Re: What if:

[Charles Reitzel <creitzel@mediaone.net>]

You are absolutely right.  But, of course, http: refers to web pages (of all things).  ftp: refers to any file retrievable by the ftp protocol.  news: refers to news articles.  Dang, all the good ones are taken.  These URI schemes weren't created so that someone, someday could use them for an XML namespace.   But, then again, there is no real harm in it.  For abstract names, RFC 2396 encourages the use of the urn: scheme.    RDDL is a recent, constructive addition to the list of choices.

I'm not fanning the flames.  In fact, despite all the heat on this topic, there has also been a great deal useful and instructive discussion - all of which can be found in the archives.

take it easy,
Charles Reitzel

P.S. There are also a couple threads that specifically discuss mailto:

At 11:00 PM 4/24/01 -0500, Aaron Swartz wrote:
>Al B. Snell <alaric@alaric-snell.com> wrote:
>
>> ...I used a mailto: URL as a namespace URI?
>
>I'd have to recommend against this. Mailto: URLs are supposed to identify
>mailboxes, not namespaces. I'd suggest that you go with news: or mid: as
>Sean suggested.
>
>-- 
>[ Aaron Swartz | me@aaronsw.com | http://www.aaronsw.com ]
>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------
>The xml-dev list is sponsored by XML.org, an initiative of OASIS
><http://www.oasis-open.org>
>
>The list archives are at http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/
>
>To unsubscribe from this elist send a message with the single word
>"unsubscribe" in the body to: xml-dev-request@lists.xml.org 


take it easy,
Charles Reitzel