[uf-discuss] Proposal: Mandatory connection of a XFN to a "source" hCard and a "target" hCard

[Paul Downey]

>  1. If XFN is used on a web page then that web page MUST contain an
>  hCard of the person that represents the source of the relationship.

MUST is pretty abhorrent to me. I use rel="me" on my blog, which
is also my OpenID URI, which is a very strong way of my attaching
my OpenID to my flickr, twitter, del.icio.us, pownce, etc profiles.

One of the strengths of XFN over FOAF for me is that it separates
the concern of expressing a relationship from that of providing contact
details.

>  2. There MUST be a mechanism that connects the XFN to the hCard that
>  represents the source individual.  Or, there MUST be a mechanism on the
>  hCard that connects it to the XFN.

I don't see the value of the hCard in this scenario, a URI is a great
way to identify someone:

http://epeus.blogspot.com/2008/01/urls-are-people-too.html

>  3. The target of the XFN-bearing hyperlink MUST contain an hCard that
>  represents the target individual.  And there MUST be some mechanism
>  that connects the XFN to that target individual's hCard.

I can see valid use-cases where the URI being linked is sufficient.

>  OTHER REQUIREMENTS?
>
>  Are there any other requirements?

Yeah, backwards compatibility with XFN as it stands now.

Paul
-- 
http://blog.whatfettle.com