Eric Allman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> I did a quick read of -overview yesterday and on the whole liked
> it. It's a bit rough, lots of spelling/grammar errors, obviously
> written by different people, needs sections filled in, etc., but it
> seemed like it covered the critical areas.  I'll try to read it in
> more detail soon.
>
> However, there was one sub-thread between EKR and Eliot that left me a
> bit confused:
>
> --On July 11, 2006 10:18:50 PM +0200 Eliot Lear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>>>>>    The owner of the domain name being used for a DKIM signature
>>>>>    is declaring that they are accountable for the message.  This
>>>>>    means that their reputation is at stake.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm not sure I understand what reputation means in this context.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> I believe it would be pedantic to define a commonly used English
>>>> word.
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I disagree.
>>> 1. It's a technical term in the security community, and since
>>> there's no reputation service being proposed..
>>>
>>
>> The language was plainly used.  You are, however, raising two
>> separate issues: use of the term and whether reputation services
>> are in scope.  They are clearly not.  However, that doesn't mean
>> that DKIM cannot be used by such services, and it certainly doesn't
>> mean that we must never refer to them.  This having been said, I
>> still believe the plain language reading connotes an obvious
>> meaning.

I have a conflict with DKIM so phoning this in...


> I thought that the Overview document was supposed to be a
> non-normative introduction (ok, "overview") of DKIM: motivations,
> context, how the pieces fit together, how it fits into the bigger
> picture.  If I'm right, then
>
> (1) using "plain English" is just fine, and hence "reputation" doesn't
> need a formal (normative) definition; and
> (2) reputation /is/ in scope of this document, since it speaks to the
> bigger picture.
>
> Have I misunderstood the intent of -overview?  If it is to be a
> normative document then I will suddenly have a /lot/ of comments....

There are two potential meanings of "reputation" here.

1. The "plain English" one of "you look bad". As I noted previously,
   your reputation is already on the line when you forward e-mail,
   since people can manually verify that you sent it. This is 
   how black-hole lists work. DKIM doesn't add this feature.
2. The technical sense of "reputation services", but as I mentioned
   earlier, this is out of scope for DKIM, and of course it's
   not plain English...

-Ekr

   
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