Effective Terminology in IETF drafts
draft-gondwana-effective-terminology-01
|
Document |
Type |
|
Active Internet-Draft (individual)
|
|
Author |
|
Bron Gondwana
|
|
Last updated |
|
2020-08-25
|
|
Stream |
|
(None)
|
|
Intended RFC status |
|
(None)
|
|
Formats |
|
plain text
html
xml
pdf
htmlized (tools)
htmlized
bibtex
|
Stream |
Stream state |
|
(No stream defined) |
|
Consensus Boilerplate |
|
Unknown
|
|
RFC Editor Note |
|
(None)
|
IESG |
IESG state |
|
I-D Exists
|
|
Telechat date |
|
|
|
Responsible AD |
|
(None)
|
|
Send notices to |
|
(None)
|
GENDISPATCH B. Gondwana, Ed.
Internet-Draft Fastmail
Intended status: Standards Track 25 August 2020
Expires: 26 February 2021
Effective Terminology in IETF drafts
draft-gondwana-effective-terminology-01
Abstract
The IETF and the RFC series are trusted names, for producing high
quality technical documents that make the Internet work better.
While the success of our documents is variable, many of them are
widely used over a long time period.
As norms in the outside world change, our documents need to remain
relevant and accessible to future generations of those working on the
internet, everywhere in the world.
This longevity of our documents, and the impossibility of predicting
the future, implies that we should be conservative in the language
that we send. Effective language expresses our intent with clarity,
and without distraction.
This document describes a glossary for increasing awareness of terms
which are going to be clear and effective without turning readers
away, to enable our mission of making the Internet work better.
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 26 February 2021.
Gondwana Expires 26 February 2021 [Page 1]
Internet-Draft Effective Terminology August 2020
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2020 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/
license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document.
Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components
extracted from this document must include Simplified BSD License text
as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are
provided without warranty as described in the Simplified BSD License.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Adapting to a changing world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.1. Words have multiple meanings and change meanings over
time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2. Words can encourage or discourage participation . . . . . 3
2.3. Analogies change meaning over time . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.4. The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago . . . . . . 4
3. Change is not always necessary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.1. What we're doing is generally working . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.2. We will naturally follow emerging consensus in the wider
world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4. How to choose terminology for our documents . . . . . . . . . 5
4.1. Engineering considerations take priority . . . . . . . . 5
4.2. Avoidance of "pixie dust" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4.3. Decentralised control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.4. Centralised knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
5. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
7. Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
8. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1. Introduction
The IETF, and even more so the three magic letters "RFC", is a
valuable brand. This brand is valuable because we have produced many
documents over the past 50 years which have helped others
interoperate, and have kept the decentralized internet reliable.
This is an amazing success, and a clear sign that we are doing a lot
of things right.
Gondwana Expires 26 February 2021 [Page 2]
Internet-Draft Effective Terminology August 2020
The IETF has no coercive power in the world, our documents are
adopted because of their quality and our reputation. The documents
Show full document text