[PROPOSAL] Handle "http://user at example.com" Style Identifiers

[David Fuelling]

I wonder if it would help our discussion to clarify what is meant when we
say that an email address is an "identifier".  

While an email address does technically identify SOMETHING, here I'm using
it more as a "mapping".

So, the way I'm conceiving of things is that the email is in fact a REAL
email address.  It's just that OpenId has a procedure for using it to
forward a user to a proper IdP.

A good parallel would be the Identity URL itself.  A common user might think
of this URL as something to be clicked on, and resolvable -- A Location.
However, OpenID is instead/additionally using this URL in a slightly
different way -- to map to an identity.  Are not these two instances (email
and Claimed Identity URL) "misleading" in the same way?

(I'm actually not convinced that either is misleading, but I could be
swayed).

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jonathan Daugherty [mailto:cygnus at janrain.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, November 08, 2006 1:45 PM
> To: David Fuelling
> Cc: specs at openid.net
> Subject: Re: [PROPOSAL] Handle "http://user@example.com" Style Identifiers
> 
> # So, if in a hypothetical world where we have 4 potential OpenId
> # "values" that a user could enter, AND the goal is to reduce
> # confusion, then does it really make sense to cut out the most common
> # "value" (which is an email address)?
> 
> IMHO, because using identifiers that look like email addresses would
> be misleading.
> 
> --
>   Jonathan Daugherty
>   JanRain, Inc.