Re: rel="shortlink" proposal for advertising short URLs in HTML/HTTP

[Sam Johnston <[e-mail]>]

G'day Barry,

Is any of this specific to short links or does it apply across the
board? I would suggest the latter.

Sam on iPhone

On 4/22/09, Barry Leiba <[e-mail]> wrote:
> Hm.
>
> The problem, as I see it, with defining "persistence" is that one
> wants different things in different contexts.  Consider these three
> cases of things I might write:
>
> 1 ---------------------------------------------------
> Note that any comments you post here are subject to my host's
> copyright policy: [link to current copyright policy at time of
> clicking].
> ------------------------------------------------------
>
> 2 ---------------------------------------------------
> Note that the comment you just made is subject to my host's copyright
> policy: [link to version of copyright policy in effect at the time of
> writing].
> ------------------------------------------------------
>
> 3 ---------------------------------------------------
> Check out the stupid typo in my host's copyright policy:
> [link to immutable snapshot of copyright policy at the time of writing].
> ------------------------------------------------------
>
> In case 1, I want a pointer that will always get me to the current
> policy at the time you click the link.
>
> In case 2, I want a pointer that will always get me to the policy
> that's in effect when I wrote the text, regardless of subsequent
> policy changes.
>
> In case 3, I want a pointer that will always get me to the version
> with the typo, even if they go and fix the typo without issuing a new
> policy version.
>
> With URL shorteners, you have no idea what you'll get, even when the
> link isn't broken.  There's no guarantee that the content the link
> points to has any relation whatever to what was there when the short
> URL was made (if, say, the URL was set up to point to the current
> front page of the newspaper).
>
> With "short URLs" created by the content provider, you have a chance
> of at least knowing what you're getting.  But what is it that you want
> to get, and how do you specify it.  There are at least the three use
> cases above, and perhaps others.
>
> Barry
>