding anything, including operations, etc. The ACSP provides a process for community review of the suggestions and semi-formal comment processes as well. Everything you are asking for in your last paragraph is available. Perhaps what is needed is better education of the membership and community on what tools are available and how to use them. Were you familiar with arin-discuss prior to this message? If so, in what way does it not meet the need you are describing? I'm not trying to pick on you Jack. I'm really trying to identify if what we have here is an issue of needing better tools, or, if all we need is better education and utilization of the tools that are already in place, or, some combination of both. Thanks, Owen