Hi all

OK so you want it more professional. This works two ways. Let me throw some questions to the group. Given the number of people the RIPE NCC employs related to the RIPE Database, what are they doing? We have just had an update published on the NWIs showing virtually no recent discussions on these topics. So either the RIPE NCC is not working on these items or they are not communicating about any work done to the community. If they are not working on these items what are they working on?

As I said, they seem to be making lots of improvements to Webupdates. But maybe not everyone agrees that some of these changes are improvements. I have asked in the past that changes should be announced to the community when they are planned not slipped out into production without telling anyone about them. But that comment was ignored. I questioned the mandatory addition of an "abuse-c:" to any ORGANISATION object created using Webupdates, rather than adding it only to objects that required it. This issue was brushed under the carpet. Adding it to all objects is a lazy option when you don't understand how it works and leads to bad data.

Given that the RIPE NCC has such a big, expensive, Communications Department, why are they not communicating to the members/public about the changes being made to database services? The RIPE Database documentation has hardly been changed/updated since I wrote it nearly 2 years ago. So has nothing changed? If so back to the first question, what are they working on? Why are the changes to Webupdates not being properly documented? This is a community tool, not the NCC's toy.

The Communications Department has a style guide for how to write documentation and announcements about the RIPE Database. This has never been applied properly since I left. Even today's announcement about the NWIs does not follow it. Maybe it is no longer considered important by the RIPE NCC or the RIPE community to produce documentation or announcements to a professional standard. It is not good that this organisation has lowered their standards so much in the last couple of years.