Re: RFC: myPublicFeeds.opml

This is addressed in the Q&A.

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/stories/storyReader$310#whyNotUseALinkElem
entInstead

Dave


----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Kearney" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2003 8:21 AM
Subject: Re: [syndication] 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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>
>


 

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