Frank,
You wrote on 01/18/2008 12:59:47:
...
For a DS it has to be implemented and needs to be interoperable in
some way, and "breaks in NetNews" would be suspicious, UAs for mail
and news likely support only one approach where possible.
...
I realize that the drums effort began so long ago that it is easy to
forget its objective.
To paraphrase, it was not to CHANGE existing Full Standards (822, 1123,
etc) and other RFCs that it was expected would reach Full Standard status
(even though they haven't yet), but to produce a small set of documents
that superseded, and where necessary (and where possible) clarified, them
all. The working group reached early consensus that it could not outlaw
constructs collectively allowed by these earlier standards even though the
group would deprecate their use. Pete's (if memory serves me correctly, it
was his invention) obs- non-obs approach was then accepted as the best
vehicle to achieve this. So the only remaining issue viz the obs- syntax
is simply whether it accurately captures the syntax explicitly allowed by
these earlier standards and not whether these obs- constructs are good,
bad or indifferent.
Nick