[members-discuss] Proposed 2012 Charging scheme, Board comments

Hi,

On Tue, Oct 04, 2011 at 10:57:49PM +0200, Christopher Kunz wrote:
>I think the meeting and trainings offered by RIPE shouldn't be seen with
>the attitude of "I never used it, so you should pay for it". IMHO, the
>trainings (of which I never could attend one due to lack of a travel
>budget) and the meetings (ditto) serve a very important purpose for the
>community: They make it easier for new LIRs to receive the know-how
>necessary to run their services smoothly. By learning the ropes, they
>save all the other LIRs time and subsequently, money.

Training and meetings are two things I'd never argue for the cutting of. 
Centralising training is also not really an option as the RIPE 
membership exceeds well beyond the borders of the EU and I do not expect 
inbound travel to get any easier for non-EU residents due to political 
mood swings within the EU.
Since the meetings are usuall held in EU cities anyway, I'd argue for 
centralising them in NL *if* it would save a significant amount of money.

>That's why I'll agree to pay for trainings I never use - because I can
>be fairly certain I'll benefit indirectly.

Fully agree. And a suggestion to the NCC: Maybe incorporating a tutorial 
on subscribing to RIPE mailing lists into the LIR training would be a good
idea ;)

>And to the people who want RIPE to cut costs by not offering free Wi-fi
>at their events (etc.): Please tell me that was a joke. In my book
>that's like not offering complimentary seats during a train ride.

I blame Ryanair and Michael O'Leary for bringing that attitude into the 
world...

cheers,
Sascha Luck