**Session Date/Time:** 17 Mar 2026 06:00

# [SML](../wg/sml.html)

## Summary
The SML working group met at IETF 125 to discuss the progress of its active drafts and a new proposal regarding machine-readable quoted content in email. Due to recent illnesses, the agenda was condensed. The primary focus was a presentation on structured quoted content, intended to solve issues related to presentation-tied quoting, localization, and nested threading. The chairs also noted that `draft-ietf-sml-trust` had been updated to resolve previous comments, with no further objections raised.

## Key Discussion Points

### Working Group Status
* **draft-ietf-sml-trust-01**: Arnt Gulbrandsen (Chair) noted that the document was updated to reflect decisions from the previous meeting. No further comments were received on the mailing list, suggesting the document is in a stable state.
* **draft-ietf-sml-structured-email**: This document was referenced throughout the meeting as the foundational specification for the group's work.

### [Structured Quoted Content](https://datatracker.ietf.org/meeting/125/materials/slides-125-sml-structured-quoted-content-01)
Phillip Hallam-Baker presented a proposal for a new document regarding machine-readable quoting in email.

*   **Problem Statement:** Currently, quoted content is tied to presentation (sender-controlled). This leads to issues with localized attribution lines (e.g., "On [date], [Name] wrote"), inconsistent formatting across clients (Outlook vs. Gmail), and difficulty tracking long or deeply nested inline replies.
*   **Proposed Solution:** Define structured objects (JSON-LD) to represent the quoted content independently of its visual representation. This includes objects for email messages, quoted content blocks, header blocks, and attributions.
*   **Benefits:** Allows the receiving Mail User Agent (MUA) to re-render quotes in its own native style and language, improving accessibility and UI consistency.
*   **Technical Open Questions:**
    *   **Plain Text:** Whether structured quoting is necessary for plain-text-only clients or if it should be handled in the base document (`draft-ietf-sml-structured-email`).
    *   **Back-referencing:** The ability to point back to the specific section of the original message being quoted to enable better UI (e.g., deep linking or inlining replies).
    *   **JSON-LD Placement:** Discussion on whether the JSON-LD should be a separate MIME part or embedded within HTML.
    *   **Attachments:** How to represent attachments that are referenced or included within a quoted section.

### Discussion and Feedback
*   **Hans-Jörg Happel** suggested that identifying specific quoted chunks (back-referencing) would be valuable. He also noted that structured email signatures (already in the core draft) and @mentions are related concepts that might benefit from this work.
*   **Arnt Gulbrandsen** questioned the complexity regarding attachments, noting that most replies involving attachments already use CID (Content-ID) links.
*   **Alexey Melnikov** pointed out that some clients explicitly list attachment names in the quoted text, which could be a use case for structured representation.
*   **Unidentified Participant** inquired about backwards compatibility for clients that only understand plain text. Phillip Hallam-Baker clarified that the goal is to maintain current rendering for legacy clients while allowing modern MUAs to "upgrade" the display.
*   **Alexey Melnikov** emphasized that the placement of JSON-LD (embedded vs. separate part) should remain consistent with the core specification, `draft-ietf-sml-structured-email`, to ensure interoperability and to avoid confusing legacy clients.

## Decisions and Action Items
*   A show of hands in the room and via Meetecho indicated significant interest (approximately 6-7 participants) in pursuing work on structured quoted content.
*   **Action Item:** Phillip Hallam-Baker to produce a new revision of the proposal including concrete JSON-LD examples of single and nested replies.

## Next Steps
*   Once the updated draft with examples is posted, the chairs will initiate a formal adoption call for the structured quoted content document on the mailing list.
*   The group will continue to monitor the mailing list for any final comments on `draft-ietf-sml-trust`.