On Saturday, August 5, 2023 7:38:21 PM EDT Dave Crocker wrote: > On 8/5/2023 4:23 PM, Neil wrote: > > > The language used for DMARC has always been problematic. "Policy" > > > > > > implies control, but the domain owner has no control over the receiving > > > platform. Quarantine and Reject declare control that also does not > > > > exist. > > > > Suppose you set a policy of p=reject that’s still your policy even if > > receivers aren’t obligated to honor your policy. But it’s a policy > > nonetheless. It’s not required that a policy be followed for it to be > > policy. That aside, there’s unlikely to be another word that works > > better than’s worth any confusion or disruption that could be caused > > by changing the jargon. > > www.dictionary.com > > Policy Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com <#> > > Policy definition, a definite course of action adopted for the sake of > expediency, facility, etc.: We have a new company policy. See more. > > 🔗 https://www.dictionary.com/browse/policy > <https://www.dictionary.com/browse/policy> > > > Also, we understand who our audiences are in reality. Sometimes it’ll > > be a harried admin skimming the RFC, and others will take the time to > > do a deep dive. Even the harried admin scanning today might want to > > dive deep when he has more time. So out of respect for those who want > > to get things done and solve problems quickly and those who wish to > > grok the new DMARC spec, I think the optimal solution would be to > > follow E.B. White, making every word count, having empathy for the > > reader, and avoiding distractions that could bog the stressed reader down. > > When writing specifications, yes, it is good to consider the casual or > harried reader. To that end, vocabulary should not mislead. 'Policy' > misleads about the effect of choosing a particular value.
And part of that relates to existing usage. Policy has been used in this way for 20 years (SPF after it was renamed, ADSP, and now DMARC). I think it's fine in any case. A company's policy is what they want employees to do. There's no guarantee they will. Scott K _______________________________________________ dmarc mailing list dmarc@ietf.org https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/dmarc
