Define "mandate"

This is a last call comment from Björn Höhrmann (bjoern@hoehrmann.de) on
the Character Model for the World Wide Web 1.0
(http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/WD-charmod-20020430/).

Semi-structured version of the comment:

Submitted by: Björn Höhrmann (bjoern@hoehrmann.de)
Submitted on behalf of (maybe empty): 
Comment type: other
Chapter/section the comment applies to: 2 Conformance
The comment will be visible to: public
Comment title: Define "mandate"
Comment:
Charmod uses the term "mandate" quite a number of times, yet it does not define what it means for a specification to "mandate" something. The RFC 2119 terms "MUST" and "SHOULD" both "mandate" something in some way, but they have a rather different meaning. If "mandate" consistently means "MUST" throughout the document, it should be defined that way, if it does not, you should use different terms to clarify this. It might be a good idea to rephrase "mandate" statements to e.g. "MUST REQUIRE", "SHOULD RECOMMEND", etc.


Structured version of  the comment:

<lc-comment
  visibility="public" status="pending"
  decision="pending" impact="pending" id="LC-">
  <originator email="bjoern@hoehrmann.de"
      >Björn Höhrmann</originator>
  <represents email=""
      >-</represents>
  <charmod-section href='http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/WD-charmod-20040225/#sec-Conformance'
    >2</charmod-section>
  <title>Define &#x22;mandate&#x22;</title>
  <description>
    <comment>
      <dated-link date="2004-04-08"
         href="http://www.w3.org/mid/873938039.20040408221939@toro.w3.mag.keio.ac.jp"
        >Define "mandate"</dated-link>
      <para>Charmod uses the term &#x22;mandate&#x22; quite a number of times, yet it does not define what it means for a specification to &#x22;mandate&#x22; something. The RFC 2119 terms &#x22;MUST&#x22; and &#x22;SHOULD&#x22; both &#x22;mandate&#x22; something in some way, but they have a rather different meaning. If &#x22;mandate&#x22; consistently means &#x22;MUST&#x22; throughout the document, it should be defined that way, if it does not, you should use different terms to clarify this. It might be a good idea to rephrase &#x22;mandate&#x22; statements to e.g. &#x22;MUST REQUIRE&#x22;, &#x22;SHOULD RECOMMEND&#x22;, etc.</para>
    </comment>
  </description>
</lc-comment>

Received on Thursday, 8 April 2004 18:19:41 UTC