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Re: The Non-IETF Informational RFC Publication Fiction

2000-06-27 12:50:02
% If I were to suggest any change in the RFC review and publication process,
% it would be to give IESG the power to say "no" to publication of individual
% submissions.  (perhaps with the possibility of formal appeal to IAB)
% I do not believe that IESG would do this capriciously, and I believe 
% that this would make better use of IESG resources.  And such a change would 
% make it quite clear that individuals authors do NOT have the right to have 
% their documents published as RFCs.
% 
% Keith (no longer on IESG, and not speaking for them)

I think things are headed in that general direction and I think it is a
sad state of affairs. Historically, RFCs were used to document ideas, 
both good and bad. The series covered the range of idea generation
and expression and this was encouraged by the RFC editor. Now, many 
"non-conformant" ideas are being released into the community as defacto 
documents since it is too hard to get material documented in the RFC series 
as either informational or experimental. This is in part due to the IESG/IAB
review cycle that is now part of the process.  This practice leads to 
closed environments, documentation, code and operations.  Not what I would 
have hoped for in an evolved Internet.

--bill