Re: RFC: myPublicFeeds.opml

> You say it "isn't a good idea" and don't explain why.

But explain why it is a good idea.  There's already a well-established practice
of using <link> tags.  Why not make use of this already well engineered idea?
Why reinvent it?

> TBL says it isn't a good idea because the owner of the site owns the
> namespace, which makes sense, but robots.txt et al already offer features
> based on common file names.

So your rationale is because something else does a bad job it's fine to go
along?

> TBL is bucking a long-term trend here. Operating systems have always had
> known locations for special configuration files.

Or are these 'old habits that are hard to break'.  Old dogs often can't learn
new tricks.

> Unless the architecture anticipates this, and has a single config file that
> can be used by multiple applications (the Registry on Windows, for example)
> then you end up with multiple files. Not much mystery to this. Even then
> it's the same solution, just moved down one level.

And everyone widely regards things like the registry as being a bad idea.  You
don't even use it for your own programs (frontier, radio) so why force it on
others?

> You could argue that the user owns all namespaces, not just Web space, and
> then poof all software would disappear.

You can try all sorts of silly and dismissive arguments.  They just don't work,
however.

> Joe, it's a hopeless argument. There have to be some config files. Have to
> be. Not an option. Try to get rid of them is like trying to boil the ocean.

Sure, bully everyone into thinking your half-baked idea is the 'one true, right
one'.  Puh-leeze.

> PS: Bill Kearney thinks I'm a jerk and an idiot and should be outlawed or
> run out of town or strung up on a tree. Danny Ayers thinks everything should
> be in RDF. Maybe they can help themselves and save us the trouble of yet
> another recital of their favorite memes. Or not. ;->

No, I think you're an abusive asshole.  But that's not germane to the argument.

The idea of having a predictable mechanism for site-wide (or 'context-wide')
discovery is a /great/ idea, one many people have proposed before.  It's the
idea of forcing a fixed URL onto the situation, coupled with using a bad format,
that's the problem.

-Bill Kearney


 

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