On Tue, 3 Nov 1998, Phil Howard wrote:
My suggestion would be to have a forum, or maybe an alternate mailing list, called "NANOG-BOF" (alias "NANOG-BOG") where one "side issues" can be discussed. Then it would be easy to just take dragging issues to there.
This has already been tried (I believe someone created the "offtopic-bullshit" list at one point for inet-access), and just doesn't work; the people involved -don't use it-, and moderating a forum like NANOG would reduce the speed at which urgent operational messages would go out (before you say "make an exception list for those with clue", think about who decides who gets on that "clue list", and how people are removed from it). And this is a operator's list; you should expect a certain minimum of discussion of operations-related issues. Personally, NANOG's signal-to-noise ratio is still incredibly low compared to most lists I'm on. Allow me to voice my vote for leaving things the way they are: open posting for those who have actually worked out how to subscribe to the posting list. The one suggestion I'd make would be starting to be a little more aggressive about letting people know that their messages are offtopic (via Merit listadmins or appointed watchdogs), and clamping down on repeat offenders (by removal of posting priviledges). Self-moderation via consequences, vs. enforced moderation. -- Edward S. Marshall <emarshal@logic.net> /> Who would have though that we -o) http://www.logic.net/~emarshal/ // would be freed from the Gates of /\\ Linux Weenie, Open-Source Advocate </ hell by a penguin named "Tux"? _\_v Linux labyrinth 2.1.125 #9 SMP Sat Oct 17 14:46:24 CDT 1998 i586 unknown 9:10pm up 4 days, 20:48, 4 users, load average: 0.36, 0.09, 0.03