I think I understand and mostly agree with what you are saying. But to me
there is a fundamental, unresolvable difference between "We have to be
flexible enough to allow for things we can't even imagine right now," and
"What the heck, why would anyone want to do THAT?"
I imagine that neither extreme is more "right" than the other, but that the
"best" strategy lies somewhere in the middle (and the "right" answer
probably changes depending on your intent.) So, I'm not trying to say
"You're wrong" here, but I am trying to point out that you're taking an
extreme position.
Try not to get too distracted by the specific examples I am throwing out
here. Of course there are problems inherent in publishing just a From:
policy or just a Sender: policy, and most likely nobody would want to. I
just meant it as an example. Beyond the specifics of the example lies a
more general case.
What if someone invents a brand new header, just as the paint is starting
to dry on the SPF2.0 spec, and people start using it in their emails. I
want a spec that's flexible enough to say "Ok, just start using the new
scope tag". I don't want to be looking at the now-outdated spec with the
WET PAINT sign still on it, going "OK lads let's start work on version
2.1". I want something more resilient than that.
Plus, I want to *encourage* people to experiment with things. If we give
people the flexibility to do stupid things, some of them will do really
clever things too. I don't want to have the same argument over and over
every time a new header, ESMTP extension, or whatever thing comes along.
There's considerable value in having something that people can experiment
with right out of the box. I want something that stands up well to
experimentation. I certainly don't want to have the same fight over and
over for every new thing anyone might possibly want to experiment with. If
I'm going to have to argue with people whose main argument is "Well Why
Would You Ever Want That?" I would rather just do it once and have done
with it, and not have to justify myself every time I think I might want to
experiment with something. That's the kind of flexibility I'm looking for.
Does that make any sense at all? :-)
gregc
--
Greg Connor <gconnor(_at_)nekodojo(_dot_)org>
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