[db-wg] NCC still enforcing descr: content

Hi all

On 04/08/2015 02:04, Elvis Daniel Velea wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On 04/08/15 02:49, Job Snijders wrote:
>> I am hestitant to remove existing attributes, and would prefer that
>> people remove them when they deem fit (for instance, after they upgraded
>> their software).
>>
>> To me, RIPE NCC finally to stop enforcing the very contents of "descr:"
>> was all that was requested, not a 'clean-up' of sorts.
>>
>> Kind regards,
>>
>> Job
>>
> +1
>
> I also do not think that the first description line should be removed
> from all objects because it is a duplicate of the organisation object.

Think carefully about what you are saying here and the long term 
consequences of these decisions. "duplicate" is the issue here. This 
database has a massive amount of duplicated data. Lets not leave more 
duplicated data that is relatively easy to clean up.

Even if the RIPE NCC was not asked originally to do a clean up, I would 
certainly be in favour of asking them to do it now. The whole point of 
the previous policy was to keep the first description line the same as 
the org name. I can't remember now if a business rule was added to 
prevent users from changing it, I have a feeling it was. That means it 
is still 'the same as' the org name. That makes it easy to identify and 
remove. Make "descr:" optional and then even if it is the only 
description it can still be removed.

If you leave it, many users will never clean up their data. We know that 
as a fact of life. Over time the org name in many objects will change 
with mergers and company name changes. But this will be forgotten about. 
So we are leaving a completely useless, redundant, mis-leading, 
initially duplicated piece of data in the database.

If you are worried about people needing to upgrade their software to not 
require to see a mandatory "descr:" attribute, defer the cleanup for a 
fixed period to allow people to upgrade....as you did with the 
"changed:" attribute.

cheers
denis


>
> It should be made clear that the descr: line (first or any other after)
> is a free text and is not enforced to anything specific (organisation
> name, address phone number, or anything else).
>
> regards,
> elvis
>