RE: <id> and <link> are broken! (was RE: base and atom:id)

[Dare Obasanjo <kpako@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- Danny Ayers <danny666@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> But what actual benefit is a separate GUID?

The GUID identifies the post so if characteristics of
the post change but not the post itself the aggregator
isn't confused and treats it like a new post. Examples


1.) I'm subscribed to an aggregated feed such as
http://blogs.msdn.com and some individual feeds from
that blog as well. With GUIDs, once I read an
individuals post in either the aggregated feed then it
can be marked as read in their individual feed as well
or vice versa. 

2.) I'm subscribed to a blog and the links change
either due to the blog moving or the user changing
something about their weblogging tool. With GUIDs the
aggregator isn't confused by new permalinks in the
feed so it doesn't display all the already seen posts
as unread. 
 
> Say we have a blog post:
> 
> <guid>1234</guid>
> <url>http://myolddomain.com/post1234</url>
> <content>my lovely horse</content>
> 
> and the URL changes:
> 
> <guid>1234</guid>
> <url>http://mynewdomain.com/post1234</url>
> <content>my lovely horse</content>
> 
> The GUID can tell you that the two entries are the
> same *but that's all*. In
> particular, it offers no way for a system to locate
> the new copy of the
> entry. 

You really don't know how aggregators work do you?
GUIDs aren't a mechanism for finding where the feed
has moved to. HTTP has the 3XX return codes that work
fine for that purpose and most aggregators support
them. 


=====
THINGS TO DO IF I BECOME AN EVIL OVERLORD #95
My dungeon will have its own qualified medical staff complete with bodyguards. That way if a prisoner becomes sick and his cellmate tells the guard it's an emergency, the guard will fetch a trauma team instead of opening up the cell for a look.

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Get better spam protection with Yahoo! Mail.
http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools