Characterization of Proposed Standards
draft-kolkman-proposed-standards-clarified-06

Abstract

Does the IESG review Proposed Standard RFCs or does it review Internet-
Drafts requested for publication as Proposed Standard RFCs?

Similar issue at the top of the Introduction.

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Section 1

"This document exclusively updates..."

Could mean "This document updates only..." or "No other document 
updates..."


Suggest you mean the former and change to it.

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I should find this document even more excellent if the Abstract and
Introduction both made a summary statement of the "new" characterization
so that lazy readers picked this up easily and clearly.

I think the discussion is converging, and I'm removing my DISCUSS to let Jari, as sponsoring AD, decide when things are settled and it's time to post the approval.

The main issue that we're still settling is about whether to:

1 leave Section 3.2 as it is, copying the "characterization" part from 2026 Section 4.1.3, or

2. have Section 3.2 refer to 2026 Section 4.1.3, without copying the text, or

3. have Section 3 fully replace 2026 Section 4.1, so all the description of the maturity levels is in one place.

Jari... it's yours.

In section 2, I believe that you're missing the argument that many Proposed Standards are actually deployed on the Internet, as stable protocols.
This proves the point that the community deemed unnecessary to upgrade to Internet Standard (for the sake of upgrading, i.e. without some specifications improvements/changes/errata integration).

Abstract: The word "new" strikes me as odd here. Saying "new" implies that first we're changing the characterization, and then we're going to start behaving in accordance with it. What we're doing is updating the characterization to reflect reality. The Intro gets this right. A suggested update to the Abstract; do with it as you see fit:

   RFC 2026 describes the review performed by the IESG on IETF Proposed
   Standard RFCs and states the maturity level of those documents. 
   Since its publication, reviews have become more stringent than
   described by RFC 2026. This document clarifies those descriptions and
   updates RFC 2026 by providing a current and more accurate
   characterization of Proposed Standards.
   
Section 2:

   the IETF strengthened its review of Proposed Standards, basically
   operating as if the Proposed Standard was the last chance for the
   IETF to ensure the quality of the technology and the clarity of the
   Standard Track document.

I suggest adding to this sentence: "before it is deployed on the Internet". I think this may also address Benoit's comment.

   The IETF review is
   possibly more extensive than that done in most other SDOs owing to...

Whether or not the above is true, I think saying it this way, even with the "possibly", is just hubris. (Given the audience for this document, it has the potential to cause grumbling.) I suggest "The IETF review is at least as extensive as that in most other SDOs owing to..."

In general, this document does a really good job of clarifying things that should have been made clear long ago.

"""
The IETF review is possibly more extensive than that done in most other SDOs owing to the cross-area technical review performed by the IETF.
"""

This seems like an unnecessary dig at other SDOs.  Maybe the following?

"""
The IETF review is especially extensive owing to the cross-area technical review performed by the IETF.
"""