As a reader of RFCs, I've come to expect that 2119 words are always
capitalized, and that when the same words appear in lowercase or mixed
case they're not being used in the 2119 sense. This seems to be a de
facto standard, even though 2119 doesn't require it. I'm in favor of
continuing with this standard since I think most readers of RFCs have
grown to expect it, but there doesn't seem to be a need to make any
change.
Two things I like:
- Randy's new suggested boilerplate
- Avoiding using 2119-like words in lowercase when other wording
would work equally well, at the author's discretion. That seems
like a reasonable practice, but trying to define and enforce it
would be far too much trouble and have silly unintended consequences.
So perhaps if Randy's new suggested boilerplate could be added as an
erratum to 2119, clearly labeled an optional suggestion, I think that
might be useful. But don't change the rules. 2119 works well as is IMO.
-- Cos