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Re: Towards consensus on document format

2010-03-15 11:01:25
On 3/15/2010 8:53 AM, Melinda Shore wrote:
Phillip Hallam-Baker wrote:
What I find rather puzzling here is that most of the defenders of the
status quo are saying 'document format is really no big deal, why make
a fuss'. 

??  I haven't seen anybody argue that, actually, and it would
be odd if they did.

I am in class E. I find being required to edit documents in
teleprinter format to be very insulting to me personally. 

That's another odd argument, although it does tend to
support that this is a matter of individual sensibilities.
perhaps but the real underlying issue is the information density that
ASCII coding relegates the IETF documents to. The odd issue is that
there was at one time a claim that it would be too cumbersome for people
to live in the HTTP realm or other MIME format.

Now the opposite is true and since the documents are not ASCII to insure
that they are machine readable this is another issue where the IETF has
opted for making it harder to use its work product and to participate.

As nearly as I can tell, people who like to work lower in
the stack tend to prefer certain kinds of formats and
people who work higher in the stack tend to prefer others.
In the Stack - which stack are we talking about? And since these people
are NOT in fact designing end-use products for their work products they
are not as you say "Working in the Stack" but rather preventing others
from being able to participate by creating the artificial wall that
mandating the current ASCII only submissions does IMHO.

People who don't like strongly-typed languages probably aren't
going to be enthusiastic about strongly-typed document
formats.  

BS  Melinda - people who like very strong structured documents are those
that live here which is why the document format for the IETF is a
fricken nightmare.

It could come down to tastes and possibly
to comfort level with various tools, and it seems unlikely
to me that haranguing people about it will change their
personal relationships with the various technologies.

I agree. The solution is to move past them and retire their actions so
that they are not allowed to block the IETF's evolution with such
idiotic and self-centered nits

Sorry - but the IETF should have moved into Web Based automated document
submission years ago.

Todd Glassey

Melinda
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