rss2 namespace!
While it is not yet listed in the spec, Scripting News's rss feed is sporting a namespace! Excellent! Now it is quite reasonable for a parser to say things like, "sorry, there is no fullitem element defined in the http://backend.userland.com/rss2 namespace - hey, Jon, get your own namespace ".
We still have an opportunity to heal some of the rift between the two branches - simply by embracing instead of displacing one or more of the existing modules. Or, at a minimum, placing the new items in a namespace separate from the core so that they start out life with an equal status.
Beyond that wishes include modularizing the spec. Have a core that is Really Simple. Have a module for ScriptingNews value add. Have a legacy module for things that nobody is quite sure why they are there any more, but we can't bear to part with.
And perhaps the confusing docs element and the version attribute (that as near as I can tell nobody checks anyway) can be put into that legacy module, having been replaced by xmlns.