Mark Nottingham
Web infrastructure engineer and standards editor; chaired the IETF HTTP working group and co-authored core HTTP and Atom specifications.
Mark Nottingham did not write this page. ppll compiled it from their own words, each linked to the source. Is this you? · Report a mistake
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What they believe
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Adoption of a protocol extension depends more on how much effort it takes to deploy than on how important it is to get right.
This means that adoption often depends more on how much effort is involved than how important it is to get things right.
mnot.netSaid 7 Aug 2026This on korrents
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Registering a technology in an official registry does not by itself confer legitimacy or drive adoption.
Some proposals register one expecting it to confer legitimacy, or boost adoption - as though a slot in the registry were a credential. It isn't.
mnot.netSaid 19 Jun 2026This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These 2: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Feed
As its own page →Hiding
21 October
20 October
19 October
17 October
16 October
15 October
13 October
18 September
16 September
14 September
17 August
7 August
From one piece Informing HTTP Extension Design with Data 3 beliefs · mnot.net
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korrents.com
Interoperability pressure from browser vendors drives migration to standardized protocol mechanisms.Their words
That indicates that interoperability pressure - in this case, from browsers - matters.
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korrents.com
A protocol extension gets deployed correctly in proportion to how visibly it fails when implemented wrong.Their words
Another pattern: an extension gets deployed correctly in proportion to how loudly it fails when you get it wrong.
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Their words
This means that adoption often depends more on how much effort is involved than how important it is to get things right.
2 August
1 August
19 June
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korrents.com
Registering a technology in an official registry does not by itself confer legitimacy or drive adoption.Their words
Some proposals register one expecting it to confer legitimacy, or boost adoption - as though a slot in the registry were a credential. It isn't.
31 May
19 May
16 May
11 May
10 May
From one piece Web Feeds in 2026: A Survey 2 beliefs · mnot.net
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korrents.com
WHATWG should deprecate the feed link relation since it has been effectively abandoned in practice.Their words
WHATWG should deprecate the feed link relation; the cowpath is well and truly paved.
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Their words
CMS software should not silently create and advertise feeds that publishers never see or maintain; feeds should be visible, testable, and consciously enabled.
24 April
From one piece What's Missing in the ‘Agentic’ Story 3 beliefs · mnot.net
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korrents.com
Security is a defensive posture, while agency is fundamentally about collective bargaining power.Their words
Security is a defensive posture; agency is a collective bargain.
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Their words
Despite those shortcomings, Web browsers are a good example of how user agency should be done.
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korrents.com
Letting AI agents request unlimited permissions will erode user trust as people get worn down into granting them.Their words
If every agent can ask for intrusive permissions, we'll be pestered into granting them; trust will be abused and eroded, and everyone loses.
10 April
8 April
25 March
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korrents.com
Grounding a chatbot in a specific set of documents allows a genuinely new way of interacting with them.Their words
grounding a chatbot in a specific set of documents allows you to interact with them in a genuinely new way.
17 March
9 March
13 February
4 February
Nothing matches.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 10 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
Adoption of a protocol extension depends more on how much effort it takes to deploy than on how important it is to get right.
This means that adoption often depends more on how much effort is involved than how important it is to get things right.
Informing HTTP Extension Design with Data Said 7 Aug 2026
A protocol extension gets deployed correctly in proportion to how visibly it fails when implemented wrong.
Another pattern: an extension gets deployed correctly in proportion to how loudly it fails when you get it wrong.
Informing HTTP Extension Design with Data Said 7 Aug 2026
Interoperability pressure from browser vendors drives migration to standardized protocol mechanisms.
That indicates that interoperability pressure - in this case, from browsers - matters.
Informing HTTP Extension Design with Data Said 7 Aug 2026
Show 7 more
Registering a technology in an official registry does not by itself confer legitimacy or drive adoption.
Some proposals register one expecting it to confer legitimacy, or boost adoption - as though a slot in the registry were a credential. It isn't.
So You Want To Define a Well-Known URI Said 19 Jun 2026
CMS software should not silently create feeds that publishers never see or maintain, but make feed creation visible and deliberate.
CMS software should not silently create and advertise feeds that publishers never see or maintain; feeds should be visible, testable, and consciously enabled.
Web Feeds in 2026: A Survey Said 10 May 2026
WHATWG should deprecate the feed link relation since it has been effectively abandoned in practice.
WHATWG should deprecate the feed link relation; the cowpath is well and truly paved.
Web Feeds in 2026: A Survey Said 10 May 2026
Letting AI agents request unlimited permissions will erode user trust as people get worn down into granting them.
If every agent can ask for intrusive permissions, we'll be pestered into granting them; trust will be abused and eroded, and everyone loses.
What's Missing in the ‘Agentic’ Story Said 24 Apr 2026
Web browsers are a good model for what user agency in software should look like.
Despite those shortcomings, Web browsers are a good example of how user agency should be done.
What's Missing in the ‘Agentic’ Story Said 24 Apr 2026
Security is a defensive posture, while agency is fundamentally about collective bargaining power.
