Procedural ? and technical--2 questions

[Randy Presuhn]

Hi -

> From: "CE Whitehead" <cewcathar at hotmail.com>
> To: <ietf-languages at iana.org>
> Sent: Monday, December 18, 2006 11:15 AM
> Subject: Procedural ? and technical--2 questions
>
> 1.  Maybe this should just be addressed to Doug.
> 
> My first question is this:
> if someone requests a subtag
> then for whatever reason opts to unsubscribe from the list after a week or 
> two, what happens to his/her request if it is still being considered?
> 
> Does it then drop from consideration.

Not under the procedures defined in RFC 4646.

> 2.  My second question is:
> 
> If someone uses an experiemental subtag, will there be any applications that 
> identify it?  In other words, what is the purpose of using an experimental 
> subtag?  How do applications respond to these?  Do they identify the subtag 
> as it is written,
> 
> such as en-x-1900Lond or something
> 
> when retrieving the document, without making inferences, in this case, past 
> the first part of the tag, en


"x" is for "private agreement" tags, rather than specifically
experimental use.  See also section 4.5 of RFC 4646 on
private use subtags:

   Private use subtags, like all other subtags, MUST conform to the
   format and content constraints in the ABNF.  Private use subtags have
   no meaning outside the private agreement between the parties that
   intend to use or exchange language tags that employ them.  The same
   subtags MAY be used with a different meaning under a separate private
   agreement.  They SHOULD NOT be used where alternatives exist and
   SHOULD NOT be used in content or protocols intended for general use.
   Private use subtags are simply useless for information exchange
   without prior arrangement.  The value and semantic meaning of private
   use tags and of the subtags used within such a language tag are not
   defined by this document.

Randy