[thelist] Is this a list?

[Matt Warden]

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Shawn K. Quinn wrote:
>>Actually, if the author/designer *doesn't* know, then they haven't done a
>>good enough job determining the target audience. 
> 
> 
> Making the Web site has nothing to do with determining the target
> audience. The only "target audience" that matters, is "anyone who winds
> up on the Web site that has a legitimate reason to visit."

These two statements are about as contradictory as possible.

>>The only wrinkle in that is when the law stipulates a certain level of
>>accessibility.
> 
> And why do you think such laws exist? Could it be that maybe this is an
> issue that Web site creators and maintainers would not address on their
> own in some cases?

Yes. Because economic decisions run on a cost-benefit analysis, and
society agrees that sometimes decisions should be made even when the
cost outweighs the benefit. It has to do with protecting minorities
(in this case: of customers).

>>You know, it really doesn't matter if access is restricted by authentication
>>or not.
> 
> I'm saying, what Joel (who you did not attribute as having written the
> second-level quoted text in your original message, by the way) was
> referring to was not really a Web site. I don't keep notes intended only
> for my own consumption readable to the world. This, sooner or later,
> costs the people like Joel doing it dearly, as it is grossly negligent
> behavior.

How does that cost people like Joel? Please elaborate, as I don't
understand, and your vague statement about costs doesn't help.

> For the record, I keep notes to myself in a subdirectory of my home
> directory called "notes", accessible only via ssh. If it really is
> intended only for my use, usually I will never even make it available
> via HTTP, much less for public, unauthenticated HTTP access. If certain
> people other need to know, it might be made available by user/password
> authenticated HTTP or HTTPS (depending on content).

If you care about restricting the contents, your idea is fine. If you
care about making it available to many people, it should be made
accessible. But there is a middleground you're ignoring.

Thanks,

- --
Matt Warden
Miami University
Oxford, OH, USA
http://mattwarden.com


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