[uf-discuss] VIA or VIA SELF to indicate authoritative hCard[was:UID URL to indicate (relatively) more authoritativehCard(Was:Vote on this: rel="me self" to indicate anauthoritative hCard)]

[David Janes]

On 2/12/07, Ryan Cannon <ryan at ryancannon.com> wrote:
> On Feb 12, 2007, at 8:16 AM, David Janes wrote:
>
> > On 2/11/07, Ryan Cannon <ryan at ryancannon.com> wrote:
> >> UID+URL *is* more constraining. Like rel-tag, you're forcing a lot of
> >> assumptions about the documents *surrounding* these URLs--links have
> >> to point somewhere after all.
> >>
> >> My UID, if you will, is http://ryancannon.com/. I've established it
> >> across many different sites as the definitive link for "me". By
> >> forcing UID+URL to be used to establish an hCard's source, you're
> >> also forcing my most robust hCard must exist at that URL.
> >
> > Absolutely not. Look at the discussions I've been having with Ryan
> > King, and in particular, the examples and algorithms applied to same.
> > Explicitly we use RK's home page as an intermediate pointer link to
> > another location where the authoritative hCard lives.
>
> This is the algorithm you're describing, right?
>
> > Also, the algorithm for finding the most authoritative hCard:
> >
> > 1. if no uid or uid == the uid from the previous iteration/recursion
> > => you're done
> > 2. if url == uid and there's an hCard at that url, recurse with the
> > new hCard
>
> with the result that
>
> > At each of these URLs it finds another hCard that leads on again, thus
> > identifying a series of related hCards. All of which are tied, by
> > virtue of the UID, to the value of the element
>
> (from http://microformats.org/discuss/mail/microformats-discuss/2007-
> February/008658.html)
>
> This looks to me like it abuses the semantics of UID. If you're creating
> a chain of hCards with UID, how does that property describe
>
> > a globally unique identifier corresponding to the individual or
> > resource associated with the vCard.
>
> (from http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2426.txt)
>
> Is RK's UID http://theryanking.com/blog/contact/#vcard or http://
> theryanking.com?
>
> Each hCard in that chain contains a *different* UID. That's not a
> globally unique identifier. The *object identifier* of the hCard
> and the *source document* for the hCard are two semantically different
> things, and need two different constructs.

Yes, that is more or less the algorithm being described, illustrated
furthermore by clarifications and examples. The algorithm leads you to
the authoritative hCard without having to have that on RK's home page.

I can see arguments for an against using UID, certainly not least of
them being that it would nice if RK only had one UID. However,
consumers following the algorithm will not be confused as the UID on
RK's home page "upgrades" to the one on his /contacts page.
Furthermore, the (newish) usage of UID+URL suggests there's something
to look for on the next link.

Regards, etc...

-- 
David Janes
Founder, BlogMatrix
http://www.blogmatrix.com
http://blogmatrix.blogmatrix.com