The Lurker

Trackback: IETF standards track?

Does the Internet really need a standardized protocol which allows Alice to add the words "Bob has a great post about fishing!" to the bottom of Bob's post about fishing?

I'm not sure, but Byrne Reese thinks so, and proposes putting Trackback on the IETF standards track. Some comments on Sam Ruby's post on the subject raise architectural concerns about the existing Trackback design, but given that the overwhelming majority of trackbacks are used as a more explicit Referrer mechanism (and don't add anything to the conversation other than "I linked to you"), I question whether Trackback, as currently used, is even worth having, let alone standardising.

Related topics: Rants Web Mindless Link Propagation