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

[Otto]

On 6/20/07, Boris Anthony <lists.permutype at gmail.com> wrote:
> Yeah I thought this was decided and done. :(

Nope. I'm sticking with Bookmarks, and I'll argue it until the end of time. ;)

> 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.

Wrong, and you fail at the internet. There is certainly a way to see
"how people see the web". It's called *looking*. Communication, it's
this radical new thing out there, where you talk to people, or you
read what they have to say, and then you know how they see things.
It's actually pretty clear what's going on, if you take the time to
look around a bit.

> The lowest common denominator here is "Links".

And we should go with the lowest common denominator... why, again?

In point of fact, I think we should not go with the lowest
commonality, but instead we should go with the flow and set new trends
ourselves. Wordpress is *the* most popular blogging platform out
there. It should be leading the pack in functionality and capability.
It should be implementing new standards and technologies. It should be
the one setting the course.

> 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"

No, we do not agree on that. "Links" makes absolutely no sense,
because it's already being used for something else. Namely, it's being
used for LINKS IN POSTS.

> XFN stuff should be hidden away in an options box.

I disagree, in the most extreme way. XFN and all those other options
should be moved up on the page to where they are more visible and you
don't have to scroll to find them.

> 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.

If Wordpress was "just" a weblog platform, then it wouldn't have XFN
or other metadata at all. It wouldn't have any sort of options there.
I think your viewpoint is completely backward here.

Admittedly, XFN is limited in scope to blogrolls, which is why I'd
like it to be expanded to arbitrary metadata about the URLs in
general. I'd like the bookmarks section to become as robust as the
posts section, with arbitrary metadata, the ability to incorporate
them into the Loop, etc, etc... The whole "links" idea is a dead end.
If all you want is to stick links into the sidebar, hell, use html
inside a Text widget. Why have the section at all if you're going to
limit it to being nothing?

I'd support *removing* it before I'd support the kind of thing you're
describing.