My x-dead x-body [was] Re: HTML Link Type Model

David - Morris (dwm@shell.portal.com)
Wed, 17 May 95 14:24:24 EDT

On Wed, 17 May 1995, Joe English wrote:

>
> Roy T. Fielding <fielding@avron.ICS.UCI.EDU> wrote:
>
> [...]
> > But shouldn't they have an "X-" prefix, or something to indicate they
> > are not well-known? OVER MY DEAD BODY!
>
> "Me too". I never liked the X- convention...

"Me three" ... the only possibly useful purpose is that it advises
a human that the term wasn't blessed. It does nothing to prevent
each of us from adopting x-following and having a name conflict. It
doesn't help document authors or software authors change to the real
term later. The risk of doing an experiment without x- is a future
conflict. Exactly the same risk and possibly less future work if the
experimental term is actually adopted.

If experimental distinction is really needed then perhaps a
naming authority should register prefixes like dwm- joe- roy- sco-
where there would at least be uniqueness. Any organization with
a domain name could use it in lieu of registration (e.g., xpasc.com-next).

Dave Morris