On Wed, Feb 2, 2022 at 5:50 PM yuv via mailop <mailop@mailop.org> wrote:
> > > Not law, documentation. RFC5321 describes the state of SMTP, as of > > 2008, sorta. How it was working best then, to the degree that the > > editor and authors could reach consensus. The changes from 2821 to > > 5321 are clarifications, consolidations, and updates reflecting the > > evolution of implementations of SMTP in the interim. > > Documentation with consequences = law. > I think that's kind of the point. The only thing that you get for following the RFCs is consistency and interoperability. When you step outside of them, you lose consistency and MAY lose interoperability. If enough people do so, then the RFC process allows for the process to begin anew with a new consensus sought. This makes them far more akin to Newton "documenting gravity" than "a ring of fire." If you do not agree with how things currently interoperate, the goal needs to be defining how particulars need to change rather than waving your hands and saying "The walled garden of RFCs is more hell inside than outside." This is something that you may assert, but you have neither laid a foundation nor provided any actual evidence that "Where there is an alternative, participants are leaving in droves". And, even if they are, so what? "The Internet" is built on a series of protocols, each defined by one or more RFCs. "The Internet" is no more "email" than the World Wide Web (or USENET or GOPHER for those of us with a shade more seasoning) are "the Internet." Each protocol has a realm in which it is the best alternative of the protocols available for selection. And that protocol's RFCs tell an operator how they may use the protocol in a useful manner where cooperation and interoperability are required for communication, whether at the Data Link layer (where machines transmit data) or at the Application layer (where you find email or web pages). That this is true neither elevates one protocol above the others nor relegates one protocol to a lesser status. So, leaving aside the philosophy, what is your endgame here? To get rid of authentication? To promote the use of open relays (like we had in mid-1990s)? The cessation of spam filtering?
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