!!! Overview [{$pagename}] is defined in [RFC 1796] The "[Request For Comments]" ([{$pagename}]) document series is the official publication channel for [Internet] [standards] documents and __other publications__ of the [IESG], [IAB], and [Internet] [Community of Interest]. From time to time, and about every six months in the last few years, someone questions the rationality of publishing both [Internet Standards] and [informational] documents as [RFCs]. The argument is generally that this introduces some confusion between "real [standards]" and "mere publications". [Request For Comment] are Classified by: * [RFC Status] * [RFC Sub-series] It is a regrettably well spread misconception that publication as an [RFC] provides some level of recognition. It does not, or at least not any more than the publication in a regular journal. In fact, each [RFC] has a [RFC Status], relative to its relation with the Internet standardization process. This [RFC Status] is reproduced on the first page of the each [{$pagename}] itself, and is also documented in the periodic "[Internet Official Protocol Standards]" [RFC 5000] ([STD 1]). But this status is sometimes omitted from quotes and references, which may feed the confusion. There are two important sources of information on the status of the Internet standards: * they are summarized periodically in an RFC entitled "[Internet Official Protocol Standards]" * documented in the "[STD]" [RFC Sub-series]. When a [specification] has been adopted as an [Internet Standard], it is given the additional label "[STD] xxxx", but it keeps its [RFC] number and its place in the [RFC] series. !! More Information There might be more information for this subject on one of the following: [{ReferringPagesPlugin before='*' after='\n' }]