Re: RFC 2119 terms, ALL CAPS vs lower case

Ralph Droms <rdroms.ietf@gmail.com> Wed, 16 May 2012 21:26 UTC

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Subject: Re: RFC 2119 terms, ALL CAPS vs lower case
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From: Ralph Droms <rdroms.ietf@gmail.com>
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Date: Wed, 16 May 2012 17:26:40 -0400
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References: <562A61B995B24BD854A4D154@[192.168.0.2]> <m262bwchr9.wl%randy@psg.com> <01OFJXXZJB2I0006TF@mauve.mrochek.com>
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Cc: ned+ietf@mauve.mrochek.com, Leiba Barry <barryleiba@computer.org>
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On May 16, 2012, at 5:22 PM 5/16/12, ned+ietf@mauve.mrochek.com wrote:

>>>   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
>>>   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
>>>   document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119] when they
>>>   appear in ALL CAPS.  These words may also appear in this document in
>>>   lower case as plain English words, absent their normative meanings.
> 
>> i like this a lot
> 
> I agree. In fact I just incorporated it into the media types registration
> update.

To be sure of meaning and help confusion avoidance, I would prefer that the key words not appear in the document in lower case and that authors use the suggested replacement words (or break out the thesaurus?).

- Ralph

> 
> 				Ned