[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #40031: Consider Adding Web Annotations to WordPress

[WordPress Trac]

#40031: Consider Adding Web Annotations to WordPress
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 Reporter:  MikeSchinkel     |       Owner:
     Type:  feature request  |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal           |   Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Comments         |     Version:  trunk
 Severity:  normal           |  Resolution:
 Keywords:                   |     Focuses:  ui
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Comment (by jdgrimes):

 Replying to [comment:12 MikeSchinkel]:
 > > ''"It just seems like a shift in WordPress's core purpose at present,
 if one that is in the general sentiment of its mission. On the other hand,
 perhaps it is not much different that the trackback support that is
 currently languishing in core."''
 >
 > Maybe it would be helpful to explicitly define "WordPress's core purpose
 at present?"  You and I ''(as well as many others)'' may each have a
 different view of what that is and without a shared idea of purpose we'll
 just talk past each other.
 >
 > To me WordPress' core purpose is to ''"Empower end users to publish the
 content they author."'' And as comments I write on other sites very much
 fit into the definition of ''"content I author"'' then capturing them and
 allowing me to control one location where they are published seems
 perfectly in line with that core purpose.

 That definition seems too broad, at least in terms of what users expect
 from core. I don't think that people see WordPress as a tool for managing
 comments that they post on other sites (though I realize annotations are
 kind of broader than that, I guess). Sure, many people might want to use
 it that way, but right now (perhaps partly due to the novelty of the
 annotation technology) I find there to be a gulf between that and what
 WordPress does now. Perhaps that is just the psychology of how I
 personally perceive it, but I see managing my blog and managing my
 comments ''on other people's sites'' as being two different things
 probably better suited to different tools. I'm not saying that is
 necessarily true, but I suspect that unless and until web annotations
 really become popular, many average users would perceive this as wasting
 time to make WordPress a tool for something that 80% of users aren't going
 to use.

 So I'm not really saying that WordPress couldn't do this or that it would
 contradict its mission. I'm just saying that, at least personally, I don't
 have the expectation that my blogging software (or any of the millions of
 other things WordPress is used for/perceived as) will now handle storing
 my annotations for me. I ''might'' want it to do that, and I ''might
 not''.

 And as I think about it, I doubt that I would want to enable that feature
 on any of the half-dozen sites that I currently run (well, maybe my
 personal blog), because it would just be something totally distinct from
 what I am using WordPress to do.

 That said, when/if annotations become popular and I begin using them, I
 would probably find it nice to have control over my content, and a
 familiar interface like WordPress (and also with the benefit of its
 extendable code) would be something I'd definitely consider using as my
 annotation storage/management tool. But I just don't think that that is
 going to be something that the ''average existing WordPress install'' is
 going to want. It is in this sense that I see it as being kind of outside
 the scope of what people see as WordPress core's purpose, what they expect
 it to do "out of the box".

 This may not mean that making WordPress into an annotation server has to
 be confined to plugin territory, but I feel at this point that it is kind
 of like WordPress would then be two different things: most people would be
 using it to set up a traditional website, and other people would be using
 it to set up an annotation server, possibly more-or-less linked to a
 traditional website. Many people might use it for both. I just doubt that
 many people will use it for both in a single install, which is kind of
 what gives me pause.

 So this is why it seems to me like using your WordPress website as an
 annotation server ought to be plugin territory. Unless we are just
 gambling on the prediction that most people are going to want to turn
 their websites into annotation servers, after annotations gain traction.
 It's probably too early to tell, but I don't really see that happening,
 ''at least in terms of the broad range of website types that many people
 build with WordPress.'' What percentage of WordPress sites are really
 personal blogs? (I'm assuming that most other types of websites, like
 storefronts, etc., aren't going to want to use this feature.) Does this
 pass the 80% rule, or does it cause people to see WordPress as mainly
 catering to blogging by sticking more features into core that mainly
 appeal to that use-case for it?

 What are you and others envisioning as to how this would fit into the way
 that people are currently using WordPress? Why will this be a good feature
 for them? Why does everybody need it? Or is this more of a desire to get
 it into core mainly because that way it will be done right and maintained,
 and carry WordPress's authority, whereas none of that would necessarily be
 the case with a plugin?

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/40031#comment:20>
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