Re: [syndication] Total confusion in RSS-Land

[Ken MacLeod <ken@bitsko.slc.ut.us>]

"Dave Winer" <dave@userland.com> writes:

> > I agree; if we can leverage other work without making ours
> > needlessly complex, let's do it, rather than refuse to recognize
> > other work out of the fear that everyone isn't familiar with it,
> > etc.
> 
> Well, here's the deal, I'm very confused about what's going on
> here. I suppose many other people are as well. I've been reading the
> archives of RSS-DEV, after participating and asking directly (a
> couple of months ago) where they're going, and never got an answer.

Maybe the folks working on RSS0.92 (RSS0.91+a few more elements)
should draft a charter or FAQ describing what their intent and goals
are.  As I've read various messages, and as just one observer I can
definitely be wrong about what the group as a whole really intends,
the current goal appears to be to find a few well agreed upon elements
that would be useful to add to RSS0.91 without breaking the "spirit"
of RSS0.91.

Since several of the proposed elements overlap existing 'net projects,
it would seem very relevant and on-topic for members of the group who
are aware of these other projects to bring them to the attention of
the entire group, which is exactly what was done here.

I don't think the proposal was to "adopt Dublin Core in whole", but
rather to reuse the definitions used in Dublin Core, where applicable,
for any similar elements adopted for RSS0.92.

Nothing on the net stands in isolation forever, eventually everything
gets hooked up to something else.  Agreeing on definitions of what
things are, especially when they are otherwise already well-known,
make that a lot simpler and easier to do.

  -- Ken