Re: RFC 2119 terms, ALL CAPS vs lower case

[Doug Barton <[e-mail]>]

On 05/16/2012 06:59, Barry Leiba wrote:
> In fact, RFC 2119 says that the normative keywords are "often
> capitalized", but doesn't require that they be.

Standards should be written in such a way as to remove as much ambiguity
as possible, not show how clever we are. That allowance in 2119 was a
mistake, and the fact that people remain confused 15 years later is
clear evidence of that.

Normative use of the 2119 key words should always be capitalized.

And yes, "can" is about ability, "may" is about permission. Choosing to
add to the confusion about the simple English meaning of those words
doesn't make us look any more clever.

Doug

-- 
    If you're never wrong, you're not trying hard enough