[ppml] composition of and representation on the BoT

[Robert E.Seastrom]

John Brown CT <john at chagres.net> writes:

>> The general public buys newspapers and is not representative of
>> serious Internet backbone geeks.  I can count on the fingers of both
>> hands the number of times I've bought a newspaper in the past year,
>> and half of those times I was buying it because I needed packing
>> material or kitchen table protection for a messy project.  In the
>> context of my peer group here, I'm sure I'm not unusual.
>> That said, I do read annual reports when they're sent to me, and
>> there's something to be said for well-produced glossy material - it
>> makes better eye candy than a web page, and no dancing bologna, music,
>> or flash annoyances (not that ARIN has any of these now).  So I don't
>> necessarily agree with either Marty or John here.
>
> my point, is that budgets are normally set by backbone geeks, but
> instead by their managment.  thus i postulate that more involvement
> could be had if there was budget to participate (time or money or
> both, your choice).  thus helping managment see (read, touch, point
> to, etc) the value of orgs like ARIN could help them budget for
> involvement.

Under those circumstances, since we actually want to reach the bosses
of our contact folks (both admin and tech), printed annual reports
ought to go out in packs of two or three - "one for you, one for your
boss, (and optionally one for your boss' boss)).

> its called marketing and perception.  we, geeks, don't like marketing
> and thus cause our own "limiting", sometimes this is good, sometimes
> its not.

My traditional problem with marketroids is that the enthusiasm and
cheerleading is not backed up by a commensurate level of in-depth clue
about what is being promoted and a commitment to scrupulous honesty.
I do not anticipate a problem on either point in the current context.

                                        ---Rob