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

[Q Misell <[e-mail]>]

Moin all,

I currently have an RFC in the AUTH48 stage, and as part of this the RFC
editor asks me to review my text for possible issues around inclusive and
respectful language, or rather lack thereof.
Unfortunately, the accepted reference document to check language against,
and to provide guidance on the construction of inclusive text is NIST 8366
"Guidance for NIST Staff on Using Inclusive Language in Documentary
Standards". There is nothing wrong with the (former) contents of this
document, rather that if one tries to access it nowaday they are presented
with a 1 page PDF simply stating that "this paper has been withdrawn to
comply with executive order (E.O.) 14151" - in essence, President Trump has
such a gripe with DEI that we can no longer write inclusive RFCs.

I recognise this situation is not anyone with the IETF community's fault -
its a ludicrous situation to be placed in by the political whims of a
wannabe authoritarian. But the problem exists, and we should *probably* do
something about it. As a starting point, I suggest we adopt the joint
inclusive language guidance of the ISO and the IEC [1]; as these are both
well respected international standards organisations, this maintains the
stated goal of adopting NIST 8366 - in that the language used in the IETF
is standardised across industry [2].

I am, of course, open to other suggestions about what to do about this
situation; and I particularly encourage the IESG to put forward their
suggestions to the community.

For now, I will continue editing my RFC based on my understanding of
inclusive language, and hope that I do not make any mistakes that a solid
reference would've prevented.

Q

[1]:
https://iec.ch/system/files/2024-09/iec_doc_topical_inclusive-terminology-guidance_fa_lr.pdf
[2]:
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/statement-iesg-iesg-statement-on-inclusive-language-20210511/
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