It is especially fitting whenever the NANOG/ARIN joint meetings occur in the same week that we “remember IANA”.
As time has gone on, fewer and fewer of us actually know who J. Postel is - that name that appears at the end of so many RFC’s we refer to every day. The same person who also guided the management of names and numbers in the “early” days of this grand experiment we’re still struggling to get “right”. Today (Friday, October 16) is 22 years since Jon Postel passed away. I won’t start to list the rest of the pioneers we’ve lost since then - its obviously getting longer and longer. But I think its worth pointing “newcomers" at Vint’s RFC2468 (https://tools.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2468.txt) as the starting point for them (you) to understand the importance of Jon’s legacy as a moral compass to help guide some of the decisions being made or ignored during this week. And obviously other weeks and decisions that follow. Jon was my mentor, colleague, business partner, and friend. And along with his other friends still on this list, I miss him a lot. It hasn’t been the same without him. /rlj
