[Theforum] Re: Article cleanup issue

Erika Meyer erika at seastorm.com
Tue Jul 23 15:43:20 CDT 2002


Being not well-informed about choices Jeff H has made/wishes to make
and/or what alternatives there may/may not be, and all the relative
costs and benefits of those options... I have no opinion about this
particular series of decisions.

But I do want to weigh in on the side of "URLs should live forever"
(if possible) and "old content is good content" (as long as it is
archived and not interfering with people's ability to get to the more
current stuff).

Jakob has some points about URLs
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/981129.html
-- the users comments section at the end contains some fun Q&A.

Tim Berners-Lee has also addressed this topic
http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI.html

Sometimes, especially when you're doing an overhaul and when you are
growing in ways not anticipated, it becomes necessary to break URLs.
Even the w3c has done it.

Some evolt articles become outdated more rapidly than others.  The
commentary & society stuff retains interest, IMO, even as it becomes
historically quaint.  Sometimes it's hard to see the value of things
until it's "too late."  Some of the tutorials perhaps less so, but
still... some are very well-written and if nothing else contribute to
the big picture of what evolt is and has been.

Definitely, all content is *not* created equal.

The job postings... I think those should (for example) automatically
die after 30 days (if they don't right now) and robots discouraged
from indexing. Other content should be evaluated and categorized,
etc... I guess there's a group to do that so that's good...

I have to say though, that I have been disappointed often by broken
URLs to favorite corners of beloved websites... where the author
apparently felt the content was too old/imperfect/crappy to be worth
retaining and/or maintaining.  Sometimes it's surprising what people
fall in love with.

Well, I think these these sorts of discussions and evaluations are
important.  Clearly there must be coordination between those dealing
with database issues and those dealing with content issues.

okay, back into the teapot with me.

E






erika at seastorm.com



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