Re: I-D ACTION:draft-shafranovich-feedback-report-01.txt

In <[email protected]> "william(at)elan.net" <[email protected]> writes:

>On Fri, 27 May 2005, Charles Lindsey wrote:

>> I thought the whole idea of X-headers was that they would NOT be
>> registered, so that people can invent them ad hoc as needed (however, it
>> needs to be understood that they are primarily there for human
>> consumption).

>My understanding about "X-" is that they are for use in local-system
>specific data (for use by other local systems or users) and for local 
>experiments (local can extend to more then one organization) and that 
>if they are for human consumption or machine consumption or both does
>not matter. And when experiment wants to become standard then they
>define full header field without "x".

If you use an X-header in an email sent to someone with whom you have no
prior arrangement, then it can only be for human-readable purposes (but
very useful nevertheless). The only time when an X-header can be
machine-interpreted is within some closed group of users, or when it is
expected that the message may come back to the machine that sent it (as in
a bounce), when it might help in deciding how to process it next.

If you are planning on having your header recognized all over the internet
(perhaps experimentally with a view to a full standard), then you should
publish it somewhere (as an ID perhaps) and that apply for a provisional
registration for it.

-- 
Charles H. Lindsey ---------At Home, doing my own thing------------------------
Tel: +44 161 436 6131 Fax: +44 161 436 6133   Web: http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~chl
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