On Tue, Sep 12, 2017 at 10:15 AM, Bill Woodcock <woody@pch.net> wrote:
On Sep 10, 2017, at 1:59 PM, Bryan Holloway <bryan@shout.net> wrote: I point specifically to the opening talk at Bellevue where there were wackily photoshop'd pictures of NANOG star heavy-hitters. 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.
On Sep 11, 2017, at 12:32 AM, Bill Woodcock <woody@pch.net> wrote: Probably a safe bet that it was mostly aspirant juniors.
Patrick has pointed out to me that my offhand dismissiveness painted with an overly broad brush and encompassed people whom I undoubtedly do not think so little of. So, my sincere apologies for my tone and speaking-out-of-turn about a slide deck that I hadn’t actually seen. I do very much miss the “cool seniors” who worked so hard to make this what it was, twenty-five and thirty years ago; I owe them a lot. I’m sure the people who are working hard to make the organization what it is today are serving a similar function for people who are entering the industry today.
Thanks Bill. That's definitely an accurate representation from my personal vantage point. Personally in my role within the organization I've stressed the importance of bringing the next Paul Vixie or Sean Doran into the industry and fostering their growth and influence. To me that's where NANOG can add the most value for the next 70 meetings.
Nostalgia was causing me to conflate two things which are unrelated The frat-boy thing is a problem, not only in NANOG, but in ARIN and RIPE. I’d very much like to see it fixed, so that everyone can enjoy collegial support, rather than just a subset of participants.
Totally agree here. I'd love to come up with more ideas on how to fix this real issue; my personal diversity & inclusion bent is squarely aimed at that problem. -Dave