[ih] theory and practice of RFCs?

[Vint Cerf]

One reason for increased filtering is that companies started citing RFCs as
standards when they weren't.
On Dec 15, 2012 1:47 PM, "Dave Crocker" <dhc2 at dcrocker.net> wrote:

>
> On 12/13/2012 12:38 PM, Alex McKenzie wrote:
>
>> The RFCs were truly Requests for Comments.  When the Network Working
>> Group first specified a "Host to Host Protocol" it was deliberately not
>> circulated as an RFC by Steve Crocker (its author) because it was
>> intended as a _specification_, not as a request for comments.
>>
>
> Interesting tidbit.  I hadn't heard/remembered that.
>
>
>  If you had an idea, or a comment on someone else's idea, or any document
>> that you thought should be brought to the attention of the community,
>> you asked Steve Crocker, or later the Network Information Center (NIC),
>> for an RFC number, put it at the top of your paper document, and sent it
>> to the NIC for copying and distribution to the "technical liaison"
>>
> ...
>
>>     But it was still possible to submit an
>> RFC without any review except for format in the early 1980's.  I don't
>> know when the RFC series became as tightly controlled as it is now, but
>> I know it was after RFC 905, published in April 1984.
>>
>
> Right.  My recollection is that any request for publication as an RFC was
> processed.  I do not recall any rejection/pushback from the 'RFC Editor'
> until quite a bit later, on the order of the 90s or very late 80s.
>
> The modern IETF certainly filtered documents, but that started in the late
> 80s.  As the IETF became more proprietary about what documents got
> published, the RFC Editor was pressed to pay attention to the possibility
> that an independent document was, somehow, an 'end run' around the IETF.  I
> think this is what caused the RFC Editor to start using more active filters
> on what got published.[*]
>
> The wrinkle to my memory is the fine-grained review that Jon Postel
> offered.  I don't remember when that did/did-not occur.
>
> d/
>
>
> [*]  Of course, the long-term exception to all this has been the
> non-existent April 1 RFC...
>
>
> --
>  Dave Crocker
>  Brandenburg InternetWorking
>  bbiw.net
>
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