[wp-hackers] Re: Blogroll, Bookmarks, Links?

Boris Anthony lists.permutype at gmail.com
Wed Jun 20 21:05:22 GMT 2007


On 20-Jun-07, at 4:06 PM, Otto wrote:
> On 6/19/07, Leonid Mamchenkov <leonid at mamchenkov.net> wrote:
>> There's a really huge crowd of web users who don't even suspect that
>> their browser has bookmarking capabilities.  Bookmark is a foreign
>> concept for them.  Blogroll is a swear word.  They've recently
>> realized that Links are a cool concept for, well, linking pages to
>> each other...
>>
>> Your world seems very different though. :)
>
> Yeah, my world is the real one. ;-)
>
> -Every browser since the first Netscape has bookmarking capabilities.
> -I don't understand your "swear word" comment. It makes no sense.
> -If they know what a blogroll is, then they know what a "link" is, and
> it's probably something they click on to go to other sites, not
> something they think about having feeds and XFN and such.

Yeah I thought this was decided and done. :(

There are at least three of you who are projecting your opinions and  
assumptions of "how people see the the web" as being fact, when in  
fact, there is no way for you, or I, to certain of any such thing, or  
lay down code that defines people's usage further.

The lowest common denominator here is "Links".
Blogrolls and bookmarks are types of Links. Both have very specific  
usage patterns and user behaviors associated to them.

And while every thing makes sense to somebody, in this case, do we  
really not agree that only one thing makes sense to *most* bodies,  
and that is "Links" (besides which, is a newbie web-user going to be  
exposed to this decision anyways? most of the impact of this decision  
is on the person/people using the admin no? and they ostensibly know  
what they are wanting to do: i wanna put links in my sidebar! links  
to what? oh my friend's blogs, some sites I like, etc)

XFN stuff should be hidden away in an options box.


Unless WordPress really wants to enforce the idea that it is *just* a  
weblog platform and that Links in the sidebar are only to weblogs of  
friends/of interest, or Bookmarks for keeping tabs on sites you want  
to remember.


"but these are much more than links"
no, in 99% of cases (e.g. when not adding XFN metacrap) they are not.

p.s.: RSS is glorified Live Bookmarks.
/me runs away howling wildly hehehehehe

:D

B.


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