Re: AUTH48 and "Guidance for NIST Staff on Using Inclusive Language in Documentary Standards"

[S Moonesamy <[e-mail]>]

Hi Jay,
At 01:21 PM 05-06-2025, Jay Daley wrote:
>People may not be aware that while the guidance has been withdrawn, 
>the table of examples included in the document has not:
>
> 
>https://www.nist.gov/nist-research-library/nist-technical-series-publications-author-instructions#table1
>
>That table is under a section titled "Plain Language" and is 
>explained as "The table below displays how some sentences could be 
>edited (or not) to incorporate plain and precise language.".  e.g. 
>replacing "whitelist" with "allowlist".
>
>This framing of "plain and precise" could be considered clearer and 
>less contentious (and therefore more likely to be adopted by 
>authors) than the framing of "inclusive".

A national standard fulfills the needs of a country.  A non-national 
standard has a wider scope.  An organization seeking to devise 
non-national standards usually brings together people affiliated with 
businesses from different countries.  This is where the organization 
has to tackle problems such as language.  The organization which was 
known as "IETF" used the English language for historical reasons.  It 
attracted authors from different countries over the years.  Some of 
the people reading their works might not speak English in their every 
day life.  That does not necessarily mean that they do not know how 
to read or write in English.

According to NIST PR 1502.01, "The withdrawn publication and cover 
page will remain at the same DOI, unless it is determined that the 
publication should be removed from distribution."  The document which 
you cited could be removed from distribution or amended if the 
publisher wishes to do that.

As for what is "plain and precise", that is influenced by the needs 
of the organization, e.g. the organization aims to fulfill the needs 
of a country.  From what I understand, the issue here is about what 
are the appropriate words to use in an IETF RFC.  It is awkward to 
tell someone who has been writing in English for several years how to 
write in English.  It can also cause some debate, e.g. please see the 
thread at 
https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/rfc-interest/iUbkutdNpXYgua8kejbsa63ZMv

Regards,
S. Moonesamy