Re: spec review: ping attribute

Kornel Lesinski wrote:
> On Fri, 26 Oct 2007 13:04:31 +0100, Julian Reschke 
> <julian.reschke@gmx.de> wrote:
> 
>> I'd like to understand why POST was selected for that. POST is an 
>> unsafe method, and it shouldn't be sent without the consent of the 
>> user -- in particular not if the target is on a different server.
> 
> OTOH ping is all about creating side-effects, and only non-safe methods 
> should cause them.
> ...

Following a link should not cause side effects the user (A) can be made 
accountable for. And, fortunately this is not the case here. The only 
party for which the side effect is relevant is the site owner (B), and 
potentially the party (C) the link points to.

So, yes, if you want to design the transaction between B and C using 
HTTP, you wouldn't want to use a safe method. But ping communicates 
between A and B (or somebody specified by B), not B and C.

BR, Julian