First draft of the European Template for IP number requests

>    The local language version is something to be composed by the local
>    NICs which explains how to fill in the form.
>    This was agreed at the ir-registry BOF in Paris wasnt it?
 
Yup, I think it was.  This is a good idea, so in the cases where
it's more appropriate for another NIC to handle the allocation, it's
simple for them to deal with the form.

>     a drag..) This form is actually designed so as to be difficult to 
>    fill in *without* reading the documentation - quite carefully - first.
 
This is the bit I don't like, I think this is a bad idea.
I think the people that are reasonable enough to take the time
out to read accompanying documentation will do that even if
the form is apparently easy to fill in at first sight.  There are
always going to be people who `know better' and just do it.

> BUT I do think you run the risk of getting information back to you in a 
> format that will require quite a bit of massaging.. and is possibly 
> incomplete.
 
I guess it is personal taste, but short field names and reams of
documentation strike me as another good way of getting incomplete
info back ...

> The template is built around the idea of the RIPE database wich includes
> explanations on how to fill in each field and this seems to be understood
 
Yeah, but the RIPE database is largely used by folks acquainted
with the networking field - Joe User who has just opened his
Sun workstation manual which tells him to go get an IP number
isn't.  (We've had several people telling us they need at least
255 network numbers, when what in fact they do mean is they
need 255 host addresses, for example).

Sorry to sound so down on this, but I really would be loathe to start
sending this style of form out.  Most of the requests we deal with
at ULCC are NIC of last resort queries (ie people who are not going
to connect to the Internet at large).  Many of them are not fully
acquainted with the Internet, and I think we will just confuse them
further.

If we could design a form where the responses were in the same
place, regardless of language, eg by using the database template
idea, but supplying information along with it, I think it'd be
better.

Dunc