[microformats-discuss] Carl Beeth raises an interesting point

[Ryan King]

On Jul 8, 2005, at 9:47 AM, Tantek Çelik wrote:
> I do not share your optimism.  I think we have a very small core  
> group of
> microformats enthusiasts right now that understand the problem of  
> falling
> into the theoretical issues trap, and yet, 99% of the people in our  
> industry
> designing specs for W3C, or IETF, or whatever, are *constantly*  
> falling into
> this trap.  And the funny thing is, most folks *enjoy* it!  (I have  
> to admit
> this myself -- there is a certain "mental exercise" satisfaction  
> that one
> gains by analyzing and attempting to solve theoretical problems).
>
> Thus the odds that any person new to microformats will fall into  
> this trap
> is *very* high.  Therefore we have no choice but to be eternally  
> vigilant,
> and shoot down theoretical issues as quickly as possible, or push  
> back and
> say, show me a real example/implementation that demonstrates the  
> problem.

Every time I introduce microformats to someone new, I try to  
emphasize that microformats are a way of thinking about the web and  
xhtml. Part of the nature of microformats and what makes me think  
that they'll be successful (other than the current success stories)  
is that there are design principles which can ground the discussion  
in reality and prevent eternal disagreements.

-ryan