[arin-discuss] SPAM-WARN:Re: ARIN Fee discussion

[David Muir Sharnoff]

* I can only remind you all that ARIN is a bottom-up organization, not a top 
* down one.  There is no class of members who are victims, only classes of 
* members who fail to participate.

The cost of meaningfull participation in ARIN exceeds one year's tithe.   

Until this discussion came along, it seemed the only meaningful way
to participate in ARIN was to go to one of the ARIN meetings or to
run for one of ARINs director slots.  For most of us, attending one
of the ARIN meetings would cost more than just paying the yearly
fee.  The most we could hope to gain by participating is less than
the cost of participating.  Generally, only organizations big enough
to absorb the costs of participating actually participate.  That
usually ends up being the same thing as top-down.

Every year, I read of the list of candidates and look for one that 
has a statement saying something like: "The fees are too high and I will
lower them" or "the fees are disproportionate and I will make the
large users pay more."   So far there has been no such candidate.

The only other thing that ARIN could do to make my life easier would
be to publish a better rwhois daemon or an easier API for changing
SWIP/POC delegations.

Hopefully this discussion we're having now will result in lower fees
or rebates for most of us.

-Dave