[arin-ppml] ARIN's Authority - One view (was: Re: LRSA concerns)

[Milton L Mueller]

Paul
I'm quite popular with my students, and I don't recall you being in any
of my classes. So that kind of insulting insinuation is way out of
bounds. It's purely ad hominem in the sense that it has nothing to do
with the issues being discussed on the list, or even with my comment,
but is an attempt to smear the person. And if our list monitors are
consistent in their application of their civility policy you'll be
reprimanded.  

Nevertheless, if that message was viewed as disrespectful I certainly
apologize, both to you and to anyone else who took it that way. I didn't
see it as condescending. I guess it's the context-less nature of
asynchronous text communication. In my circles it's not disrespectful at
all to refer to someone as a techie, and at interdisciplinary programs
at Syracuse and Delft we are constantly engaged in discussions about the
different but sometimes intersecting and complementary relationships
between policy and technology knowledge. 

That message simply responded to the fact that the party I was talking
to kept responding to a discussion of policy options by talking about
what he considered to be the optimal technical solution. Accomplished
technical people can appear to others to be extremely dismissive of
other forms of knowledge. Sometimes they have to be forcefully reminded
that a technical perspective is not the only one.

The point about policy frameworks is that they are often designed not to
select a particular technical option but to provide an incentive
framework within which individuals can make their own optimization
choices. 

--MM

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paul Wall [mailto:pauldotwall at gmail.com]
> Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2008 9:01 AM
> To: Milton L Mueller
> Cc: arin-ppml at arin.net
> Subject: Re: [arin-ppml] ARIN's Authority - One view (was: Re: LRSA
> concerns)
> 
> "Milton L Mueller" <mueller at syr.edu> writes:
> 
> > If you want to understand what I am trying to tell you, stop
thinking
> > like a techie and start thinking like a policy person.
> 
> Milton,
> 
> At the risk of starting a flame war, I'd sure appreciate it if you
> didn't address your colleagues here in the same dismissive
> condescending tone that I understand you use with your students.  It
> tends to overshadow the important points you make when you're less
> than cordial and respectful.
> 
> Drive Slow,
> Paul Wall