[db-wg] NCC still enforcing descr: content

Reading *all* INETNUM objects worried me a bit. The first "descr:" attribute of PA Assignments is not mandatorily the legal org name, so I assume the discussion only targets resources directly allocated by the NCC, which contain the legal org name in the first "descr:" line. 

It is useful to view the org name directly at the top of these objects, for quick reference. However as said the org name can be found with a quick click of the org ID. 
So to me it's a matter of weighing the importance of keeping a quick org name reference directly in these objects Vs removing duplicate data from the database.  
Not convinced yet, but I'm leaning towards option b.

Always seemed cleaner to me to keep all "descr:" lines free text for consistency, perhaps have a new line "org-name" if legal org name is to be mandatory in these objects. 

Regards, 
James

-----Original Message-----
From: db-wg [mailto:db-wg-bounces at ripe.net] On Behalf Of denis
Sent: 04 August 2015 03:26
To: elvis at velea.eu; db-wg at ripe.net
Subject: Re: [db-wg] NCC still enforcing descr: content

Hi all

On 04/08/2015 02:04, Elvis Daniel Velea wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On 04/08/15 02:49, Job Snijders wrote:
>> I am hestitant to remove existing attributes, and would prefer that 
>> people remove them when they deem fit (for instance, after they 
>> upgraded their software).
>>
>> To me, RIPE NCC finally to stop enforcing the very contents of "descr:"
>> was all that was requested, not a 'clean-up' of sorts.
>>
>> Kind regards,
>>
>> Job
>>
> +1
>
> I also do not think that the first description line should be removed 
> from all objects because it is a duplicate of the organisation object.

Think carefully about what you are saying here and the long term consequences of these decisions. "duplicate" is the issue here. This database has a massive amount of duplicated data. Lets not leave more duplicated data that is relatively easy to clean up.

Even if the RIPE NCC was not asked originally to do a clean up, I would certainly be in favour of asking them to do it now. The whole point of the previous policy was to keep the first description line the same as the org name. I can't remember now if a business rule was added to prevent users from changing it, I have a feeling it was. That means it is still 'the same as' the org name. That makes it easy to identify and remove. Make "descr:" optional and then even if it is the only description it can still be removed.

If you leave it, many users will never clean up their data. We know that as a fact of life. Over time the org name in many objects will change with mergers and company name changes. But this will be forgotten about. 
So we are leaving a completely useless, redundant, mis-leading, initially duplicated piece of data in the database.

If you are worried about people needing to upgrade their software to not require to see a mandatory "descr:" attribute, defer the cleanup for a fixed period to allow people to upgrade....as you did with the "changed:" attribute.

cheers
denis


>
> It should be made clear that the descr: line (first or any other 
> after) is a free text and is not enforced to anything specific 
> (organisation name, address phone number, or anything else).
>
> regards,
> elvis
>