Picking and choosing

[Frank Ellermann]

Peter Constable wrote:
 
> why is it unwise for that to be added to the IANA registry?

I take it as given that a IANA registry wishes to be taken
seriously, and that the language subtag registry is designed
for a "stable forver, one chance to get it right" policy.

Maybe you recall what Mr. Cowan and others had to say when 
there were minor errors in the registry for a few days.

> Much less wise is thinking that it would be feasible for us
> to sift through 7500 entries and determine which are "right"
> and which are "wrong".

It is straight forward to design a policy where only ISO 639-2
languages are registered (as is), and otherwise languages can
be requested here (as is), taking either an existing 639-3 code
(that would be new), or the "registered language" loophole (as
is).  

Maybe a hypothetical successor of RFC 4646 closes this loophole,
as former LTRU contributor I proposed to close it stating "not
good enough for ISO 639-3 is also not good enough for IANA" as
reason.

 Frank