- From: Roy T. Fielding <fielding@apache.org>
- Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 15:52:57 -0800
- To: "Tim Berners-Lee" <timbl@w3.org>
- Cc: "Paul Prescod" <paul@prescod.net>, <www-tag@w3.org>
> The mailto: schema name was badly chosen, but the concept is > sound as originally defined. It was intended simply to be a space > in which to put all the internet email addresses, which are called > mailboxes. A mailbox is an abstract thing, related to email messages > by (for example) To: From: and Cc: feilds but also used in many > other situations. It also normally has a relationship with the social > entity > -- typically a person or group --which owns it. Hmm, well, from my perspective outside the early CERN days, I'd have to disagree. Mailto has been consistently defined and implemented to mean "get a composition window with the following pre-filled attributes." I absolutely agree that what we should have is a URI for a mailbox that can be placed in a form for defining the action of a POST, but mailto was created before FORM was invented. I think it is critical that we not try to redefine the semantics of existing URI after they have been introduced to the Web. If someone wants a generic URI for mailbox, they are going to have to invent something other than mailto for that purpose. Wishful thinking is not interoperable. ....Roy
Received on Thursday, 4 April 2002 19:25:33 UTC