Re: Cited documents, was Status of RFC 20

[Dave Crocker <[e-mail]>]

On 12/9/2014 8:36 AM, John Levine wrote:
>>> To the best of my knowledge, there has _never_ been a
>>> >> requirement that cited documents be available online, and
>>> >> especially that authoritative copies be available online.
>> >
>> >But perhaps there should be one as to new RFCs.
> That means nobody can cite a printed book, or an article from an ACM
> or IEEE journal.  (To the extent the latter two are online, they're
> PDFs behind a paywall.)
> 
> This seems to me to be making rules for the sake of making rules, not
> because there is a problem that needs to be solved.


Well, there is certainly a higher barrier to access for a paper document
or one behind a paywall than there is for something that is only one
click away.

It's probably reasonable that we document a preference that a 'direct'
link be available, rather than that it be required.  This doesn't mean
refraining from references to paper or paywall docs, but that we'd like
a direct link to be included.

Interestingly, this issue is the other side of our preference /not/ to
cite ephemeral web pages...


So I think this reduces to a combined preference about references:

   1. A reference needs to be to a stable, published copy that is likely
to be available long term.

   2. It is preferred that the citation include an online, direct
reference, independent of the 'primary' publication vehicle for the
document.

d/

-- 
Dave Crocker
Brandenburg InternetWorking
bbiw.net