Alicia Trotman clarified ARIN’s IPv4 waitlist eligibility rules

Alicia Trotman Put the Fine Print at ARIN’s IPv4 Waitlist Door

Why it matters

The IPv4 free pool is gone. A rulebook spread across several sections can still make the queue look easier to enter than it is. Alicia Trotman shepherded the sentence that tells applicants which other pages ARIN will read before handing over an address block.

Sofia Ren28 October 2026Reading Time 2 minLast update: 28 October 2026

Alicia Trotman; likeness from her named ARIN voter-guide photograph, workspace imagined.

Summary

ARIN-2023-6 names Alicia Trotman and Matthew Gamble as shepherds. Its new NRPM 4.1.8.3 says ARIN staff will test every IPv4 waitlist request against the otherwise applicable Section 4 policies.
At ARIN 53, Trotman identified herself as primary shepherd and Gamble as secondary. ARIN’s Board adopted the text on 3 June 2024; it took effect on 21 August.

The IPv4 queue has a door, a desk, and a rulebook. The door is NRPM 4.1.8, ARIN’s waitlist. Elsewhere in the book, sections 4.2, 4.3 and 4.5 describe what ISPs, end users and operators of multiple discrete networks must show when requesting address space. Read one of those sections alone and an applicant could reasonably think the paperwork is complete. ARIN’s own problem statement says that is the trap.

Once ARIN’s general-purpose IPv4 free pool was depleted, new general-purpose blocks came through the waitlist. A requester therefore needs the waitlist conditions and the Section 4 conditions that fit its type of network. Alicia Trotman and Matthew Gamble shepherded the clarification. Their final rule is one sentence: “ARIN staff will evaluate all Waitlist requests against the requirements of otherwise applicable Section 4 policies.” The desk now has a sign telling applicants which pages it will open.

At ARIN 53, Trotman presented the proposal as primary shepherd, with Gamble as secondary. She said an earlier version carried much more language. The short version won. ARIN staff’s formal review had urged a general reference instead of examples: examples can age when later policy changes, while the cross-reference keeps following the applicable rule. The staff review found no registry-service impact and listed training and public-documentation updates as the work required.

The Board adopted ARIN-2023-6 on 3 June 2024. ARIN implemented it on 21 August. The current NRPM places the qualification sentence inside the waitlist section, precisely where an applicant deciding whether to join the queue would look. This was a repair to the map, with real consequences for expectations. A network can satisfy the criteria written for its operating form and still face the waitlist’s own limits; ARIN staff reviews the applicable set together. Trotman made the second page visible at the first door.