On Wed, Jun 17, 1998 at 10:40:41PM -0700, Chuq Von Rospach wrote:
> Rich, you're being stubborn.
Yes, I *am* being stubborn.
> The answer is in there: the RFC's are just as relevant to Eric as Cobol
> and SNA. He has other priorities. As do most of us.
As do I. But I find the time to at least keep an ear to the ground
so that I'm aware of them -- and I take the time to read, at least once,
the ones that might have an impact on what I'm doing. I do so because
I think that's my responsibility as someone who connects
systems/software/networks to the 'net: part of my job is not only
satisfying somebody's requirements, but doing so in a way that cooperates
with the rest of the 'net community -- and doing requires that I
adhere with the standards that community sets for itself to the best
of my ability.
I don't always succeed; like everyone, I make mistakes. But I think
there's a pretty wide gap between honest mistakes and purposeful defiance.
And I don't find Eric's attempt to equate RFCs with COBOL documentation
in the least bit persuasive.
> And if they're hiding that well, I don't particularly feel I
> need to pay attention to them.
Granted. But nobody, including Eric, has yet produced any evidence
that this done in an under-the-table manner. As I said in another
message, if that were the case, then I'd have a problem with the
process, too; but until then...
> you're so fixed on how you think things should be you won't allow
> anyone to not match it. And many of us don't, and won't.
Actually, that's not quite true. The way *I* "think things should be"
is different from BOTH de facto practice AND the RFC. But I have't
expressed it here because, while it might make for an interesting
discussion, it really doesn't matter what I think about it. I feel
it's my responsibility, as a cooperative member of the 'net, to go
along with the de facto convention - especially because NOT going along
causes a lot of problems for a lot of people. My sense of obligation
to that goes up a notch when I see that convention written into an RFC.
---Rsk
Rich Kulawiec
rsk@gsp.org
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