Security is a defensive posture; agency is a collective bargain.
What's Missing in the ‘Agentic’ Story Said 24 Apr 2026
Grounding a chatbot in a specific set of documents allows a genuinely new way of interacting with them.
grounding a chatbot in a specific set of documents allows you to interact with them in a genuinely new way.
Using AI to Evaluate Internet Standards (Part Two) Said 25 Mar 2026
What is a korrent?
A korrent is a belief a person has stated in their own words: one sentence stating the claim, backed by a quote and a source, kept at korrents.com.
Under a name here, the quoted block is what they actually said. The korrent beneath it is the claim those words support, in korrents' wording — tap it to see the record, its source, and who else holds it.
Nobody here wrote their own korrents. They are compiled from public statements, and a person can change their mind, which is recorded too.
Recommends rcmnd
rcmnd What they recommend 12 things — each backed by an exact quote.
Compiled by rcmnd.app, not by them: the quotes are theirs, and each links to the post it was copied from.
Recent
Uses kramdown-rfc2629
Wherever possible, I'm trying to use Markdown; right now, I use kramdown-rfc2629 to write IETF specs, respec.js for W3C ones, and reveal.js for presentations.
usesthis.com 13 Aug 2013
Uses Apple Wired Compact Keyboard
I use an Apple Wired Compact Keyboard so that I don't have to reach too far to the right to use the mouse, an Apple Magic Mouse.
usesthis.com 13 Aug 2013
Mixed on Fedora
All of my servers are currently running Fedora, although I'm starting to dabble with Ubuntu, as some of the daemons in Fedora 18 are a bit memory-hungry.
usesthis.com 13 Aug 2013
Show 9 more
Uses Aperture
Photos are edited and organised with Aperture.
usesthis.com 13 Aug 2013
Liked Terminal.app
Terminal.app is good enough; I don't need tabs. I use bash (big surprise).
usesthis.com 13 Aug 2013
Liked git
Because I'm involved in a number of projects, I have to use lots of different source control systems, but prefer Git, even though it tends to be a bit more complex than it needs to.
usesthis.com 13 Aug 2013
Uses Ansible
Ansible is used to build and configure boxes (both desktop and server).
usesthis.com 13 Aug 2013
Mixed on Sublime Text 2
Textmate is for editing. I'm just making the switch to the alpha version of Textmate 2; I tried Sublime Text 2, but didn't feel the love.
usesthis.com 13 Aug 2013
Uses TextMate
Textmate is for editing. I'm just making the switch to the alpha version of Textmate 2; I tried Sublime Text 2, but didn't feel the love.
usesthis.com 13 Aug 2013
Uses Safari
Most of my time in GUI apps is spent in browsers; I use Safari for most browsing (making me a frequent target for derision among Web devs), but also dipping into Firefox, Chrome and Chrome Canary.
usesthis.com 13 Aug 2013
Loved Panasonic GF-1
I don't really shoot photographs of anything but travel and family any more, but my current camera is a Panasonic GF-1, which I'm very happy with.
usesthis.com 13 Aug 2013
Loved Voigtlander 25mm f/0.95 Nokton
The Nokton is amazing; an absurdly fast lens that gives amazing control over focus and has a really beautiful image as well.
usesthis.com 13 Aug 2013
Where they publish
Site mnot.net His site and blog on HTTP, standards and internet governance.
Recent
- Informing HTTP Extension Design with Data 7 Aug 2026 What 120 million HTTP responses from Common Crawl reveal about how protocol extensions actually get deployed — and what that should tell us when we design new ones.
- So You Want To Define a Well-Known URI 19 Jun 2026 When to reach for a well-known URI — and the traps that catch most protocol designers.
- Web Feeds in 2026: A Survey 10 May 2026 I looked through Common Crawl and found over 500,000 parseable RSS/Atom feeds, confirming that Web feeds are still a major part of the Open Web. But most aren’t high quality, and autodiscovery often points users at stal…
Show 2 more
- What's Missing in the ‘Agentic’ Story 24 Apr 2026 Every online interaction is a lopsided negotiation. For AI to truly work for us, we need more than just safety -- we need to start building true agency as a form of collective bargaining.
- Using AI to Evaluate Internet Standards (Part Two) 25 Mar 2026 Standards work is notoriously hard to track. Let’s explore if grounding AI in working group records can make that history more accessible.
Link verified 5 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
Mastodon @mnot@techpolicy.social His Mastodon account.
