Neill, all, First of all I must say that I like the fact that the new RIPE NCC Services Working Group obviously is taking off :-) With regard to the repeatedly stated opinion that the RIPE NCC management, and the RIPE NCC Executive Board are unaware of the members' opinions, and needs, I am convinced that those members of the community who have followed the events, presentations and planning discussions of the last year (from the conduct of the membership survey 2003, the move of the General Meeting to the Friday of the RIPE Meeting, and through to the proposal of the Activity Plan and other documents in preparation of that General Meeting), know full well that we are very aware of these concerns, and that actions continue to be proposed, and are taken where approved, to adjust activities to the expressed need of RIPE NCC members and stakeholders. The existence of this Working Group and mailing list in itself is just one minor outcome. The point of "Just Registration Service" is moot. As we all now, the industry has changed. Well, actually the running of a geeks' network instead of the politically correct technology has *become* the industry before that. And thus has attracted all sorts of people, politicians, lawyers, bureaucrats, the lot. We cannot go back to the old days of just registering numbers. The risk is high that one day we would awake to the ITU doing Internet Governance. "Please see your local MP to effect a change in IP allocation policy, to be discussed at the next plenipotentiary of the ITU." We need to do more, to establish the RIPE NCC in the minds of politicians, journalists, "the public" as a trustworthy place you can turn to to gain insight in the operations of the Internet. About the RIPE meetings: They are crucially important to the functioning of the RIPE NCC, and of industry self regulation. Yes, they should be self supporting, but they aren't fully. Can we raise the meeting fees? Of course. But we need to balance this very carefully, as we cannot run the risk of eating into attendance numbers too much. regards, Axel