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.

<fact> There is no NANOG membership. There is the NANOG community. There are no firm criteria for citizenship in said community, so it would be difficult to define a voting process in terms of who does or does not get to vote. </fact> Owen

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----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

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