Recent
- Safari 27.0 fixed a bunch of caching bugs. 18 Sept 2026 github.com
- @rizzi I just updated to MacOS 27 and Reeder Classic was silently replaced by Reeder -- and all of my subscriptions are gone. Help? 16 Sept 2026
- What 120 million HTTP responses from Common Crawl reveal about how protocol extensions actually get deployed — and what that should tell us when we design new ones. 7 Aug 2026 mnot.net
Show 17 more
- When to reach for a well-known URI — and the traps that catch most protocol designers. 19 Jun 2026 mnot.net
- OH in coffee shop: “The final season of America is riveting.” Response: “But we’ll be disappointed with the finale. Just like Game of Thrones.” 31 May 2026
- Anyone want to go in on a proposal for a Unicode emoji of a guillotine? It feels very 2026. 19 May 2026
- "The game of technology is defined and controlled by the United States of America. Local governments can impose rules that moderate the impact, but genuine limitations on technology are impossible. Or, they used to be." https://www.baldurbjarnason.com/2026/the-old-world-of-tech-is-dying/ Via @pluralistic 16 May 2026
- I looked through Common Crawl and found over 500,000 parseable RSS/Atom feeds, confirming that Web feeds are still a major part of the Open Web. But most aren’t high quality, and autodiscovery often points users at stale or abandoned feeds. 11 May 2026 mnot.net
- In the last few weeks, Trump has done more for the worldwide adoption of electric vehicles than any previous US president. Congratulations. 10 Apr 2026
- In 2026, kids skating in public spaces isn’t annoying - it’s FUCKING WHOLESOME, carrying on a 40+ year legacy, and certainly should not be considered any kind of crime. 10 Apr 2026
- Guidelines for aspiring Nobel Prize winners: 1. Do not threaten other countries with wholesale destruction and possible genocide. 8 Apr 2026
- To help find relevant RFCs no matter what your network connectivity, https://rfc.fyi now implements a service worker that caches the data locally for offline use, and can be installed as a Progressive Web app (PWA) -- i.e., you can install it to your iOS or Android home screen. Note that it still points to online-only RFCs at the RFC Editor site. 17 Mar 2026
- More belated introspection from the adtech industry. 9 Mar 2026 adexchanger.com
- The voluntary nature of Internet standards means that the biggest power move may be to avoid playing the game. Let's take a look. 13 Feb 2026 mnot.net
- Right now, companies are hawking new AI features. They're not built for users -- they're built to satisfy management and investors. I'll know they're serious when they start pushing new features that *happen* to use AI, but are designed to solve specific problems. 4 Feb 2026
- Social media companies baking fake notification indicators into their favicon is borderline abusive behaviour. 31 Jan 2026
- The Open Web means several things to different people, depending on context, but recently discussions have focused on the Web's Openness in terms of access to information -- how easy it is to publish and obtain information without barriers there. 20 Jan 2026 mnot.net
- Some thoughts about how to schedule online meetings for a global organisation in an equitable way. 26 Oct 2025 mnot.net
- "AI hucksters [...] will tell you that there is only one way that this technology can be used: to fire a whole ton of workers and make the survivors do their job at frantic Lucy-in-the-chocolate-factory cadence. While it’s true that this is the only way that their companies could possibly be worth the hundreds of billions of dollars that have been pumped into them (so far), there’s no iron law that says that investors in tech bubbles should always turn a profit." 26 Oct 2025 locusmag.com
- RFC 9842 is HTTP Compression Dictionary Transport -- this is a big one! Congrats @Yoav and @PatMeenan ! 1 Oct 2025 rfc-editor.org
Link verified 5 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
GitHub @mnot HTTP specifications, REDbot and related tools.
Recent
- I-D — My Internet-Drafts 21 Oct 2026
- rfc-refs — References between RFCs in JSON format 20 Oct 2026
- ietf-comments-engine — Backend for ietf-comments 19 Oct 2026
Show 16 more
- thor — Easy Evented Intermediation 19 Oct 2026
- redbot — REDbot is lint for HTTP resources. 17 Oct 2026
- httplint — Python library to lint HTTP messages 17 Oct 2026
- http-sf — HTTP Structured Fields for Python 16 Oct 2026
- ietf-llm 15 Oct 2026
- agent-census — What's hitting your site, classified by how it behaves -- not just what it claims to be. 13 Oct 2026
- ietf-skill — Norms and tooling for participating in IETF/IRTF work, packaged as portable Agent Skills 14 Sept 2026
- pyproject-tmpl — Template for Python projects 14 Sept 2026
- rfc.fyi — Browseable, searchable RFC index 17 Aug 2026
- feed-survey — Looking at how the Web uses feeds 2 Aug 2026
- photoweb — Templated HTML galleries based on in-photo metadata 2 Aug 2026
- dns-filtering-transparency 1 Aug 2026
- webcal-mcp — MCP server for web calendars 30 Jul 2026
- rfc-http-validate — Validate HTTP messages in XML2RFC documents 19 Jul 2026
- cc-lint — Lint HTTP responses across Common Crawl and report aggregate findings 30 Jun 2026
- feedmenu-extension — A browser extension for Feed Menus 29 Jun 2026
Link verified 5 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
About the English under a post
Some people here publish in a language other than English. Where they do, this site shows a machine translation beneath the post, in this typeface — the site's own, not theirs.
The post itself is never changed, moved or hidden: what is set in the serif above is exactly what the person published, and it is what to quote them on. A translation can be wrong in ways that matter, especially about tone.
Only the post's own words are translated. A quoted post, a linked article and a belief on korrents.com are left in their original language.