John,
Sorry to hear that someone is miffed at the wg for not adequately attending
to their needs. As I recall, we had rather broad and boisterous
participation, so any ommissions and errors on our part were not by
any intent or generic insensitivity.
On the other hand, there is a general rule that email format and user-user
(i.e. UA-UA, i.e, P2-level) work in the IETF might want to treat as
a formal requirement: Internet email travels over a wide variety of
transport and electronic mail protocols and is not limited to SMTP or
its derivatives. Hence, IETF development of message formats should
explicitly and always consider issues in moving objects through Internet
email gateways.
As I recall, this wg put significant effort into that, but as I also recall,
sensitivity to this broader Internet isn't taken as a requirement by
everyone and I am suggesting that we treat it as a universal requirement
for Internet email work.
Dave