We accepted a Pace way back (can't find it, grrr) for a separate namespace to be used for things which relate to the publishing process. The idea being that when you POST an entry you could have
<atom:entry> <pubcontrol:status>draft</pubcontrol:status> ... and any other things that relate to the publishing process...
Having said that, the idea of putting it in <link rel=" doesn't sound obviously insane.
-Tim
I think you're talking about PacePubControl: http://intertwingly.net/wiki/pie/PacePubControl