Until a decision is made about what to do long term here, maybe the AMPR Portal web interface can change this name from "gateway" to "public Internet IP (gateway)". I think that would help some people avoid this issue.

Either that, and/or a descriptive text above the form that explains what a gateway is, why you want to have it (and why not), and where to read more about it. There are those "hover" type help texts but I am afraid it is not enough.

I think several "gateways" now listed (with no subnets) are the result of people wanting to register/publish their system information in a way that is more like what HamnetDB does.

It should be clearer that creating a gateway here actually sets up routes and when done incorrectly can mess things up pretty badly.

The announced subnets list has similar risks. For a while it was limited to subnets registered by the person logged in, there were people wanting to route subnets for others (probably to forward them internally) and this check was removed, and now people who do not completely understand what is going on are randomly announcing other people's subnets without anyone knowing.

Perhaps best would be when all gateway setup had to be validated by someone with more experience (a coordinator, an old hat in AMPRnet, etc) before it becomes finalized, similar to the subnet allocation.

Rob