[NNTP] Re: New NNTP drafts approaching IETF Last Call

[Mark Crispin]

On Sat, 26 Mar 2005, Kai Henningsen wrote:
> Not governments. Usenet hierarchy administrators. From the point of view
> of the IETF, they count as "users".

Exactly

While the decisions of these individuals may have been reasonable at the 
time, times change.  It is therefore inaccurate to present these decisions 
are cast-in-stone "national or regional authority" decisions that are not 
subject to influence of newer standards.

More to the point, many of these individuals would very likely welcome 
guidance from specifications, instead of being compelled to guess at 
what's right and hope for the best.  Of course, it's not going to work to 
say "on April 23, 2005, everything changes to UTF-8."  But having a 
standards track document that points strongly towards UTF-8 will lead 
presently to such migrations.

You're not doing people any favors by saying "we're not going to give you 
any guidances or any bedrock standards points that you can use to bolster 
your arguments.  You're free!"

-- Mark --

http://staff.washington.edu/mrc
Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate.
Si vis pacem, para bellum.