> From: Ted Faber [mailto:faber@xxxxxxx] > That's competent rhetoric. It doesn't address the actual > state of affairs, but it reads well and is inflammatory. Nice work. Its an effective means of making a point in a memorable fashion. What we are arguing for here is that the IETF should choose a communication medium that makes its point in an effective manner. > RFCs have authoritative versions for a couple reasons. Some > are the result of the IETF consensus process and the exact > wording on which consensus was achieved is important to know. > There are a significant number of cases where small changes > in the wording of an RFC or section thereof would not achieve > consensus. Agreed, but I have yet to see an example that would be affected by the document format. > To the extent that the internet community agrees > to abide by that consensus, the authoritative version is what > was agreed to. For these RFCs the authority due them stems > from the consensus process. Ah here you make the mistake of thinking that the IETF community is the Internet community. Perhaps forty years ago, but certainly not today. The IETF does not make any effort to be representative of the Internet community. > Now, the IETF consensus process is performed by humans, and > therefore there will be mistakes. In principle, however, it > is this process that conveys any authority on an RFC and not > some imperative handed down from an oligarchy, tyrant, or > supernatural power. I don't think your analogy to > the(?) church is particularly illuminating for that reason. The analogy is very apt as your equation of the IETF with the Internet community demonstrates. IETFers behave like cardinals and priests far too often. The lack of a pope does not damage the analogy in any way. The early church was governed by independent bishops. The papacy was established after an external authority (the emperor) got tired of their infighting, doctrinal disputes &ct. Only one of the original four doctors of the church was Bishop of Rome and the supremacy was never accepted by the Eastern church. _______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf