https://actoromicon.rs/ch06-02-protocol-evolution.html
" The common principle states: senders should send a more specific version of a message than receivers accept.
In this way, if a message in the protocol becomes more specific (e.g., it gets more fields), then senders must be updated first. And, vice versa, if a message becomes less specific (e.g., losing fields), receivers must be updated first. Some changes allow any orders of updating; see the next section for details."
A probably-too-obvious reference: the Robustness principle
“be conservative in what you do, be liberal in what you accept from others”
This is interesting, as I am currently designing a more concrete version of protopunks, I have thought about how to structure signals and the way they are perceived as codes to act on.
In my world this translates to, signals should be more specific than the codes.
Easier to ignore specificity and take liberties than it is to read between the lines I suppose