but no matter how good an idea it is, my complaint is still that sending e-mail toward the whois contact for a network or AS# should elicit a clueful reply, and if it doesn't, then the key word we're looking for is "cost shifting". (and that, in case y'all wondered, is why this is relevant to nanog@.)

It's also relevant to the upcoming ARIN meeting in Chicago right after NANOG. There is a policy proposal to change the whois directory so that it only contains contact info for people who are ready, willing and able to act as contacts for an address block or AS number. Right now whois is a cesspool with too many people who are unable to do anything about network issues or who don't understand network issues or who have moved on and no longer exist. If we clean this up, then it is entirely reasonable for you to ask the community to give a higher priority to complaints from someone who is also listed as a whois contact. But right now I don't see any good way to systematically identify clueful complainers. --Michael Dillon