Phillip, Two things: 1) Robert was speculating as to the reason why people use chapter and verse rather than pages in their references, and 2) He said "informal communication." There is something a bit informal about referring to an informal communication as "authoritative." There is something equally casual about inferring that what people read is necessarily authoritative. Usage is that typically it is what people refer to when they have a question, that is considered authoritative. Otherwise, Executive Summaries would be considered to be "authoritative" and this would beg the questions - "why bother including the rest?" -- Eric --> -----Original Message----- --> From: ietf-bounces@xxxxxxxx [mailto:ietf-bounces@xxxxxxxx] --> On Behalf Of Hallam-Baker, Phillip --> Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2005 6:07 PM --> To: Robert Sayre --> Cc: nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; Keith Moore; Tim Bray; ietf@xxxxxxxx --> Subject: RE: I-D file formats and internationalization --> --> --> --> > -----Original Message----- --> > From: Robert Sayre [mailto:sayrer@xxxxxxxxx] --> > Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2005 5:38 PM --> > To: Hallam-Baker, Phillip --> > Cc: Tim Bray; Keith Moore; nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; ietf@xxxxxxxx --> > Subject: Re: I-D file formats and internationalization --> > --> > On 12/1/05, Hallam-Baker, Phillip <pbaker@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: --> > > --> > > On a point of information, most of the references I see --> in existing --> > > RFCs are to sections in any case. --> > --> > I suspect this is because almost everyone refers to an HTML --> > version in informal communication. --> --> Why do you consider the TXT version to be authoritative if --> as you admit --> the HTML version is the one that is read by reviewers and readers? --> --> Meaning is the result of usage. --> --> --> _______________________________________________ --> Ietf mailing list --> Ietf@xxxxxxxx --> https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf --> _______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf