Re: NANOG67 - Tipping point of community and sponsor bashing?

[Bryan Fields <Bryan () bryanfields net>]

On 6/14/16 1:30 PM, Matt Peterson wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 14, 2016 at 11:18 AM, Daniel Golding <dgolding () gmail com> wrote:
> > Matt is being coy, for some reason. He didn't like Dave Temkin's talk about
> > IXP costs. I listened very carefully and did not hear any specific members
> > or people targeted - only organizations and companies.
>
> As noted earlier in the thread, the specific presentation isn't my interest
> here - I actually enjoyed the talk and agree with many of the points
> stated. What made me uncomfortable was peer IXP's feeling uncomfortable and
> even a college immersion participant asking "is NANOG always such a
> threatening environment?".

Nothing was threatening, it was debate.  Sometimes debate is heated, but that
was not even heated debate.  If you were offended, grow a thicker skin.  You
don't have a right against offense and much thought provoking discussion can
be offensive to some people.

I thought it was great to see some back and forth.

To the college student, this was debate in it's purist form.  There are no
"free speech zones" here.

> Organizations and companies are members of our greater community, even if
> they don't technically have a membership role. At this morning's membership
> meeting - it was restated that NANOG is highly dependent on sponsorships
> (rarely do we see such financial contributions from individuals that would
> be enough to support NANOG). It would be a shame to loose that income
> source when only minor content guidelines could be made.

I'd rather lose a sponsorship than restrict our debate.  Censorship is evil,
prior restraint is just as bad.

> I'm sorry Dan, but this sort of "old boys network" attitude has gone on for
> way too long in NANOG. I've already received 13 off list responses "well
> said", "nicely done", "finally a reality check", etc. I'm not at all
> suggesting bashing should go away, as you note - that is a paramount
> feature of NANOG. Instead the question is when is it appropriate to shame
> members of the industry and how do we frame that in an professional manner
> (I realize you may have challenges in such a demonstration) .

Oh come on, it was a small ribbing at worst.
-- 
Bryan Fields

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