On Sat, Mar 20, 2021 at 12:46:57PM -0600, David Siegel wrote:
The board has been thinking about enhancements to the NANOG list for a couple of years now, with the goal of creating a modern interface that the younger generation of engineers will be more comfortable using.
This isn't a valid goal. It's fine that some people can't handle mailing lists -- but then they shouldn't be network engineers or system admins, because (a) using mailing lists is a fundamental skill required in those fields and (b) anyone can't master such a rudimentary task in relatively short order really isn't equipped to be an engineer/admin. (Just like someone who can't do binary arithmetic or grasp multi-step processes shouldn't be an engineer/admin. This doesn't make them bad people, it just makes them people who are unlikely to be successful in the field.)
Those of you that have attended recent NANOG members meetings may recall that we are currently beta testing a new community interface called discourse as part of our NANOG modernization strategic initiative.
Discourse is a MAJOR downgrade from the functionality of mailing lists. Oh, it's shiny and pretty and all that, but it's not a good tool for serious professional or even amateur communication. (And, of particular interest to *this* list, it performs extremely poorly -- if at all -- when confronted with (a) network outages and congestion and (b) attacks and abuse. Two of the *many* significant advantages of properly-run mailing lists are that they continue to function plausibly well under highly adverse conditions and that there are numerous, well-understood tactical and strategic mechanisms for defending them.) ---rsk