First, a few recitals
1. In case it's not obvious, I plan to bring together all these proposals together, after a suitable period of discussion, into a new OPML spec. All the elements and attributes of current versions of OPML will be valid according to the new spec. However, I expect we will introduce new capabilities, elements, and types, along the lines of those being discussed.
2. When OPML was designed, over five years ago, spam wasn't the problem that it is today. It made sense then to identify the owner of a document in the most straightforward manner, using an email address. The reason we needed an owner identity at all was so that readers of an OPML directory could send suggested links to the editor of the document.
3. In 2005, it's really hard to recommend that people include valid email addresses in a public documents. And since all the sub-elements of <head> are optional, many authors are omitting the element, which makes it more difficult to build a network of directories from interconnected OPML documents.
4. The purpose of this proposal is to solve this problem, in a way that works for authors of directories, and avoids and limits spam. We're not claiming that this method eliminates spam, but it should substantially lessen it.
For discussion: A new sub-element of <head>
<ownerId> is the address of a web page that contains an HTML form that allows a human reader to communicate with the author of the document via email or other means.
Example
<ownerId>http://www.opml.org/profiles/sendMail?usernum=1</ownerId>
Notes
1. The page may contain link elements pointing to other documents containing information about the owner. For example, you may have a link element pointing to a FOAF document describing the owner and his or her network of friends; or an RSS feed with news from the owner, possibly even related via the RSS 2.0 category element to parts of the OPML document. In other words, all the extension mechanisms of HTML can come into play. It could become the basis for a powerful and inclusive, yet very lightweight identity system.
2. RSS 2.0 has the same issue as OPML, so I may propose a namespace to extend that format in exactly the same way we're proposing to address the identity issue in OPML.
3. Very important, this is not a specification, it's posted for discussion purposes only. Do not deploy.
# Posted by Dave Winer on 11/19/05; 4:56:17 AM - --
