wb8foz@nrk.COM (David Lesher) writes:

Putting asides the spamhaus "noDood@Bif.gov" ones, a large number of the addresses appear to be just plain obsolete; the sysadm moved on, etc.

I've gotten a few questions about how I collected the contact information I'm using. Since the Internet is doubling every xxxx days, some folks may not remember this from last time. I originally used sources such as WHOIS, Manning's in-addr.arpa TXT records and various random web pages. But was informed by a number of providers that was unfair, because ARIN/NSI/whoever sometimes couldn't keep the updated information in their databases or because the phone number some providers prefer to list in their WHOIS records is for their sales department, not their NOC. Or they don't accept calls from non-customers. So I changed. The contact information I now use is based on the information each provider gave when we signed an agreement or set up our interconnect with them. According to almost every peering agreement, it is the responsibility of the peer to provide correct updated contact information, even after being 'borged' by another company. In all cases the contact information was provided directly by the other ISP to me. Some providers have given me direct phone numbers to their NOC, others have given me phone numbers to their customer service departments. I don't really care, its whatever phone number you think is most likely to work 24x7. I generally discourage personal cell-phone and pager numbers though. The test is really to reach the provider's crew, not an individual. If you provide a direct-dial telephone number, it doesn't even cost you the 1-800 charge. The requirement for being listed is a) a provider connected to a major US exchange point (mae-east, mae-west, aads, paix, pacbell, sprint) or represent a major piece of Internet infrastructure (root-server, radb). Everyone else I assume should be reached via their upstream provider. b) provided me a working contact telephone number and e-mail c) agree to take my call d) and confirmed the information when I did called. It would also be nice if you agreed to peer with me, but that isn't a strong requirement. However, when I can't reach someone I don't peer with, I just delete them from the list without following up. I assume calls should be directed through their upstream provider. I don't intend to check 6,000 different ISPs, just the 150 or so ISPs meeting those conditions above. And no, I do not believe or use Boardwatch's classification of ISPs, which seems based on who advertises in their publication more than any other factor. Heck, they've listed ISPs who didn't even have working routers at the time as "backbone providers." -- Sean Donelan, Data Research Associates, Inc, St. Louis, MO Affiliation given for identification not representation