LazyWeb I invoke thee. It's
LazyWeb I invoke thee.
It's 2003. Can we finally have a simple XML format for exchanging the basic blog/discussion board information. Just get the basic stuff in there, and then make sure as many as possible tools support both import and export. This is easy stuff! If I was developing a discussion or blogging tool, I'd write it myself and implement it. It could have elements like:
(gbde)
// generic blog and discussion exchange format
(item type='post' id='19863')
// type could be post or comment or thread for example
// item can have a parentid attribute as well
(author id='157')
// if author has been defined before in this xml doc you only need to give the id
(ip)(/ip)
(email)(/email)
(name)(/name)
(homepage)(/homepage)
// and a bunch more of identifying fields
(/author)
(content)
(title)(/title)
(text format='plain')(/text)
// Multiple text elements allowed
// format can be plain, html, or a url to a page defining the format
(/content)
(item/)
(/gbde)
Getting support for this wouldn't be hard either. Exporting this stuff is easy in most systems, importing sligthly harder (but not much). Most systems should be able to code good support for the standard in a day or two.