> I think the more important thing to beat down on is the meta- > debates about what is on-topic or not on the list, lets leave > that up to the MLC and not to individual members. Members of > the list should rather be encouraged to take comments of that > type in private with the MLC plus the individual affected if > needed, rather than these annoying long threads on nanog.
I wholeheartedly agree. And this is one area where the MLC should be a bit more visible, i.e. not just going privately to the perpetrator but also posting a brief note to the list reminding them that these "on-topic" debates don't belong there but on nanog-futures or in a private email to the MLC. It wouldn't hurt for those reminders to contain the URLs that lead to subscription info for nanog-futures as well as an email address for contacting the MLC with a complaint. The MLC just isn't visible enough and people think that means that anyone can jump in and moderate the list publicly. I'm as guilty of that as Gadi's detractors and even though I try to keep it short, and make the messages as useful as possible, I would rather not feel the need to do it. In a sense it is like a power vacuum and people like Albert Meyer and me rush in to fill the gap. Better to remove the gap than to chase after Albert and me. --Michael Dillon
