[ripe-chair-discuss] Status of RIPE Chair discussion?

i attend ripe meetings.

i do not attend arin, which i co-founded.  i do not attend nanog, to
which i came early in at least three iterations.  i do not attend afnog
which i co-founded.  i do not attend apnic, where i was an early
contributor.  lacnic has too many norte colialists.  and i do not read
their lists.

i still attend ripe.

because it is an admirable attempt at a civilized but loose cooperation
in a diverse society.  and it has been 25 years of a loose cooperation
with rob blokzijl's delicate hand reminding us to keep it simple and
keep it civil.

and let's face it, the NCC was invented to hold more than enough
bureaucrazy for us all, and keep it away from the dinner table. :)

as i write code, configure routers, do measurement research, admin
servers, ... i too am drawn to fine grained rule making; especially as
the culture of my youth is rule obsessed (and look at it now).  but i
voted with my feet and moved to a culture more known for civility,
cooperation, and consensus, japan (we'll skip what's under the
waterline; we're all funny monkeys).

sadly, it is an adage that the vast majority of programmers add more
code, not remove code.  similarly, rule-making seems to beget more
rule-making, with rare exceptions.  so those of us who are enamored
of informal cooperation and simplicity react as if seeing the start of a
primrose path.

on the other hand, those of us who have concerns for socio-political
threats are very uncomfortable with a lack of clear rules.  and this
sure appears to be an epoch of real world sociopathy.

and i think we all want the best for the ripe community.  and it is ok
to not be of a single mind; in fact, it's a feature not a bug.  what is
key is how we cooperatively come to consensus on those things which
require it.

so, can we please keep it civil and keep it simple?  maybe we should all
sing "yellow submarine" together to start the next meeting.  :)

what would rob do?  what can we do simply here?

randy

[ with a shout out to nurani and izumi who quietly stood firm against
  an onslaught of real, not amateur, lawyers, who would like to rule
  us all ]