[uf-new] XFN - Professionals Network microformat

[Guy Fraser]

Ryan King wrote:
>> I never said there were any jerks. What I was trying to say is that 
>> the process used for uF's is inherently closed - eg, using IRC where 
>> unless you're on there all day every day you have no idea what's been 
>> discussed, using mediawiki which inherently hides content if it's not 
>> linked from a page you can find of if you don't know what to search 
>> for (having to use the random page feature is just insane), having to 
>> show real-world examples before things will even be considered, etc.
>
> If you have suggestions for improving our communication technology, 
> I'd be glad to hear it.

Heh, don't even get me started on the process :p As for media wiki, I 
must simply be missing some key bit of navigation - is there actually an 
index to all pages or a site map somewhere that lists *all* pages? The 
only way I could find things that weren't directly linked from some 
other page I could find was to use the (almost unbelievable) "Random 
Page" link?! :)  I've since learnt that the IRC discussions are logged 
but I've not yet found a way to search them.

>>> I feel your pain... but, there is a great deal of good to be found in
>>> this community.
>>
>> Yes, uF community is making some nice stuff. I am worried that the 
>> process may lead to divergence though - eg. it would seem logical to 
>> me to have a uF that describes blog posts, comments, pages, etc., all 
>> in the same format because they all share mostly the same data. This 
>> would then allow mapping tools, navigation aides, etc., to be far 
>> more consistent and easier to develop and maintain. But the process 
>> effectively forces people to start new uFs for new things because 
>> they find it so hard to get existing uF's to adapt.
>
> If you have specific feedback about specific formats that are 'hard to 
> adapt', we should document it, unless that happens, though, it's hard 
> to do anything about your statements.

Again, the process hinders this. One can stare the obvious convergent 
solution in the face for a great deal of time, but will have to wait 
until real world examples of that solution are available before they can 
properly get through the process rather than just being a side-note lost 
in time. By the time convergent solutions do emerge (primarily due to 
people realising they don't have enough hours in the day for more and 
more divergent approaches to similar problems) you would have a wide 
array of incumbent divergent microformats to deal with and, well, it's 
just not worth the hassle IMHO.

Having an incubator somewhere where new ideas could be discussed outside 
the process would be very useful IMHO. Hmmm... I might just set one up 
to see what happens... Anyone interested? It would be a great way to 
more openly discuss ideas without "the process" getting in the way all 
the time.

Guy