No Subject

["William Allen Simpson" <wsimpson@greendragon.com>]

> CC: ietf@ietf.org, MILIS APPLE <apple@apnic.net>
Subject: Re: RTFR: Read The F* RFCs

I suppose that the reason might be that most of us do not memorize RFC
numbers.  For example, we call a protocol "SMTP" for short, not RFC-821
et seq. (or whatever the numbers).  They change when the protocol
changes.  We are not CCITT et alia, where the number _is_ the protocol,
and doesn't indicate whether the protocol has changed or been republished.

I often get personal messages with a Subject of some RFC number.  I put
them in a folder, and every few months (sometimes many months) go
through them, and check the RFC Index to find out the topic and sort it
into its correct folder.

If people are too lazy to actually type "PPP over Frame Relay", then I'm
too lazy to guess whether the message is urgent and topical.

No, I haven't memorized the RFC numbers assigned to my own protocols.
Life is short.


> From: "Rahmat M. Samik-Ibrahim" <rms46@GEOCITIES.COM>
>...
> of "the doomed -- two years in the IESG queue" RFC-2050. Also, I
> was very surprised when once an IAB member asked me back: "which
> one is that RFC-1601?", they own charter! Meanwhile, not many are
>...

WSimpson@UMich.edu
    Key fingerprint =  17 40 5E 67 15 6F 31 26  DD 0D B9 9B 6A 15 2C 32