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By that logic there isn't any point to standards at all. If we all are supposed to ignore them when we feel like it then what's the point of having them at all?
by SahAssar 8y ago
By that logic there isn't any point to standards at all. If we all are supposed to ignore them when we feel like it then what's the point of having them at all?
If there is a standard published for something, follow it or publish your own RFC. Don't just nitpick the bits you want and break clients in the process.
- tptacek 8y agoThey're provided as guidance. They aren't some kind of internet law. Sometimes contravening standards is harmful; sometimes it's helpful. It's not productive to point at them as if they were dispositive in debates.
- quickben 8y agoNot really. https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc791 https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc791 ^ Was burned in hardware all over the planet.
- tptacek 8y agoPeople play games with IP all the time.
- scrollaway 8y agoSure, but there isn't a big company with clout saying "Hey, you should deviate from RFC791". I agree that standards can and should be replaced/amended to over time, but I kinda see what GP's point is getting at.
- pvg 8y agoDropping Via from a response is roughly in the same category as ignoring the TCP Urgent flag. Most widely used standards have vestigial bits.
- AstralStorm 8y agoA lot of hardware silently edits TOS flags, causing trouble with ECN and diff-serv... Ignoring is usually fine. Dropping is not.
- xg15 8y agoNope. If web standards worked, the benefits would be a stable platform where you can easily create new software that both produced or consumed content without breaking anything. Of course that isn't what is happening at all. Instead we're having the usual heap of politics and ever-faster update cycles. So I'd agree to say that web standards failed - but not that they were meant as a guidiance in the first place.
- triska 8y agoThere is a bit more to it though: When a vendor declares compliance to a standard and fails to implement it correctly, then the vendor can be held accountable, and a customer is in a much better position to negotiate a correction. For this reason, standards are also important from a legal perspective.
- KMag 8y ago> Don't just nitpick the bits you want <nitpick> Only people who like lice eggs nitpick the bits they want. Others pick-and-choose. </nitpick> https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/nit https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/nit
- bovermyer 8y agoYou, sir, have achieved a new level of pedantic.