Re: Status of this memo

[Simon Josefsson <[e-mail]>]

Brian E Carpenter <[e-mail]> writes:

> I don't what made this click in my brain now rather than 20 years ago,
> but think about this extract from our I-D boilerplate**:
>
> "Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
> Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working
> documents as Internet-Drafts."
>
> That's actually internally inconsistent and if the first sentence is
> quoted without the second, it is actively misleading when (say) an
> IRTF draft is concerned.
>
> Shouldn't those two sentences be combined into a more accurate single sentence?:
>
> Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task
> Force (IETF) or of other associated groups or individuals.
>
> **The exact wording of the boilerplate has changed since 20 years ago, but the problem has always existed.

Sometimes the solution to a problem isn't to add or modify something, it
is to take away something.  I suggest to drop this paragraph instead.

As far as I can tell, the I-D boilerplate is something like the text
below.  If BCP78/BCP79, including their normative references, do not
contain sufficient information to explain this, I believe it is better
to solve whatever the problem is there.  Further, the third paragraph
about expiration is covered already by the normative reference to RFC
2026 section 2.2.

Repeating things in different words can clarify, but it can also make
things harder to understand when subtle differences creep in, as it
appears to have done here.

   Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on 16 September 2021.

/simon