RE: [syndication] RFC: Clearing confusion for RSS, agreement for forward motion

["Jeff Barr" <jeff@vertexdev.com>]

Wow, this is awesome. My point-by-point feedback follows:

> 1. I don't like the idea of "sharing" the name. While sharing is a good
> thing in general, when it comes to naming things, well if they're
different
> they should have different names. This is the source of the confusion.

Absolutely. We need to get two distinct names, with like-named sites,
that come up on top on a Google search.

> 2. Mark Nottingham says that the number of 0.90 sources plus the "1.0"
> sources roughly equals the number of 0.91 sources. My numbers show
> otherwise, as I've posted them here and on Scripting News. Among the
> actively updating channels on My.UserLand 0.91 is by far the format with
the
> largest installed base. So if we're going to quote numbers we must get
some
> agreeable way of surveying the installed base before making decisions
based
> on this. Or we could stop quoting numbers. (Which is I think is the
> productive and forward-moving way.)

I have held off on supporting 1.0 in Headline Viewer until I found a
channel that I personally could not do without. With all due respect
to those publishing in 1.0, I've yet to find one. So from my point of
view, 0.9x is in the lead.

> 4. I strongly believe RSS is a Web content syndication format and nothing
> more. You can see that I acted on this belief by creating a new format in
> OPML, and did not try to shoehorn it into RSS. However, it seems that OPML
> is in somewhat the same space as "1.0".

Definitely. Perhaps we could rename RSS to "HSL" - Headline Syndication
Language.

> 5. I could indeed withdraw from further discussions and work on RSS. In
fact
> that's part of my proposal, below. There are other people at UserLand who
> can represent our interests, and in fact some of our development partners
> could adequately represent our interests if a collegial atmosphere
develops,
> and I hope it does.

Wait, Dave, come back! We need you. You can't fix up the two sides on a
date and then leave :-).

> 6. Now, putting on my "what's the best thing for RSS" hat, and ignoring
any
> difficulty that might be there for any person, company or group, I think
the
> best thing is to do some renamimg. Let the RSS name be used only for the
> 0.90 and 0.91 formats.

Ok, I can live with this.

> 7. Both branches take new names. Neither format has the letters "SS" in
> their name. The RSS-DEV list changes its name to reflect the new name for
> the RDF-and-namespaces branch.

Ok, how about:

	HSL - Headline Syndication Language
	CSL - Content Syndication Language

> 8. Re the "simple" branch -- if a working group is formed, it should be
> comprised of users of the format, i.e. content developers, and it should
> take input from tool vendors, aggregators, content management system
> developers. This is an insurance that their needs are met should the
simple
> branch evolve.

I believe that the users are those consuming the format. We are in a
better position to know what we (and our users) want. Those "pushing"
content (especially headlines) often just want to be handed a format.

> 9. I will not personally participate in the evolution of either branch.
This
> is my exit point, personally, from RSS work.

See #5.

> 12. Arbitration. If there are disputes about this agreement, they will be
> arbitrated by a group of three content developers chosen from the
> Syndication list, one to be chosen by each side and agreeable to the
other,
> and a third to be chosen by Mark Nottingham, the founder of the
Syndication
> list, and this person must also be agreeable to both sides. Decisions of
the
> three-person panel will be made in a timely fashion and will be final.

Ok.

> 14. All parties agree to put the past fully behind us. Discussion of
events
> that took place before agreement was reached will be off-topic on all
three
> mail lists.

Definitely.

Assuming that we can agree to all of this, it is time to band together
and get some press attention for these two formats. Its time to move
up from ~1000 syndicated sites to ~100,000.

Jeff;