> (1) Directionality can be tricky.   (not actionable, but
> important context)
> (2) If you have something identifier-like, use 5893 unless you
> know better.
> (3) If you have something more free form-like, use UAX #9 unless
> you know better.
> (4) If you think you know better, you are probably wrong; see
> above.

+1 - I like that listing of principles.

Items (2) and (3) look like they could be stated with "SHOULD" although
I could live with weaker wording.  In contrast, I think the text for (4)
ought to definitely say "SHOULD NOT define a new directionality rule"
and that ought to be called out in the IANA Considerations for the
profiles registry in section 11.3 as important guidance to the
designated expert reviewer(s).

Thanks,
--David

> -----Original Message-----
> From: precis [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John C Klensin
> Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2015 1:08 PM
> To: Peter Saint-Andre - &yet; Pete Resnick
> Cc: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [precis] Directionality rule (Was: Review of current document
> draft-ietf-precis-framework-20)
> 
> 
> 
> --On Wednesday, February 11, 2015 18:59 -0700 Peter Saint-Andre
> - &yet <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> >...
> > How's this?
> 
> > The authors of a profile might believe that they need to
> > define a new directionality rule of their own.  Because of the
> > complexity of the issues involved, such a belief is almost
> > always misguided, even if the authors have done a great deal
> > of careful research into the problems of displaying
> > bidirectional strings.  This document suggests that profile
> > authors who are thinking about defining a new directionality
> > rule think again, and instead consider using the "Bidi Rule"
> > [RFC5893] (for profiles based on the IdentifierClass) or
> > following the Unicode bidirectional algorithm [UAX9] directly
> > (for profiles based on the FreeformClass or in situations
> > where the IdentifierClass is not appropriate).
> 
> Wfm.
> 
> > One thing that bothers me here is that we're not providing
> > actionable guidance to the vast majority of non-delusional
> > profile authors. Are we saying that it's not a good idea to
> > say anything about directionality at all?
> 
> I think I don't understand what you are saying/ asking for.  It
> seems to me that every version of the statement posted to the
> list in the last 24 hours has said things that come down to:
> 
> (1) Directionality can be tricky.   (not actionable, but
> important context)
> (2) If you have something identifier-like, use 5893 unless you
> know better.
> (3) If you have something more free form-like, use UAX #9 unless
> you know better.
> (4) If you think you know better, you are probably wrong; see
> above.
> 
> (2) and (3) are, AFAICT, about as actionable as things get,
> representing clear statement of the character of "if <condition>
> then do this..."  The "unless you know better" statements and
> (4) is a warning about (2) and (3) to avoid our getting too
> normative about situations we can't anticipate
> 
> The only substantive difference I've seen in the various
> statements is whether the equivalent to (3) suggests saying as
> little as possible about FreeformClass.
> 
> I'd rather we didn't, but the above could be restated in
> 2119-speak as:
> 
> (2) If you have something identifier-like, you SHOULD use 5893.
> (3) If you have something more free form-like, you SHOULD use
> UAX #9.
> (1) and (4) Directionality is tricky.  If you have specific
> knowledge of the characters or script(s) you are using that the
> contexts in which they are used, you MAY invent your own
> techniques and specifications, as allowed by the above.
> However, there is considerable experience to indicate that you
> should not do so unless it is also absolutely necessary because
> you are likely to get it wrong and, even if you don't, adopting
> rules different from 5893 or UAX 9 is likely to confuse and
> irritate users.
> 
>      john
> 
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