OK – so this article is for entertainment of all us network nerds.
As many already know, pretty much every year, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) releases humorous RFC’s – jokes. Usually these happen on or about April 1st to commemorate April Fools Day.
Without doubt, some of these are classic and hilarious. Others – well – they will grow on you!
Here is the latest bibliographic list of all these:
- Ashworth, Jay R. “The Naming of Hosts.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 1997. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC2100.
- Bellovin, Steven. “The Security Flag in the IPv4 Header.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2003. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC3514.
- Bradner, Scott O. “Omniscience Protocol Requirements.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 2004. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC3751.
- ———. “The Roman Standards Process – Revision III.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 1999. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC2551.
- Bressen, Anew K. “RITA – The Reliable Internetwork Troubleshooting Agent.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 1998. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC2321.
- Callon, Ross. “The Twelve Networking Truths.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 1996. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1925.
- Cerf, Vint. “Memo from the Consortium for Slow Commotion Research (CSCR).” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 1991. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1217.
- Cerf, Vinton G. “A VIEW FROM THE 21ST CENTURY.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 1994. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1607.
- Christey, SteQven. “The Infinite Monkey Protocol Suite (IMPS).” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2000. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC2795.
- Crispin, Mark. “UTF-9 and UTF-18 Efficient Transformation Formats of Unicode.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2005. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC4042.
- Crocker, Steve. “The Address Is the Message.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 1995. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1776.
- Elz, Robert. “A Compact Representation of IPv6 Addresses.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 1996. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1924.
- Eriksson, Johnny. “An Experimental Encapsulation of IP Datagrams on Top of ATM.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 1996. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1926.
- Farrel, Aian. “IANA Considerations for Three Letter Acronyms.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2009. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC5513.
- ———. “Requirements for Morality Sections in Routing Area Drafts.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2005. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC4041.
- ———. “The Arte of ASCII: Or, An True and Accurate Representation of an Menagerie of Thynges Fabulous and Wonderful in Ye Forme of Character.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2017. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC8140.
- Fokschaner, E. “Hypertext Jeopardy Protocol (HTJP/1.0).” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2019. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC8565.
- Gaynor, M., and Scott O. Bradner. “Firewall Enhancement Protocol (FEP).” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2001. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC3093.
- Glassman, Steve, Mark Manasse, and Jeffrey Mogul. “Y10K and Beyond.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 1999. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC2550.
- Grover, G, N. ten Oever, C Cath, and S. Sahib. “Establishing the Protocol Police.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2021. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC8962.
- Hancock, Bill. “The 12-Days of Technology Before Christmas.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, December 1995. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1882.
- Hay, Richard, and Warren Turkal. “TCP Option to Denote Packet Mood.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2010. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC5841.
- Hinden, Bob. “Design Considerations for Faster-Than-Light (FTL) Communication.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2013. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC6921.
- Hinden, Bob, and Brian E. Carpenter. “Adaptation of RFC 1149 for IPv6.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, March 2011. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC6214.
- ———. “Additional Transition Functionality for IPv6.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2017. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC8136.
- Hout, Koos van den, Ane Koopal, and Remco van Mook. “Management of IP Numbers by Peg-Dhcp.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 1998. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC2322.
- Huitema, Christian, and Lyman Chapin. “Internet Engineering Task Force Statements Of Boredom (SOBs).” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 1993. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1438.
- Kaplan, H. “Internationalizing IPv6 Using 128-Bit Unicode.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2018. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC8369.
- Kennedy, Hugh. “Binary Lexical Octet Ad-Hoc Transport.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2002. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC3252.
- ———. “Pi Digit Generation Protocol.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2001. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC3091.
- Krispin, M. “Telnet Randomly-Lose Option.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 1978. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC0748.
- Linimon, Mark, and Nathaniel S. Borenstein. “The Extension of MIME Content-Types to a New Medium.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 1993. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1437.
- Luckie, Matthew J. “Really Explicit Congestion Notification (RECN).” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2015. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC7514.
- Manros, Carl-Uno, Eric S. Raymond, and Donald E. Eastlake 3rd. “Etymology of ‘Foo.’” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2001. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC3092.
- Masinter, Larry M. “Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol (HTCPCP/1.0).” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 1998. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC2324.
- Mayrhofer, A, and J. Hague. “The Internationalized Deliberately Unreadable Network NOtation (I-DUNNO).” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2020. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC8771.
- Merryman, R. “ARPAWOCKY.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, May 1973. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC0527.
- Miller, B. “Telnet Subliminal-Message Option.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 1989. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1097.
- Mizrahi, T., and J. Yallouz. “Wrongful Termination of Internet Protocol (IP) Packets.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2018. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC8367.
- Moller, Karl-Magnus. “Increasing Throughput in IP Networks with ESP-Based Forwarding: ESPBasedForwarding.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, March 2011. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC5984.
- Nazar, Imran. “The Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol for Tea Efflux Appliances (HTCPCP-TEA).” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2014. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC7168.
- Nilsson, Mans, and Magnus Danielson. “Complex Addressing in IPv6.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2017. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC8135.
- Onions, Julian. “A Historical Perspective On The Usage Of IP Version 9.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 1994. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1606.
- Partridge, Craig. “Today’s Programming for KRFC AM 1313 Internet Talk Radio.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 1992. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1313.
- Rajagopalan, Bala. “Electricity over IP.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2002. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC3251.
- Ramos, Alegre. “IETF Identification and Security Guidelines.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 1998. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC2323.
- Rescorla, Eric, Richard Barnes, and Stephen Kent. “Further Key Words for Use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2013. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC6919.
- Richard, Poorer, and Professor Kynikos. “Gigabit Network Economics and Paradigm Shifts.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 1991. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1216.
- Ritter, Tom. “Regional Broadcast Using an Atmospheric Link Layer.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, March 2011. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC6217.
- Rogers, Craig Milo. “Suggested Additional MIME Types for Associating Documents.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 1996. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1927.
- Rye, E., and R. Beverly. “Customer Management DNS Resource Records.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2019. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC8567.
- Shakespeare, William. “SONET to Sonnet Translation.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 1994. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1605.
- Slavitch, Michael. “Definitions of Managed Objects for Drip-Type Heated Beverage Hardware Devices Using SMIv2.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 1998. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC2325.
- Turner, Sean. “The NSA (No Secrecy Afforded) Certificate Extension.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2014. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC7169.
- Vyncke, Éric. “IPv6 over Social Networks.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2009. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC5514.
- Waitzman, David. “IP over Avian Carriers with Quality of Service.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 1999. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC2549.
- ———. “Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 1990. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1149.
- Welzl, M. “The Quantum Bug.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2020. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC8774.
- Wilhelm, Maximilian. “Scenic Routing for IPv6.” Request for Comments. Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1, 2015. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC7511.