Automatic harvesting requirements for difference feed service

[Michael Allan]

Hi Conseo,

This might be simpler than I expected, because I think we can drop the
complexity of the referrer header for archive discovery.  The use
cases below center on this mockup of the theatre toolbar and
difference bridge: (see callout notes 1 and 2, here)
http://zelea.com/project/votorola/a/xf/_/TheatreToolbar/diff-1.xht

Here's the use case for ARCHIVE DISCOVERY:

  1. User U opens discussions on a new issue.  She and her voters
     start posting messages with embedded difference URLs to a mailing
     list.

  2. V notices that the messages are not showing up on the talk track
     of the difference bridge.  He says so.

  3. U says, "That's because I forgot to add the URL of this list's
     web archive to my position page."

     So she adds it.

Here's the use case for MESSAGE DISCOVERY:

  1. V posts a new message to the mailing list.  It contains an
     embedded URL for a difference between him and W.

  2. Lurker L is reading his mail and sees V's new message.

  3. L follows the URL from his mail client.

     He is taken to the difference bridge.  He looks at the talk track
     and scratches his chin.  A new post appears.  It is auto-selected
     and a summary appears in the caption at the top of the window.

     He reads the summary.  It's the same message he was reading in
     his mail client 5 seconds ago.

So basically the harvester wakes up whenever a fresh difference is
viewed in the bridge.  It goes looking for the post on the web.  It
looks in the archives listed in the position pages of the common
candidate (U in this case), if any, and the individual users (V, W)
until it finds a match.  Then it feeds the post to clients like the
talk track.

Does this make sense?  If so, we can look at requirements in terms of
the feed API.  Maybe when you're free of exams?

-- 
Michael Allan

Toronto, +1 416-699-9528
http://zelea.com/