[uf-discuss] Proposal: species

[Scott Reynen]

On Sep 23, 2006, at 9:37 AM, Andy Mabbett wrote:

> People use the vernacular AND taxonomic names of species in everyday
> speech and writing - just read or watch any populist gardening  
> magazine
> or television programme.

We're only concerned with examples on the web.  The *-examples page  
is part of the process specifically to avoid this kind of potentially  
endless subjective disagreement.  It would be much more productive to  
focus this discussion on the specific examples we've documented  
rather than vague concepts of an "average person."

> In fact, I'll wager that they do so far more
> than they use 8-digit geo-spatial references, but that doesn't stop us
> using "geo".

I agree that geo is not currently very widely published on the web,  
and if it were suggested as it's own microformat, it probably  
wouldn't be adopted.  But it was adopted as part of hCard, so the  
choice was between keeping hCard a 1:1 mapping of the widely used  
vCard format, or creating a new format composed of vCard - geo (and  
everything else few people use in vCard).  I think it's pretty clear  
the 1:1 mapping has significantly improved adoption of hCard.  And  
without wide adoption, there's no point in making a microformat.  A  
microformat only a few people are using is just semantic HTML with a  
lot of wasted research behind it.

With adoption in mind, I recommend answering any questions about  
potential microformats the same way you intend to answer the same  
questions in the future when they're coming from potential adopters.   
With an expressed interest in microformats, everyone on this list is  
a potential adopter.  And treating concerns as fodder for debate  
doesn't strike me as an effective way to encourage adoption.

Peace,
Scott