back to article April FAIL as IETF's funny-but-dodgy draft doc arrives a week early

The Internet Engineering Task Force has a long and honourable tradition of April Fool's jokes, but to The Register's knowledge, this is a first: an April 1 document published ahead of time. Although this pre-RFC internet draft, titled "The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch," was submitted by a one Ronald Tse, the alleged author is …

  1. Voland's right hand Silver badge

    They are getting more and more esoteric year after year. And less funny.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      They'll nibble your buns.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Especially since Monty Python may not be so well known outside English-speaking countries...

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

        Yugoslavia was the first overseas country to buy Monty Python's Flying Circus, if you don't count Pakistan who bought it by mistake thinking there would be elephants and clowns.

        Source: Micheal Palin

        http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/australia-day-monty-python-special/3285508

  2. Chairman of the Bored

    Released early?

    Perhaps a commentary on Arthur's innumeracy?

    Three, sir!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Released early?

      Or:

      Arthur: We've released the draft online - what happens next Sir Bedevere?

      Sir Bedevere: Well, when people read it we say "April Fool"

      Arhur: But it's still March

      Sir Bedevere: Oh ... well ... I've another idea we could use about a challenge/response protocol for the Bridge of Doom

  3. Nick Kew
  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I want to know when the IETF are going to deal with the problem of unsolicited email? I do get spam a lot.

    1. phuzz Silver badge

      Who's fault?

      There's SPF records from 2014, and DKIM from 2011, but it's up to providers to actually implement them.

  5. Sgt_Oddball

    Pie Iesu domine, dona eis requiem.

    *thunk*

    Pie Iesu domine, dona eis requiem.

    *thunk*...

    Pie Iesu domine, dona eis requiem.....

  6. Roml0k

    Trollptical illusion

    Does the troll have an overbite, sharp teeth, and a wide nose; or does it have no nose, two tusks, and a spiky beard?

    1. Morrie Wyatt

      Re: Trollptical illusion

      Or a Piecemaker perhaps?

      (The Rincewind shaped blur went thataway! -->)

  7. D@v3

    problem is, with April 1st being a saturday this year, a lot of the internet jokes will go unseen untill people get back to work after the easter weekend on tuesday.

    1. ArrZarr Silver badge
      Coat

      Jokes on you, April first is a Sunday, not a Saturday!

      1. D@v3

        Jokes on you ! Ah ha!

        i knew that, i was wondering if anyone would fall in to my early April Fool

    2. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

      Right, so this is not so much an April Fool as an Easter Egg.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        April 1st is Sunday? That's gonna mess up the second coming.

        "Hey everyone, I'm back"

  8. Dr Scrum Master
    Headmaster

    What kind of barbarian puts no space before the opening parenthesis of an 'if' statement? And to top it all, what are spaces doing after the opening parenthesis and before the closing parenthesis?

    1. richardcox13

      Editor wars are a mere skirmish compared to coding standard wars.

      And referencing an April 1st RFC is always a good way to see if the readers are paying attention: one can a;ways claim it was a typo....)

  9. Yes Me Silver badge
    Headmaster

    Optional

    Dear El Reg,

    Official April 1st RFCs come out on April 1st a.m. (in a US time zone). Their preliminary drafts are never published on March 23rd or any other date. It's the one part of the RFC Editor's process that is kept secret and obscure.

    Sometimes people who don't understand this publish joke drafts - anybody can do that, since the IETF is open to all.

    Occsionally, people publish joke drafts on April 1st itself, but those are still unofficial.

    None of the above is a joke. There's no icon for 'not a joke'.

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