Re: Call for Discussion: PNG Registration Process 20170116a

On Sun, Feb 12, 2017 at 11:16 AM, Glenn Randers-Pehrson
<[email protected]> wrote:
> I now remember why we used separate lines for the
> directory and filename in the call for discussion and call for vote.
> The filename is ephemeral while the directory name is
> more permanent.  If you follow the link to a particular
> file that has been moved to "history" you get a "file not found"
> return, while if you follow a link to the directory you should
> get a directory listing.  The latter doesn't happen reliably, though,
> because ftp.simplesystems.org is requently overloaded and
> the directory listing gets abbreviated to just "parent directory".

Until you recently changed it the directory wasn't actually searchable
by HTTP (there was no index file); i.e. when I deleted the file name
from the URI I got an EACCESS not a directory listing.

I would prefer the URI to be a fixed string and the *target* to
change, maybe using a redirection or just a symbolic link on the
server.

The current approach is simply confusing; minor editorial changes
change the URI.

There should also be a perma-link for each revision; the current
approach of moving an expired proposal to "history" makes this
impossible and it was not obvious that this is where the old versions
had gone.  It should be clear when the start of the discussion period
is.

These things aren't so much of an issue if the document is in the
thread, although that relies on us to not fork the discussion thread.

A reasonable approach would be to have a fixed URI for a proposal for
a chunk which redirects to the perma-link then make each proposal
start with something like:

URI: ...
Status: discussion/vote/modified/expired
Start of discussion period:
Date of last minor edit:
This version: <permalink>
Previous version: <permalink>

The restriction, of course, is that there can only be one proposal at
a time, which is why I suggested it would be better for the proposer
to have authority over changes.  After all, the counter proposal to
eXIF was handled by using a new chunk name and that worked.

-- 
John Bowler <[email protected]>
+1 (541) 450-9885
PO BOX 3151
KERBY OR 97531-3151
USA

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most
engaging tech sites, SlashDot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot