- From: Evan Prodromou <evan@prodromou.name>
- Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2025 12:49:54 -0400
- To: "public-swicg@w3.org" <public-swicg@w3.org>
- Message-ID: <70bf8e41-e308-4c50-8836-d0c32b2ede1f@prodromou.name>
ActivityPub issue #289
<https://github.com/w3c/activitypub/issues/289> describes a lack of
parallelism between the definitions of "inbox" and "outbox" properties,
giving rise to misunderstandings about the allowed values of those
properties. The definitions are:
inbox/: *A reference*/*to an [ActivityStreams] OrderedCollection*
comprised of all the messages received by the actor; see 5.2 Inbox.
outbox/: *An [ActivityStreams] OrderedCollection*/comprised of all the
messages produced by the actor; see 5.1 Outbox.
I proposed an erratum on this list previously; Ben Goering noted
correctly that it did not include a description of the actual error,
which is preferred for W3C documents.
Based on his input, I updated theproposed erratum
<https://www.w3.org/wiki/ActivityPub_errata/Proposed>to this text:
In section 4.1 "Actor objects", the definition of "inbox" uses the
imprecise term "reference" and is different from the definition of
"outbox", giving the false impression that the range of the "inbox"
property is different than that of "outbox". A possible correction
is to make the definition of inbox parallel with that of outbox: "An
OrderedCollection comprised of all the messages received by the
actor; see 5.2 Inbox."
This is a call for consensus on adding this text to the errata for
ActivityPub -- and then to the current editor's draft. Please comment
here or on issue #289 if you object to this wording for the erratum.
Absent objections in the next 14 calendar days (by end of day on 8 Aug
in any timezone), I will add this text to the errata and the editor's draft.
Evan
Received on Friday, 25 July 2025 16:49:59 UTC