Request for Comments

(R-F-C)

A document used for Internet proposals, standards, and other information. The RFC series started around 1969. A few RFCs have become standards but all Internet standards are somewhere in the RFC series. What makes the RFC process differ from the standards process is that RFCs are distributed Internet-wide for anyone to comment on whereas standards are generally only distributed to specific institutions. Of course, such an informal system also allows the generation of jokes set forth in RFC format (usually on 1 April). For examples see RFC 527 (ARPAWOCKY - a Lewis Carroll parody) and RFC 1149 (A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers - a parody of standards legalese). What's really amazing about the RFC process is that it works so well. You would think that with Internet-wide review you'd have a strong "camel is a horse built by committee" influence but, instead, you generally get tight, well-written documents.

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