The only reason there is a URL standard in the WHATWG is that the IETF URL RFC didn't define error handling and this led to interop problems. So there was a ne

The only reason there is a URL standard in the WHATWG is that the IETF URL RFC didn't define error handling and this led to interop problems. So there was a need for a URL standard that _would_ define error handling. The IETF refused to produce one (basically said "fuck you, we don't care about your use cases or interop problems" with slightly more polite wording), so the WHATWG ended up doing it... I'm not saying this is a great situation. I'm not saying the WHATWG couldn't try to do better at considering non-HTTP or non-browser use cases here. But the representatives of those use cases in the IETF told browsers to take a hike. And then browsers did.