[uf-discuss] Authority (was: Text::Microformat - a uf parser for Perl)

[Dr. Ernie Prabhakar]

Hi Andy,

On Apr 26, 2007, at 3:35 PM, Andy Mabbett wrote:
> That's a point-of view, but not a definitive fact. Who says it's  
> not a microformat? With what authority?

Um, is there any authority you *would* accept for that usage?

The "common usage" on this list is that "microformats" is best  
applied that markup which follows the microformat process:

> http://microformats.org/wiki/process

and that other forms of semantic markup should be referred to as  
"semantic HTML" or POSH.

I realize you may not like that distinction, and we may or may not  
have any ability to enforce that, but I think it is only reasonable  
for us to attempt to enforce community standards, if only through  
peer pressure.

> What happens if Microsoft or Mozilla (or both together) announce that
> the next version of their browser(s) will support "microformat X",  
> with
> a specification for marking up, say, play-lists (or whatever), what
> makes you think they and their users would pay any heed to  
> protestations here?

In my experience, many people in organizations like Mozilla actually  
care a great deal about community precedent -- and the wishes of the  
original authors of a term -- whether or not it is enforced in formal  
governance structures.

I like to think of it as "common courtesy", though I suppose on the  
Internet that's an oxymoron. :-P

- Ernie P.