The other problem is how to identify what is appropriate and what is
not. It does not seem difficult to find folks on the list who do not
agree so it could be tough to appoint the NANOG god that strikes people
from the list.
Oh well, I guess I'll just keep making good use of my mail filters to
catch the garbage. 
The problem I see is that there doesn't seem to be any real concensus on
what is a valid point of discussion on the list.
There seems to be some (randy?) that basically feel that if you can't
configure a router to do it it doesn't belong here... Meaning that this
forum should be primarily about technical operation issues.
On the other hand, there are those among us that when the subject of
router configuration comes up, usually in the context of the right way(tm)
to do BGP configuration, they yell and scream that this doesn't belong
here it should be elsewhere.
I've personally been flamed for sending a simple "Hey, I can't get a hold
of someone at <insert provider here> using whois contact info. Could
someone from the provider or someone who has contact information for the
provider e-mail me?"
So maybe the real question is what the heck is this list for? I've been
to two "live" NANOG's and it seems to me that the discussion on this list
seems pretty much in line with the "official" nanog agenda.
Would someone like to clarify what is and isn't supposed to be on this
list before we try to moderate or split it?
- Forrest W. Christian (forrestc@imach.com)
The problem I see is that there doesn't seem to be any real concensus on
what is a valid point of discussion on the list.
For me, outages are a useful topic of discussion. Since I'm not involved
in the management of backbones or WAN's, some discussion threads related
to that type of issue are not interesting to me. I do take interest in
the discussion of routing protocols, since I find a lot of the routing
discussions to be educational.
But there are many others who disagree with me.
There seems to be some (randy?) that basically feel that if you can't
configure a router to do it it doesn't belong here... Meaning that this
forum should be primarily about technical operation issues.
Yes. "Operational" is a word used a lot to describe the type of post that
belongs here.
On the other hand, there are those among us that when the subject of
router configuration comes up, usually in the context of the right way(tm)
to do BGP configuration, they yell and scream that this doesn't belong
here it should be elsewhere.
Of course, then you hear complaints about people announcing routes they
shouldn't be, etc, etc. Well, is there a mailing list for the discussion of
the proper way to set up BGP? If not, it could be argued that some of the
discussions you mention belong here.