OK – so this article is for entertainment of all us network nerds.
Updated in 2026
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 RFC 2100. Internet Engineering Task Force, 1997. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC2100.
Barnes, R. L., and C. GPT. AI Sarcasm Detection: Insult Your AI without Offending It. Request for Comments RFC 9405. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2023. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC9405.
Basaglia, M., J. Bernards, and J. Maas. Concat Notation. Request for Comments RFC 9402. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2023. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC9402.
Beard, Graham Reuben, Oldham F. Art, and Harald T. Alvestrand. Internet Protocol Police (IPP) – Schedule of Punishments. Request for Comments RFC 9948. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2026. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC9948.
Bellovin, Steven. The Security Flag in the IPv4 Header. Request for Comments RFC 3514. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2003. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC3514.
Blanchet, M. Faster Than Light Speed Protocol (FLIP). RFC 9564. RFC Editor, 2024. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC9564.
Bradner, Scott O. Omniscience Protocol Requirements. Request for Comments RFC 3751. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2004. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC3751.
Bradner, Scott O. The Roman Standards Process – Revision III. Request for Comments RFC 2551. Internet Engineering Task Force, 1999. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC2551.
Breen, M. Bioctal: Hexadecimal 2.0. Request for Comments RFC 9226. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2022. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC9226.
Bressen, Anew K. RITA – The Reliable Internetwork Troubleshooting Agent. Request for Comments RFC 2321. Internet Engineering Task Force, 1998. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC2321.
Callon, Ross. The Twelve Networking Truths. Request for Comments RFC 1925. Internet Engineering Task Force, 1996. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1925.
Cerf, Vint. Memo from the Consortium for Slow Commotion Research (CSCR). Request for Comments RFC 1217. Internet Engineering Task Force, 1991. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1217.
Cerf, Vinton G. A VIEW FROM THE 21ST CENTURY. Request for Comments RFC 1607. Internet Engineering Task Force, 1994. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1607.
Christey, SteQven. The Infinite Monkey Protocol Suite (IMPS). Request for Comments RFC 2795. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2000. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC2795.
Crispin, Mark. UTF-9 and UTF-18 Efficient Transformation Formats of Unicode. Request for Comments RFC 4042. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2005. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC4042.
Crocker, Steve. The Address Is the Message. Request for Comments RFC 1776. Internet Engineering Task Force, 1995. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1776.
Elz, Robert. A Compact Representation of IPv6 Addresses. Request for Comments RFC 1924. Internet Engineering Task Force, 1996. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1924.
Eriksson, Johnny. An Experimental Encapsulation of IP Datagrams on Top of ATM. Request for Comments RFC 1926. Internet Engineering Task Force, 1996. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1926.
Farrel, Aian. IANA Considerations for Three Letter Acronyms. Request for Comments RFC 5513. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2009. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC5513.
Farrel, Aian. Requirements for Morality Sections in Routing Area Drafts. Request for Comments RFC 4041. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2005. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC4041.
Farrel, Aian. 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 RFC 8140. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2017. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC8140.
Fokschaner, E. Hypertext Jeopardy Protocol (HTJP/1.0). Request for Comments RFC 8565. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2019. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC8565.
Gaynor, M., and Scott O. Bradner. Firewall Enhancement Protocol (FEP). Request for Comments RFC 3093. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2001. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC3093.
Glassman, Steve, Mark Manasse, and Jeffrey Mogul. Y10K and Beyond. Request for Comments RFC 2550. Internet Engineering Task Force, 1999. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC2550.
Grover, G., N. ten Oever, C. Cath, and S. Sahib. Establishing the Protocol Police. Request for Comments RFC 8962. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2021. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC8962.
Hancock, Bill. The 12-Days of Technology Before Christmas. Request for Comments RFC 1882. Internet Engineering Task Force, 1995. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1882.
Hay, Richard, and Warren Turkal. TCP Option to Denote Packet Mood. Request for Comments RFC 5841. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2010. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC5841.
Hinden, Bob. Design Considerations for Faster-Than-Light (FTL) Communication. Request for Comments RFC 6921. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2013. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC6921.
Hinden, Bob, and Brian E. Carpenter. Adaptation of RFC 1149 for IPv6. Request for Comments RFC 6214. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2011. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC6214.
Hinden, Bob, and Brian E. Carpenter. Additional Transition Functionality for IPv6. Request for Comments RFC 8136. Internet Engineering Task Force, 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 RFC 2322. Internet Engineering Task Force, 1998. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC2322.
Huitema, Christian, and Lyman Chapin. Internet Engineering Task Force Statements Of Boredom (SOBs). Request for Comments RFC 1438. Internet Engineering Task Force, 1993. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1438.
Kaplan, H. Internationalizing IPv6 Using 128-Bit Unicode. Request for Comments RFC 8369. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2018. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC8369.
