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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Joaquin-<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> 2396
is obsoleted by RFC 3986, just FYI.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> I
don’t use the term URL any more, and when I do, I use it only because I’m
trying to avoid the question “what is this URI thing? How is it different
a URI?” ;-) But then the smart people ask me why I said URL and not URI and
I laugh… <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> -Gabe
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>
general-bounces@openid.net [mailto:general-bounces@openid.net] <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>Joaquin Miller<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Monday, February 12, 2007
2:47 PM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> OpenID general list<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> [OpenID] What is a URL,
exactly?</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<blockquote style='margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>(I'm still not sure that there exists today a standard way to *resolve*
an email address to a URL location, though...so calling an email address a
"URL" seems inaccurate).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</blockquote>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
I'm the world's backmost expert on the question: What is a URL, exactly?<br>
<br>
So I'll just go ahead and sound off anyway, to keep the discussion rolling.<br>
<br>
A URL is "a compact string representation for a resource available via the
Internet [RFC 1738]." (Yes, yes; hold your horses.)<br>
<br>
"The term 'Uniform Resource Locator' ('URL') refers to the subset of URI
that identify resources via a representation of their primary access mechanism
(e.g., their network "location"), ... [RFC2396]."<br>
<br>
The URI, '<a href="mailto:joaquin@netmesh.us" eudora=autourl>
mailto:joaquin@netmesh.us</a>', refers to a resource, my inbox, via a
representation of its primary access mechanism (the <some> mail protocol,
in this case SMTP) and its network location
(<something>.netmesh.us:<something>, in this case,
smtp.netmesh.us:25, a.k.a. 204.145.147.224:25). (These details can be
discovered, I guess, by tracking down the MX record for netmesh.us (or
something like that).)<br>
<br>
</span></font><b><font size=4><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-weight:bold'>So:
</span></font></b>The URI, '<a href="mailto:joaquin@netmesh.us',%A0"
eudora=autourl> mailto:joaquin@netmesh.us', </a><b><i><font size=4><span
style='font-size:13.5pt;font-weight:bold;font-style:italic'>i s</span></font></i></b>
a URL.<br>
<br>
Fire away!<br>
<br>
Your,<br>
<br>
Joaquin<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
p.s. I write, not as one knowledgeable of all this stuff, but as
one claiming to be able to read what the plain English meaning of a
specification is.<br>
<br>
p.p.s Of course, there is a vital difference between what the plain
English of some specification says a URL is and what 'URL' is used to mean in
common parlance. We all know that. Me, i don't know what 'URL'
means in common parlance. No idea. All i know is that the URI, '<a
href="mailto:joaquin@netmesh.us" eudora=autourl> mailto:joaquin@netmesh.us</a>',
is a URL. To any self respecting spec freak.<br>
<br>
p.p.p.s As you all will have read, Phil has treated this subject in more
colorful terms. I agree with him that it does not matter a whit whether '<a
href="mailto:joaquin@netmesh.us" eudora=autourl> mailto:joaquin@netmesh.us</a>'
is a URL or is not a URL.<o:p></o:p></p>
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