Re: [whatwg/url] It's not immediately clear that "URL syntax" and "URL parser" conflict (#118)

@annevk I have read the spec and this thread; not sure if there's something else I should've read; apologies if that's the case.

My point about a different spec is that URLs are not generated by browsers, really. So the *parsing* spec is the one that defines what most URLs will look like, not a theoretical URL syntax. That's why it needs to be strict, because it is the de facto syntax spec, and not constantly adjusting to encompass an ever-widening Overton window of URL brokenness which cannot be kept up with by any tool that isn't well funded.

Having said that, breaking out a separate *malformed* parsing standard, so that people can detect malformed URLs and fix them, might be useful.

I think fundamentally this is a question of who owns the Web. If the answer is *browser vendors; they will keep up with the spec, mostly by having it codify their products' behaviours*, then this spec makes sense. If it's *no-one; anyone can write a simple tool that easily parses URLs* then it makes no sense.

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