Kennedy, Hugh. Binary Lexical Octet Ad-Hoc Transport. Request for Comments RFC 3252. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2002. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC3252.
Kennedy, Hugh. Pi Digit Generation Protocol. Request for Comments RFC 3091. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2001. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC3091.
Krispin, M. Telnet Randomly-Lose Option. Request for Comments RFC 748. Internet Engineering Task Force, 1978. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC0748.
Kunhs, K. Unified Time Scaling for Temporal Coordination Frameworks. Request for Comments RFC 9759. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2025. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC9759.
Linimon, Mark, and Nathaniel S. Borenstein. The Extension of MIME Content-Types to a New Medium. Request for Comments RFC 1437. Internet Engineering Task Force, 1993. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1437.
Luckie, Matthew J. Really Explicit Congestion Notification (RECN). Request for Comments RFC 7514. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2015. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC7514.
Manros, Carl-Uno, Eric S. Raymond, and Donald E. Eastlake 3rd. Etymology of “Foo.” Request for Comments RFC 3092. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2001. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC3092.
Masinter, Larry M. Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol (HTCPCP/1.0). Request for Comments RFC 2324. Internet Engineering Task Force, 1998. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC2324.
Mayrhofer, A., and J. Hague. The Internationalized Deliberately Unreadable Network NOtation (I-DUNNO). Request for Comments RFC 8771. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2020. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC8771.
Merryman, R. ARPAWOCKY. Request for Comments RFC 527. Internet Engineering Task Force, 1973. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC0527.
Miller, B. Telnet Subliminal-Message Option. Request for Comments RFC 1097. Internet Engineering Task Force, 1989. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1097.
Mizrahi, T., and J. Yallouz. Wrongful Termination of Internet Protocol (IP) Packets. Request for Comments RFC 8367. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2018. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC8367.
Moller, Karl-Magnus. Increasing Throughput in IP Networks with ESP-Based Forwarding: ESPBasedForwarding. Request for Comments RFC 5984. Internet Engineering Task Force, 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 RFC 7168. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2014. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC7168.
Nilsson, Mans, and Magnus Danielson. Complex Addressing in IPv6. Request for Comments RFC 8135. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2017. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC8135.
Onions, Julian. A Historical Perspective On The Usage Of IP Version 9. Request for Comments RFC 1606. Internet Engineering Task Force, 1994. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1606.
Partridge, Craig. Today’s Programming for KRFC AM 1313 Internet Talk Radio. Request for Comments RFC 1313. Internet Engineering Task Force, 1992. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1313.
Rajagopalan, Bala. Electricity over IP. Request for Comments RFC 3251. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2002. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC3251.
Ramos, Alegre. IETF Identification and Security Guidelines. Request for Comments RFC 2323. Internet Engineering Task Force, 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 RFC 6919. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2013. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC6919.
Richard, Poorer, and Professor Kynikos. Gigabit Network Economics and Paradigm Shifts. Request for Comments RFC 1216. Internet Engineering Task Force, 1991. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1216.
Ritter, Tom. Regional Broadcast Using an Atmospheric Link Layer. Request for Comments RFC 6217. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2011. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC6217.
Rogers, Craig Milo. Suggested Additional MIME Types for Associating Documents. Request for Comments RFC 1927. Internet Engineering Task Force, 1996. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1927.
Rye, E., and R. Beverly. Customer Management DNS Resource Records. Request for Comments RFC 8567. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2019. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC8567.
Sayre, Robert. BUSA-TLS: Mandatory Audio Component (MAC) Pre-Shared Key (PSK) Derivation for TLS 1.3 Using 2 Live Crew’s “Banned in the U.S.A.” Request for Comments RFC 9949. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2026. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC9949.
Shakespeare, William. SONET to Sonnet Translation. Request for Comments RFC 1605. Internet Engineering Task Force, 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 RFC 2325. Internet Engineering Task Force, 1998. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC2325.
Snijders, J., C. Morrow, and R. vanMook. Software Defects Considered Harmful. Request for Comments RFC 9225. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2022. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC9225.
Toyosawa, S. The Addition of the Death (DTH) Flag to TCP. Request for Comments RFC 9401. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2023. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC9401.
Turner, Sean. The NSA (No Secrecy Afforded) Certificate Extension. Request for Comments RFC 7169. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2014. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC7169.
Vyncke, Éric. IPv6 over Social Networks. Request for Comments RFC 5514. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2009. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC5514.
Waitzman, David. IP over Avian Carriers with Quality of Service. Request for Comments RFC 2549. Internet Engineering Task Force, 1999. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC2549.
Waitzman, David. Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers. Request for Comments RFC 1149. Internet Engineering Task Force, 1990. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC1149.
Welzl, M. The Quantum Bug. Request for Comments RFC 8774. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2020. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC8774.
Wilhelm, Maximilian. Scenic Routing for IPv6. Request for Comments RFC 7511. Internet Engineering Task Force, 2015. https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC7511.
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