[Old-standards] Brief Procedural Proposal

[Pekka Savola]

On Tue, 23 Nov 2004, Eliot Lear wrote:
> 2.  Anyone can by email remove an RFC from the cruft list by simply saying, 
> "please remove RFC xyz from the list".  In doing so, please indicate a brief 
> reason why it should be removed and whether you think the document should be 
> left at Proposed or advanced.

Did I understand this correctly, that unless nobody calls some RFC 
down from the list, it gets crufted without no description why it's 
crufty, except "nobody seems to care anymore, because otherwise they 
would have jumped up".

I'd say that for the remaining documents, which would get moved to 
historic, someone(s) should generate some reason why we think they 
should be moved to historic -- this doesn't need to be complicated, 
just one sentence or the like. ("why we believe nobody is caring about 
this RFC anymore..")

Just something rather than nothing..

> In the end we'll be left with three lists:
>
> 1.  Documents left on the cruft list that should be moved to Historic.
> 2.  Documents removed from the cruft list that should be left alone.
[...]
> Finally, if someone wants to remove an RFC from the list and others object, 
> the others should write a small draft indicating why the RFC should be 
> downgraded.  In other words, follow the alternative procedure and gain 
> consensus within the IETF.

This is an OK approach, though I'd prefer that before we begin the 
"name-calling", we should try to formulate a description of what it 
means to move the document to historic, similar to an introduction for 
a draft which might include the list of RFCs.

For reasons to this, just look at the dialogue I had with Harald. 
All of these RFCs are still in use in some obscure part of the 
universe, but that doesn't mean they should not be moved to Historic. 
There should be a very short statement (maybe only a paragraph) which 
would describe the goals here -- i.e., that it's OK to move stuff to 
historic that's still in use somewhere.

-- 
Pekka Savola                 "You each name yourselves king, yet the
Netcore Oy                    kingdom bleeds."
Systems. Networks. Security. -- George R.R. Martin: A Clash of Kings