RFC
termnetworkingops culture
Stands for: Request for Comments
The numbered document series in which internet protocols are specified - named a request for comments because the first author had no authority to declare a standard.
Not every RFC is a standard: the series carries proposed standards, informational notes, best current practice, experiments and April Fools jokes, and the status matters more than the number. Anyone can read them for free, which is the difference from most standards bodies and part of why implementations exist. The convention that a specification is discussed in public before it is fixed is the practice the name preserves, and it is why RFC numbers are cited in code comments across the industry.
Also known as: Request for Comments