[members-discuss] Regarding RIPE NCC Charging Scheme 2020 - Two Options to Vote On

Elvis Daniel Velea wrote on 18/04/2019 00:21:
> I really want to hear from the Board and understand how and why they
>  have reached the conclusion that these are the only two options they
>  will propose the membership to vote on.

there is an infinite number of charging schemes. If people want the
opportunity to vote on one, then the board needs to present the current
charging scheme along an alternative which makes is easy to interpret,
difficult to dispute and easy to administer. As far as I can tell, the
proposal on the table meets all those criteria.

The current charging scheme is the result of a committee of ripe ncc
members set up a couple of years ago by the board to recommend new
options for charging schemes. When they produced a report, the
membership voted out membership categories, in favour of fixed-price
membership with incremental charges for PI assignments.

Now we seem to be unhappy with this and want the option to change it to 
something different

It's like the cat. When it's outside, it wants to be in. When it's
inside it wants to be out. And when the door is open, it just sits
there, stares at you and meows.

> Why is the board not proposing a charging scheme that charges every 
> PI holder €100 or even up to €400 every year - in order to decrease 
> the LIR membership fee with a few hundred €?

Because demanding a 100% or a 700% increase in charges for the same
service is going to cause the people affected by this to be very unhappy.

> Why isn't the board talking about the removal of the difference in 
> price between PA and PI? If both PA and PI would cost the same, many
>  PI holders will decide to become members and the RIPE NCC would then
>  be 60k members strong instead of 20k.

No-one can agree how to do it without shafting the PI holders.

> Why is it that every time a new charging scheme is proposed, we are 
> not consulted?

See above. The current charging scheme was the result of a committee
decision, which was the result of people grumbling. It's not perfect,
but then again, no charging plan is perfect.

> What's the use of the sign-up fee right now

As you noted, it makes the last bit of ipv4 last a little bit longer.

Nick