> The Matrix model is extremely similar (they have "MSCs" instead of "XEPs", and they regularly release versioned documents
This isn’t strictly accurate. Matrix’s MSCs are effectively proposals to update Matrix’s monolithic spec, and once they are merged into the spec (or closed) they are discarded. So someone reading the spec should never have to mess with MSCs (unless they are implementing something experimental); this is a very fundamental difference to IETF RFCs or XMPP XEPs.
This isn’t strictly accurate. Matrix’s MSCs are effectively proposals to update Matrix’s monolithic spec, and once they are merged into the spec (or closed) they are discarded. So someone reading the spec should never have to mess with MSCs (unless they are implementing something experimental); this is a very fundamental difference to IETF RFCs or XMPP XEPs.