RE: Call for Community Feedback: Retiring IETF FTP Service

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> > > > If so, I have a couple of bridges you may be interested in
> > > > purchasing at Cyber Monday discount prices.

> > > I'm having trouble understanding the failure mode.  Is the issue at
> > > hand that when one uses a browser to download say
> > > https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7230.txt, a text file isn't being returned?
> > > Furthermore, is the concern that browser vendors have changed their
> > > behavior over time when saving .txt files?

> > The failure mode is that browser behavior is in a constant state of flux. Some
> > time ago you got HTML-ized text, yesterday you got text without the form
> > feeds, today you get the text file verbatim. Who knows what you'll get
> > tomorrow?

> I'm sorry, I still don't following.  Clicking on what link did you get
> HTML-ized text and then text another time?

First, the point you appear to be missing is the time frames involved. We're
talking about months or years in the past and stability for years in the
future, not what happened this morning. In that regard, nobody is going to be
able to tell what link they used. Indeed, part of the point here is that people
stop using and then quickly forget about stuff that doesn't work rather than
trying to get it fixed.

Second, why would you assume that behavioral changes have anything to do with
the URL or associated source file you provide?

> If one goes to the datatracker (say https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc7230/)
> and one clicks "plain text", is one not getting plain text?  If one visits,
> https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7230.txt, is a TXT not returned?

Others have responded to this; I see no need to elaborate further.

> If one is clicking on txt, html, pdf, htmlize, or with errata (all of the
> flavors from the datatracker) and not getting txt, html, pdf, html and html,
> respectively, this is a bug.  Let's troubleshoot it when it happens.

If I attempted to troubleshoot every link or download problem I encounter in
daily web use I would have no time to do anything else. And I don't mean to be
rude, but as far as priorities go, as things stand spending lots of time
helping the IETF fix their web stuff is not even on my list, let alone anywhere
near the top.

Indeed, immediately prior to writing this response I had a little tussle with
DocuSign where I didn't get to a document fast enough and had to request an
updated link, which I mistakenly did twice, which earned me two links, one
obsoleting the other, that then arrived in the wrong order.

I had to resolve this one because it's job-related and there's no
alterantive service. Beyond that, sure, I could file a problem report with
DocuSign, but I think the problem may have more to do with the URL rewriting
crap my employer insists on using. Unwinding the whole sequence to figure out
the root cause? I'd rather have my teeth cleaned.

				Ned