Re: I-D Renewal

Michael Richardson <[email protected]> Sun, 05 Apr 2026 18:31:22 -0400
Newsgroups	gmane.ietf.general
Message-ID	<[email protected]>
Phillip Hallam-Baker <[email protected]> wrote:
    > I have a large system with multiple connected drafts some of which have
    > been essentially stable for 5 years or more. When I write a new draft that
    > builds on that existing functionality, I have to update all the drafts
    > because otherwise the very people who consider draft expiry to be holy
    > scripture would be sneering about references to expired drafts.

I bet you also update other small bits too: I almost always find a word here
or there to change when I do the 6-month update poke.
Perhaps there are additional situations where it would be useful to pin
additional I-D due to certain processes.

This act of reviewing and updating tells everyone (sneering or not), that you
are actually still paying attention.

    > We could also improve matters by eliminating the draft update cutoff and
    > replacing it with a cutoff on accepting presentations and drafts in the
    > meeting materials manager. People should be able to decide whether they are
    > going to attend a meeting on the basis of what is discussed before the
    > early registration cutoff.

It would be nice to have presentations on agendas earlier, but I don't think
that this will help.

    > The current system of freezing drafts and then allowing updates after the
    > meeting starts allows people to do some of the dirtiest of tricks I have
    > seen in a standards process.

Uhm, okay, worth naming the trick so that everyone can recognize it.
I still find the pause useful, even if I have often rushed to hit the
23:59UTC deadline, and then had to wait to share certain updates.

So while I sympathize with the annoyance, and I acknowledge that I-Ds don't
really expire, I think that any formal change (including eliminating IS/STD)
will simply raise the bar for RFC-PS further.

--
Michael Richardson <[email protected]>   . o O ( IPv6 IøT consulting )
           Sandelman Software Works Inc, Ottawa and Worldwide
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