[arin-discuss] Template-based email as a third registry access method

[Alec Ginsberg]

eMail is sent clear textŠ

Web Services can require SSL encrypted payloads.

I think that if eMail templates are to continue they should require PGP
encryption so a man in the middle couldn't capture the API key and submit
on behalf of me.

On 4/4/12 10:42 AM, "Robert Marder" <ram at robertmarder.com> wrote:

>I would imagine that doesn't really do anything as far as maintenance
>costs, as all you're doing is changing the existing system of piping an
>email into a program into piping a text box into a program. You're
>basically replacing the smtp server with a web server and web form.
>
>As far as addressing the authentication issue, while that's true, there
>are various other ways to do that, such as the API key already used, and
>various other methods that could be considered in future.
>
>It's worth noting that the RESTful interface also has the same
>authentication limitation reliant on an API key as email templates do at
>the moment, so in light of that I don't really see an email
>authentication issue (presuming members think all interfaces to ARIN
>having equal levels of authentication is acceptable, as is the case now
>with email vs RESTful interactions).
>
>On 04.04.2012 10:15, Gary T. Giesen wrote:
>> To address some of the security and email parsing concerns, what
>> about the possibility of having a giant text box in ARIN Online where
>> multiple email templates can be pasted in at once (and of course
>> saved
>> for later editing before submission).  This would ensure users are
>> properly authenticated, allow bulk submission of requests, allow easy
>> editing/copy/paste, and no format changes for people who are already
>> used to the email templates (other than the transport method).
>>
>> I would imagine that would go a long way towards addressing some of
>> Owen's concerns while not having to deal most of the issues of
>> receiving and parsing email. I would imagine the maintenance headache
>> would be greatly reduced as well.
>>
>> GTG
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: arin-discuss-bounces at arin.net
>> [mailto:arin-discuss-bounces at arin.net] On Behalf Of Owen DeLong
>> Sent: April 4, 2012 1:17 AM
>> To: David Farmer
>> Cc: arin-discuss List; John Curran
>> Subject: Re: [arin-discuss] Template-based email as a third registry
>> access method
>>
>>
>> On Apr 3, 2012, at 5:50 PM, David Farmer wrote:
>>
>>> On 4/3/12 19:29 CDT, Kevin Blumberg wrote:
>>>
>>>> I would also suggest that the ability to save a draft of a
>>>> submission be supported.
>>>
>>> As I was reading this thread I was thinking much the same thing.  I
>>> was thinking about why people might want Email Templates back vs. a
>>> Web Form.  Other than not wanting to change, I thought about how the
>>> work flow has changed.  With a email template you had a form you could
>>> work on offline and collect all the information you needed and fill it
>>> in as you go. Then submit the form, via email when you had it
>>> complete.
>>>
>>
>> You also had:
>>
>> 	1.	A single consolidated document you could review as a cohesive
>> unit.
>> 	2.	Easy navigation back and forth checking the document for internal
>> consistency
>> 	3.	A set of pre-defined well documented fields.
>> 	4.	The ability to easily attach files ad-hoc and reference them
>> within justification fields
>> 		(ARIN On-Line pretends to have this, but, the file checking rarely
>> accepts my files
>> 		in spite of them conforming to the rules specified. These problems
>> have proven
>> 		intermittent and nearly impossible to track down so far.)
>> 	5.	Full-text email updates and the ability to easily transfer the
>> template in progress
>> 		back and forth between myself and my clients for review, update,
>> etc. prior to
>> 		submission to ARIN.
>>
>> The work flow has changed substantially and is costing my clients on
>> average $500-$750 more per request just in my time alone.
>>
>>> With the Web Form, I believe as implemented, you essentially need
>>> all the info for a request all at once, then you do the data entry and
>>> submit it.  If you could save partially completed web forms and create
>>> your own partially complete templates, maybe we can keep the kind of
>>> workflow we had with email templates but keep moving forward with the
>>> other improvements ARIN Online has brought.
>>>
>>
>> It's much worse than that. You have to navigate several disconnected
>> pages in sequence with no useful ability to navigate back and forth
>> in
>> the process. It's not entirely clear from the first page what will be
>> requested on the subsequent pages, etc.
>>
>>> I have to say I like ARIN Online and the many improvements, but the
>>> web form based workflow can be frustrating at times.  So is workflow
>>> the real issue here?
>>>
>>
>> Most definitely, but, in so many ways, it's hard to imagine making
>> the web-based workflow as useful as the email-based one was.
>>
>> Owen
>>
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