What is the status of the protoxep
http://www.xmpp.org/extensions/inbox/microblogging.html ?
Is this going to be made a formal XEP anytime soon? Given that we've already
got "microblogging" systems like Identi.ca, Jaiku, and Twitter (when
running) that are being built and deployed, if we're going to have a
standard here, we're probably going to have to get it agreed fairly
soon.Otherwise, implementations will get so far entrenched that it won't
really be possible to make any real changes to them...

I may not be reading the proposal correctly... Please help me with a few
points of potential confusion:

The protoxep <http://www.xmpp.org/extensions/inbox/microblogging.html> makes
a fairly significant assumption that PEP/PubSub is supported. This comes out
most clearly in the assumption that the way one publishes an item is by
forming an XML stanza that targets a specific node. While that is fine, it
doesn't map to reality. Today, people are becoming used to microblogging via
XMPP by sending bare chat messages to a bot such as [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], etc. This simple chat message method has
the advantage of being something that can be used with a simple chat
client.  Using the methods of PEP/PubSub to publish would require that more
complex client software be used to form the messages. Similarly, the common
practice today is for XMPP bots to implement textual "command line"
interfaces for doing things like setting up "follow," "track," listing
subscriptions, search, etc. Of course, each service implements a slightly
different syntax and it isn't always obvious how one maps the various
functions to what is defined in the protoxep.

The protoxep recommends that microblogging publishers should include a
<body/> element in what they publish in order to enable simple clients to
work as though they were receiving simple chat messages. However, it would
appear that one shouldn't publish messages to a simple client unless it
advertises support for the "urn:xmpp:tmp:microblog+notify" capability or has
an explicit PubSub subscription. But, a simple client is not likely to have
met either of these conditions... So, why would something that conforms to
this protoxep ever publish anything to a simple client?

I admit that I may be totally confused in not understanding how we get from
here to there...

bob wyman

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