[uf-discuss] Rel-tag issues, i can't create my own tagspace!

[Ben Buchanan]

> --- sorry if i came across as elitist, but that is my opinion. rel-tag
> is about tags, not how to setup tag spaces. I think it is a much
> better approach is to NOT change the spec to correspond with broken
> implementations.
> To encourage adoption, i would suggest (and many have) add to the wiki
> alternatives and ways to work around the limitations of servers and
> software. One of the biggest complains is with IIS. (i had a look on
> the wiki and it is burried) But there is software that can be
> installed on Windows to allow for the creation of Tagspaces.

I think this highlights the problem. In a perfect world, people will
be motivated enough to follow standards. But in the real world, we're
asking people to go to their organisation's server admins with "hey
guys you have to install stuff on the servers for a purpose you don't
know or care about because some spec requires we change our file
structure".

It makes it harder to sell the concept and if it comes down to
something like standards compliance (eg. xhtml validation) vs. uf
compliance, advocates will drop ufs for the larger goal.

So while purity of uf standards is nice, rel-tag is restrictive in
terms of URL requirements and this clashes with real world
considerations like human nature :) So even if the decision is to
stick with the standard, the uf movement had better accept that it
will be that much harder to advocate for its adoption. So the support
documentation had better be seriously hot.

The wiki does need to expand on the material that's there and (as I
mentioned elsewhere) the standards themselves could expand on the
*reasons* behind the requirements they set.  I've always found people
are more receptive to fixing issues when they can understand the
reason. When things seem arbitrary, people tend to dig their heels in
far more.

Just some thoughts anyway.

cheers,

Ben

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