Re: A(nother) Guide to Publishing Linked Data Without Redirects

On Wed, 2010-11-10 at 17:26 -0500, David Wood wrote:
> > 
> > Hi all,
> > 
> > I've collected my thoughts on The Great 303 Debate of 2010 (as it
> > will be remembered) at:
> >  http://prototypo.blogspot.com/2010/11/another-guide-to-publishing-linked-data.html
> > 
> > Briefly, I propose a new HTTP status code (210 Description Found) to
> > disambiguate between generic information resources and the special
> > class of information resources that provide metadata descriptions
> > about URIs addressed.
> > 
> > My proposal is basically the same as posted earlier to this list,
> > but significantly updated to include a mechanism to allow for the
> > publication of Linked Data using a new HTTP status code on Web
> > hosting services.  Several poorly thought out corner cases were also
> > dealt with.


Hi David,

Thank you for your post, it got me thinking more about this issue. After
thinking this through a bit more, I have come to the conclusion that all
200 series response should indicate the requested URI is a document. It
could also be something else, but at least the URI is a document. Let me
quickly explain why.

Any URL in my document browser's address bar must be a document.

This is the way the Web has always worked. Whether it is 200, 203, or
210 the URI represents a document. URIs that response with a 303 (or any
300 series) are not documents. If I type in a URI and it gets redirected
(via 303) the URI does not represent a document.

This is a really simple rule that every Web architect can easily
understand. Your proposal of using 210 for non-document resources breaks
this simple rule and may create more confusion than the existing 303
recommendation for non-document resources.

Thanks,
James
-- 
James Leigh Services Inc.
http://www.leighnet.ca/
http://jamesrdf.blogspot.com/

Received on Thursday, 11 November 2010 13:37:14 UTC