[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 MikeSchinkel):

 Replying to [comment:20 jdgrimes]:

 > ''"I don't think that people see WordPress as a tool for managing
 comments that they post on other sites"''

 Yes, I think you are correct, users don't currently think of WordPress for
 managing comments on other sites because, minimally, '''WordPress does not
 currently offer that feature'''.

 [http://www.statisticbrain.com/myers-briggs-statistics/ Most people] are
 [http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/sensing-
 or-intuition.htm sensing], and only envision what ''"is"'', not what ''"is
 possible."''

 But what if WordPress '''did''' offer the ability to track comments on
 other sites? My guess is that a good majority of users would want that.

 > ''"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."''

 You have just identified the chicken-and-egg problem. If WordPress does
 not offer the feature then people will never see WordPress as the tool for
 doing this.

 As for ''"wasting time"'', just how much work do you think we are talking
 here? I purposely proposed something that would take very little time to
 implement.

 > ''"I don't have the expectation that my blogging software ... will now
 handle storing my annotations for me."''

 So I don't see WordPress as "my blogging software."  I see WordPress as
 the CMS that hosts my website, which happened to include blogging. Why
 would I want to have to add another website at another domain in order to
 control my content across the web? To me WordPress is obviously the tool I
 would want to use for this.

 BTW, I am just presenting the opposite side of your argument. And one that
 I subscribe to, obviously.

 > ''"because it would just be something totally distinct from what I am
 using WordPress to do."''

 You are discussing features 2 and 3.  But what about feature 1?

 And remember that Web Annotations are much larger than comments. I
 proposed comments, but with this proposal there would be the
 infrastructure needed for plugins to support [https://www.w3.org/TR/2017
 /REC-annotation-model-20170223/#motivation-and-purpose all motivations and
 purposes] of annotations.

 > ''"But I just don't think that that is going to be something that the
 average existing WordPress install is going to want."''

 Question: For all these sites that you envision that would not want them,
 would they have comments using the WordPress comment system on their site?

 > ''"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."''

 I actually agree with you, regarding features 2 and 3. Those features
 could even be plugins if  WordPress ever implemented "core" plugins vs.
 just one of 50,000+ from the repo.

 But feature 1 needs to be on all sites that support WordPress comments,
 and features 2 and 3 need to exist in a form that most WordPress users
 will trust ''(e.g. a "core" plugin)'' or this entire proposal is really
 becomes moot.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/40031#comment:21>
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