ietf-822
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Re: comments on latest MIME drafts

1995-05-22 08:19:39
I think we should replace the term "character set" with "charset",
to reduce the conflict with what other communities use the term
"character set" for.  Another possibility would be to use the term
"character encoding".

This point has already been raised. I was willing to make the change, but it
was shot down in flames by the area directors. The current terminology, 
whether
it is consistent or not with usage in other venues, stays.

I'm unwilling to believe without confirmation that the AD's would
shoot down an attempt to reduce the confusion engendered by
inconsistent terminology usage in standards-track documents.

Watch your tone Larry -- surely you can see that this is quite offensive to me
personally. Frankly, I don't give even the tiniest little damn what you do or
do not believe.

I don't have to do what I've been doing, you know -- this document is already a
draft standard, and I could have made an excellent case for not making many if
not most of the changes or restructuring I've already implemented, especially
the restructuring changes specifically you requested. Instead I've bent over
backwards to accomodate everyone's input, to the point where the document is
going to have to recycle at draft now. The changes you asked for in particular
have been extremely difficult to implement and taken lots of time to do.

As far as this issue goes, I raised it with the area directors right after you
mentioned it to me at the last IETF. They said it was far too confusing to
change the terminology we've used all along in the MIME work. (They also said a
bunch of other stuff about the realities of character terminology that I was
unaware of -- its hard to BS John about this stuff.)

Feel free to broach the topic with the area directors directly. Its the only
way you're going to get anywhere on this.

Perhaps a wholesale replacement of 'character set' by 'charset' might
not fly (if only because the replacement terminology hasn't been
agreed on), but at least some introductory remarks about the informal
notion of the phrase 'character set' in these documents might help.

Larry, not only did I write and add exactly this text to the last draft I
posted, I wrote it on my laptop at the last IETF with you standing right there
reviewing it, and you approved of it! Remember now?

                                Ned