I was at NANOG 20, and I seem to remember that the technical talks were over a good 20-30 minutes before Beer and Gear. If people were leaving the talks early, I'm sure it was not the fault of the vendors. I certainly don't think that people should have been offended by it. As far as being "sexist", I know more women that wear boxers than men. I don't see this as being a discrimination or sexist action. It was intended as a joke by Cisco, and I thought it was a pretty good joke. I am still amazed how thin skinned people in the US can be, even though I've lived here all my life. I don't want anyone to think that I didn't enjoy the meeting. I certainly did enjoy it. I even learned a few new things, and got a lot of good validation for things I were already thinking about. Yes, this is the real reason we all go to NANOG, and the reason we read the mailing list. I feel that the vendors were cheated a little. I saw a lot of attendees in the beer and gear that were talking amongst themselves and ignoring the vendors. At least with a few freebees, the vendors have a chance to attract a few of those people. I AM a little concerned if this was a decision made by Merit. Last I knew, this was a NANOG meeting, not a Merit meeting. I do not believe that Merit should be making a decision of this nature without the direct input of the NANOG membership. If I missed this in October or November, I apologize. --- Opinions in this email are the personal opinions of the author and are not associated with author's employer. This email account is a not the regular email account of the author and is being used for the protection of the employer. ----Original Message Follows---- From: Stephen Stuart <stuart@mfnx.net> To: Adam Rothschild <asr@latency.net> CC: Ukyo Kuonji <kawaii_iinazuke@hotmail.com>, nanog@merit.edu Subject: Re: Beer and Gear surprise Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 02:43:34 -0800
<rumor>
Sponsors were specifically asked _not_ to give out clothing, as the Cisco boxer shorts distributed at NANOG 20 were somehow deemed offensive and discriminatory.
</rumor>
<fact> At NANOG 20, there was a mad rush from the meeting room before technical talks were over for the day to get to the Beer and Gear to suck up all the vendor trinkets. This was perceived as being astoundingly disrespectful to the people who take the time to put together a presentation and deliver it. </fact> Stephen _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
On Wed, 21 Feb 2001, Ukyo Kuonji wrote:
I AM a little concerned if this was a decision made by Merit. Last I knew, this was a NANOG meeting, not a Merit meeting. I do not believe that Merit should be making a decision of this nature without the direct input of the NANOG membership. If I missed this in October or November, I apologize.
Merit is ultimately rooted in university and government. The ultimate bastion of political correctness. I've always wondered if the academia folks who helped destroy CICnet with their lack of business sense ever thought about screwing up Merit. I know some folks who'd be willing to buy MichNet on the same terms that they stole CICnet out of the gutter. -- Douglas A. Dever dever@verio.net Network Engineering Manager Verio - http://www.verio.net
At 12:03 PM -0500 2/21/01, Douglas A. Dever wrote: Merit is ultimately rooted in university and government. The ultimate
bastion of political correctness.
I've always wondered if the academia folks who helped destroy CICnet with their lack of business sense ever thought about screwing up Merit. I know some folks who'd be willing to buy MichNet on the same terms that they stole CICnet out of the gutter.
Merit is governed by a bunch of Michigan universities. But to be honest NANOG doesn't come up for discussion at Merit Board meetings too often. And as far as I know Beer and Gear has never been discussed by the Merit Board. Merit isn't directly tied to or controlled by any governments unless you count the public universities as government or you think that governments control us all at some level. Sorry, but MichNet isn't for sale. I don't know if that is a sign that Merit is or isn't screwed up, but whatever it is it isn't anything new. We've either been screwed up, or not, or something in between for many years now (34 and counting in fact). -Jeff
I was at NANOG 20, and I seem to remember that the technical talks were over a good 20-30 minutes before Beer and Gear. If people were leaving the talks early, I'm sure it was not the fault of the vendors. I certainly don't think that people should have been offended by it.
The vendors set up early and left their stuff unattended. The supply of particular trinket was pretty much exhausted by people leaving the talks 20-30 minutes early to ensure their possession of that NANOG's "must-have" trinket.
As far as being "sexist", I know more women that wear boxers than men.
The boxers were not the issue, despite rumor to the contrary. Stephen
Then thats NOT a problem of trinkets, but of MERIT controlling the setup and staffing of the Beer and Gear booths. I was out in the hallway at that time, and many of the vendors hadn't a clue where to set things up, who to talk to about stuff, etc. They where sheep loss in the fields. On Wed, Feb 21, 2001 at 10:33:54AM -0800, Stephen Stuart wrote:
I was at NANOG 20, and I seem to remember that the technical talks were over a good 20-30 minutes before Beer and Gear. If people were leaving the talks early, I'm sure it was not the fault of the vendors. I certainly don't think that people should have been offended by it.
The vendors set up early and left their stuff unattended. The supply of particular trinket was pretty much exhausted by people leaving the talks 20-30 minutes early to ensure their possession of that NANOG's "must-have" trinket.
As far as being "sexist", I know more women that wear boxers than men.
The boxers were not the issue, despite rumor to the contrary.
Stephen
participants (6)
-
Douglas A. Dever -
Jeff Ogden -
John M . Brown -
Ken Woods -
Stephen Stuart -
Ukyo Kuonji