Delay

[Peter_Constable at sil.org]

Michael Everson wrote on 05/19/2003 04:31:20 PM:

> At 12:18 -0700 2003-05-19, Mark Davis wrote:
> >Michael, since it appears that you do not believe that there are such
> >works, I will have to supply them.
> 
> The forms require them.

Actually, neither the form nor any of the surrounding content in the RFC 
indicates which fields on the form are or are not obligatory. 
Interestingly, I found the following:

<Harald at Alvestrand.no> AT Internet at Ccmail wrote on 06/07/2000 07:44:55 AM:

> [image removed] 
> At 11:45 07.06.2000 +0900, Martin J. Duerst wrote:
> >There is an entry in the registration form about
> >documentation, but RFC 1766 at no point says that
> >there is such a requirement.
> 
> Good catch - have to make sure it's stated as a requirement.

Apparently, that never happened.


Now, it might help if there were a clear understanding on *why* the forms 
ask for this info. From the RFC:

<quote>
   Note: The purpose of the "published description" is intended as an
   aid to people trying to verify whether a language is registered, or
   what language a particular tag refers to.  In most cases, reference
   to an authoritative grammar or dictionary of the language will be
   useful; in cases where no such work exists, other well known works
   describing that language or in that language may be appropriate.  The
   language tag reviewer decides what constitutes a "good enough"
   reference material.
</quote>

So, evidently the Reviewer is judge of what is adequate, but it seems like 
saying "The forms require them" is overly bureaucratic (and relinquishing 
the role as judge to some inanimate dictum that doesn't even say what is 
attributed to it).

The purpose is to indicate what denotation is intended by the registered 
tag; it's not merely citing a bibliographic reference for the sake of 
bureaucracy. Was it really not adequately clear from Mark's descriptions 
what was intended?



- Peter


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Peter Constable

Non-Roman Script Initiative, SIL International
7500 W. Camp Wisdom Rd., Dallas, TX 75236, USA
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