Ned,
there are two questions that I don't think we should mix, I think:
1) What should people be able to expect from an implementation that
claims to "send MIME"?
That would be what I think you mean by "a set of MIME conformance
criteria for agents sending MIME messages".
2) What parts of the MIME standard conform to the IETF pious wish
for Full Standards?
(draft-ietf-poised95-std-proc-3-06.txt)
A specification for which significant implementation and successful
operational experience has been obtained may be elevated to the
Internet Standard level. An Internet Standard (which may simply be
referred to as a Standard) is characterized by a high degree of
technical maturity and by a generally held belief that the specified
protocol or service provides significant benefit to the Internet
community.
If we think of that requirement on a feature-by-feature basis (or
bodypart by bodypart in this case), what will be the result?
I think sending the docs to the RFC-Editor isn't a tearing hurry;
you might as well wait until SCoya has the official announcement out.
Enjoy!
Harald A