tptacek’s original comment was amounting to “finger protocol is strictly worse than http” - which reads quite as an absolute judgement.
Yeah, reusability and layering of engineering knowledge is useful - it makes dealing with complexity easier.
But it also makes it easier to build complexity without spending thinking of a simpler solutions. Because time to market.
And thus we have exhibits at https://mobile.twitter.com/internetofshit
I think I like the idea of a "spec" inside the same "protocol" more. For example if you understand HTTP you can quickly reason about any spec of a REST API that's done with JSON payloads without caring for the HTTP wrapper layer, just as you don't care for TCP around it.