RFC 53

An Official Protocol Mechanism 💖

okay bestie, let's start with the header 🎀. This is Request for Comments #53 from the Network Working Group, written by S. Crocker of UCLA and dated 9 June 70 📅. The header doesn't list a category, and it doesn't say this one obsoletes or updates anything. It's just a clean little memo. 🦋

During the Spring Joint Computer Conference in Atlantic City, S. Crocker and his crew (Larry Roberts, Barry Wessler, Cordell Green, Jon Postel and me 🙋‍♀️) talked about the rules for setting up and changing an official Host-Host protocol. They landed on six decisions:

1. A new set of documents will be created. These documents will specify the official Host-Host protocol. Once it's appropriate, they'll be kept at the Network Information Center on SRI's computer 🖥️✨.
2. I will send out proposals for the first version of the official protocol and for every later change, as NWG/RFCs. These proposals will be built from ideas from any interested people 🌸.
3. After a proposal for a change to the official protocol goes out as an NWG/RFC, networkers are asked to reply with approval, criticism, and so on. Each protocol comes with a cutoff date 📆.
4. After the cutoff date, one of two things will have happened. Either the network community has mostly accepted the proposal, or a lot of criticism has come in. If it's the second one, the process stops and the official protocol doesn't change at all 💀.
5. If the proposal was mostly accepted, it gets sent to the ARPA office, along with its minor revisions. Barry Wessler or his successor will then approve or disapprove the whole proposal, and the decision comes back to me by letter 💌.
6. Once the ARPA office approves, I'll send out the new protocol, as mentioned in item 1 above 🎉.

Last line, and it's giving "we're launching soon" energy: the first version of an official protocol will be proferred this month 🚀👑.

ngl, the archive note at the bottom says this was put into machine readable form for the online RFC archives by Kathy de Graaf in 2/98. She's the real MVP 🫶🌈

[ This RFC was put into machine readable form for entry ] [ into the online RFC archives by Kathy de Graaf 2/98 ]