RE: Proposed issue: site metadata hook

At 10:35 AM +0200 2/13/03, Patrick.Stickler@nokia.com wrote:

>Fair enough. But you seem to be implying that the web architecture
>should allow a user to override the rights of the web site owner. That
>if the web owner says "no robots here" that the user should still
>be allowed to invite them in. That's what you suggested in your
>original post.


I think you're confusing the web site with the web server. They are 
not the same things; especially in the case of systems like GeoCities 
and IBiblio. Indeed there can be a many-to-many relationship between 
sites and servers when mirror sites are considered.

Yes, I do think site owners should be allowed to invite robots in, 
even if the server owner says no. I think the web architecture needs 
to focus on the sites, not the servers. In the ideal web, the actual 
servers with their physical addresses and network connections would 
vanish into the background. I think a server owner who does not 
provide users with the necessary means to participate in the web 
should be castigated the same as one who insists on providing a web 
server that fails to properly implement HTTP.

Part of the job of the W3C and the tag is to tell the server owners 
and software vendors what is expected of them and their products in 
order to participate in the web.
-- 

+-----------------------+------------------------+-------------------+
| Elliotte Rusty Harold | elharo@metalab.unc.edu | Writer/Programmer |
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Received on Thursday, 13 February 2003 10:09:15 UTC