is "mailto:robyates70@gmail.com" a valid Yadis id?

Joaquin Miller joaquin at netmesh.us
Wed Feb 7 20:32:39 UTC 2007


>"A identifier used with one or more Yadis Services. A Yadis ID may 
>be a URL; it may be any other identifier, such as an XRI, that can 
>be resolved to a URL."

I'd put it this way:

1. When we wrote "can be resolved to a URL,"
a. by "can be resolved," we had in mind the XRI to URL resolution 
service contemplated by the XRI specs and similar services and
b. by "a URL" we had in mind a URL can could be used in an HTTP request.
My feeling is that the language in the Yadis spec is sloppy.  If we 
meant can be resolved to a URL with a scheme that works with HTTP, we 
should have said so.

2. If i'm not mistaken, 'mailto:robyates70 at gmail.com' is a URL.  No 
resolution is necessary to satisfy the first clause ("may be a URL").

3. All that having been said, if there were a service or 
specification which resolved 'mailto:robyates70 at gmail.com' to 
'http://gmail.com', then 'mailto:robyates70 at gmail.com' would be a Yadis ID.

4.  But, and it is a big but, if there were two services or 
specifications that resolved 'mailto:robyates70 at gmail.com' to 
different URLs, then we would be broken.

5.  The same is true of XRIs and of any other identifiers that can be 
resolved to a URL.

My conclusion.  We need to change the Yadis spec
I: to say what we meant and
II: to either list or refer to another document that lists those 
types of identifier that can be Yadis IDs and for each of those 
specifies or refers to the algorithim for resolving each to a URL 
that can be used in an HTTP request.

Cordially, Joaquin


>As far as I can make out from the specification it is valid.  For 
>example the Yadis spec says that a yadis id is
>
>"A identifier used with one or more Yadis Services. A Yadis ID may 
>be a URL; it may be any other identifier, such as an XRI, that can 
>be resolved to a URL."
>
>So if there is a rule that states that mailto: URL's resolve to 
>http://domain_from_mailto_address then mailto's are valid Yadis id's 
>e.g. mailto:robyates70 at gmail.com resolves to http://gmail.com.  Am I 
>correct with this?
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