[ppml] Allocation and reallocation

[Taylor, Stacy]

Hi All,
The English language is inherently confusing.  Think of lie/lay,
affect/effect, who/whom.  It takes effort to utilize the language
appropriately. 

We the IP administrators are a very technical subset of a very technical
industry.  To expect that we would not employ jargon unintelligible to those
outside our focus, (including our VPs, NOCs, and salespeople), is
ridiculous.  Just because Merriam Webster states that the two terms are
synonymous does not signify they mean precisely the same thing.

These terms are entirely appropriate in their subtlety.  The ability to
further assign from an allocation is very subtle, but very important.

It seems to me that you are proposing to change the opus of ARIN policy
because you feel the terms Allocate and Assign are excessively alliterative.
This, to me, is not a valid reason.

Stacy "Turtleneck" Taylor
Speaking as a Private Individual


-----Original Message-----
From: Michael.Dillon at radianz.com [mailto:Michael.Dillon at radianz.com]
Sent: Monday, October 27, 2003 7:12 AM
To: ppml at arin.net
Subject: Re: [ppml] Allocation and reallocation


>There are short terms that work:
>
>Assignment       Allocation
>------------     --------------
>reassignable     non-reassignable
>delegatable      non-delegatable
>divisible        homogeneous

>Notice the words I suggest are antonyms, yet the words we use today are
>synonyms. 

Remember in my email message I suggested that the proper way
to distinguish address block with different properties was to use
an adjective rather than a verb or a noun? Leo's suggestions are
all adjectives.

I also think his perception about antonyms is right on the mark.

We have tried to change the English language by trying to
use two synonyms to represent two opposite characteristics
and we have failed.

To get back to the point, when an RIR or an ISP takes
a large address block and sets aside a smaller portion
of it for use by another organization, that action is
allocation or assignment or delegation or any other
similar English term.

The block which has been set aside carries with it
a set of properties. Which of these properties are
important enough to be enshrined in policy? Once we are
agreed on that, then how can we clearly express that
policy in plain English so that everyone can understand
the policy without needing an insider to explain it. Even though
the vast majority of people in the ARIN region speak English,
many of them do not speak it as their first language due 
to the large number of immigrants and the large French
and Spanish speaking populations in the region. We cannot
rely on making subtle distinctions with the language because
that only creates an overall negative impression of ARIN
and of the whole IP addressing arena.

For the next meeting in Vancouver, I intend to present
a policy proposal that will completely erase the distinction
between allocation and assignment as well as completely
erase the notion that there are two classes of address blocks.
I believe that a reasonable policy can clearly be expressed
using classes of organization (end user, ISP) and specific
characteristics attached to address blocks issued by ARIN.
Clearly the ability to allocate or assign or delegate subsets
of a block will be one of those characteristics.

Think clarity and simplicity.

--Michael Dillon