[media-types] Lars Eggert's Discuss on draft-ietf-mediaman-toplevel-03: (with DISCUSS and COMMENT)

Lars Eggert via Datatracker <noreply@ietf.org> Wed, 20 September 2023 13:15 UTC

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Subject: [media-types] Lars Eggert's Discuss on draft-ietf-mediaman-toplevel-03: (with DISCUSS and COMMENT)
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Lars Eggert has entered the following ballot position for
draft-ietf-mediaman-toplevel-03: Discuss

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----------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCUSS:
----------------------------------------------------------------------

# GEN AD review of draft-ietf-mediaman-toplevel-03

CC @larseggert

## Discuss

### Section 2, paragraph 1
```
  2.  Rules for the Registration of New Top-Level Media Types
```
These aren't really rules or a best current practice. At best, this is
an assembly of considerations around top-level media types one may
want to think about. I had expected much more practical prescriptive
rules that someone considering a new top-level media type can
follow. Could these be tightened up?

### IANA

This document seems to have unresolved IANA issues. Holding a DISCUSS for IANA,
so we can determine next steps during the telechat.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMENT:
----------------------------------------------------------------------

## Comments

### Section 2, paragraph 1
```
     This section describes the rules and criteria for new top-level media
     types, including criteria already defined in RFC 6838 (Media Type
     Specifications and Registration Procedures).  Further work is needed
     to distinguish between required and optional criteria.
```
"Further work is needed" - is this a leftover editing note that should
 be removed? If not, where is this work happening and why are we
 publishing this now?

### Section 2.1, paragraph 0
```
  2.1.  Required Criteria
```
If they are "required", why are many of them SHOULDs?

### Section 2.1, paragraph 6
```
     *  The registration and actual use of a certain number of subtypes
        under the new top-level type SHOULD be expected.  At a minimum,
        one actual subtype SHOULD exist.  But the existence of a single
        subtype SHOULD not be enough; it SHOULD be clear that new similar
        types may appear in the future.  Otherwise, the creation of a new
        top-level type is most probably not justified.
```
This use of RFC2119-language is IMO a bit iffy. The second SHOULD
("SHOULD exist") should IMO be a MUST, and all the other SHOULDs
should be lowercase, because they are not enforceable
(like the "should" in the last list item).

### Section 3, paragraph 4
```
     The first time an additional top-level type was defined was in RFC
     1437 [RFC1437], but this was purely for entertainment purposes
     (please check date).
```
"Please check date"? Just say that it was an April Fools RFC and not a
 standard.

### RFC2119 style

Using lowercase "not" together with an uppercase RFC2119 keyword is not
acceptable usage. Found: "SHOULD not"

## Nits

All comments below are about very minor potential issues that you may choose to
address in some way - or ignore - as you see fit. Some were flagged by
automated tools (via https://github.com/larseggert/ietf-reviewtool), so there
will likely be some false positives. There is no need to let me know what you
did with these suggestions.

### Typos

#### Section 1, paragraph 1
```
-    level media types.  This document provides more detailled criteria
-                                                          -
```

#### Section 2.1, paragraph 4
```
-       template for a subtype contains the approriate information.  If
+       template for a subtype contains the appropriate information.  If
+                                                +
```

#### Section 2.2, paragraph 5
```
-    *  Top-level types can help humans with understading and debugging.
+    *  Top-level types can help humans with understanding and debugging.
+                                                    +
```

### Outdated references

Reference `[RFC1341]` to `RFC1341`, which was obsoleted by `RFC1521` (this may
be on purpose).

Reference `[RFC2048]` to `RFC2048`, which was obsoleted by `RFC4288` and
`RFC4289` (this may be on purpose).

### Grammar/style

#### "Abstract", paragraph 2
```
rnatively, issues can be raised on github at https://github.com/ietf-wg-medi
                                   ^^^^^^
```
The official name of this software platform is spelled with a capital "H".

#### Section 1.1, paragraph 2
```
 landscape, where computers and smart phones can handle a very wide variety
                                ^^^^^^^^^^^^
```
Nowadays, it's more common to write this as one word.

#### Section 2.1, paragraph 5
```
he new top-level type, will allow to check the appropriateness of the defini
                                  ^^^^^^^^
```
Did you mean "checking"? Or maybe you should add a pronoun? In active voice,
"allow" + "to" takes an object, usually a pronoun.

## Notes

This review is in the ["IETF Comments" Markdown format][ICMF], You can use the
[`ietf-comments` tool][ICT] to automatically convert this review into
individual GitHub issues. Review generated by the [`ietf-reviewtool`][IRT].

[ICMF]: https://github.com/mnot/ietf-comments/blob/main/format.md
[ICT]: https://github.com/mnot/ietf-comments
[IRT]: https://github.com/larseggert/ietf-reviewtool