[meteorite-list] MADML RFC (was "Data in auctions")

From: Roman Nakonechny <uraninut239__at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:28:37 2004
Message-ID: <Law9-F46Opj53XaDFuX0000f1c8_at_hotmail.com>

You are a MADMAN old sport, but the more DATA the better to make a somewhat
educated decission on whether to pay or not to pay for a piece of (it's
tempting to write it here, no?), but not that . I was going to say piece of
celestial rarity, a meteorite, dear boy. The information overload you've
just dropped on us is refreshing to say the least. It's just what I need
right now at 2:00AM. And yes you are a fascinating GEEK- but loved on this
list just the same. Send more data . The knowledge contained in the
unreachable password protected zipped files of your mind will feed us for
many a year. >JAMIE'S THE MAN<(-:{
Roman~~~~~~~~~~~~~* (IMCA# 0583) Thanks Jamie dude


>From: Jamie Stephens <j.stephens_at_morphism.com>
>To: Meteorite List <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
>Subject: [meteorite-list] MADML RFC (was "Data in auctions")
>Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 22:42:02 -0600
>
>For posterity, here's the first (and almost certainly the last)
>
> Request For Comments
> for the
>
> Meteorite Auction Data Markup Language (MADML) version 1.0
>
>** If you're a big seller and you think you'll never provide this **
>** structured data, please let me know. I don't want to waste my **
>** time or others'. No hard feelings (from me) at all. **
>
>** If you want to flame me, please be creative. Privacy-invader, **
>** user-agreement-abuser, never-seen-the-light-of-day geek, and **
>** irresponsible loser are old. I'm a white male. Got to be **
>** something there. **
>
>Please send suggestions and comments to me directly. (Apparently the
>List can't take much more Jamie-inspired traffic. I'm sympathetic to
>the List in this regard.) I'll revise and republish if I have the
>guts.
>
>The goal of MADML is to provide a *simple* way to provide pertinent
>auction data in a standard format that's easily parsed. With MADML,
>it'll be easy to track fine-grained stats over time:
>
> $/g ranges for Howardites
> $/g ranges for NWA 998
> $/g ranges for unclassified NWA
> Number of bidders on Gibeon slices
> Number of winners of Eucrites
>
>Etc. (Note that $/g will be ranges, not single numbers.) All could
>be easily graphed over time.
>
>N.B. No EBay ID's!
>
>Since EBay auction titles must be short and since sellers will likely
>want to maintain complete control over those titles, MADML goes into
>the item description, not the title.
>
>Approach 1: An HTML table:
>
> <!-- MADML 1.0 -->
> <table border=1>
> <tr><td align=right>Name:</td><td>Dar al Gani 607</td></tr>
> <tr><td align=right>Mass:</td><td>2.75g</td></tr>
> <tr><td align=right>Cut:</td><td>Partslice</td></tr>
> <tr><td align=right>Classification:</td><td>EUC</td></tr>
> <tr><td align=right>Shock stage:</td><td>1</td></tr>
> <tr><td align=right>Weathering:</td><td>1</td></tr>
> </table>
>
> All bidders could easily see the data. Sellers could wrap whatever
> HTML they wanted around the table (including *hiding* the entire
> table in an HTML comment).
>
>Approach 2: An HTML comment:
>
> <!-- MADML v="1.0" name="Dal al Gani 609" classification="EUC"
> shock="1" weathering="1" mass="2.75g" cut="partslice" -->
>
> The data would be invisible to bidders. (You can see raw HTML by
> using your browser's "View Source" function (available in my browser
> in several places: e.g., from the menu you get by right-clicking on
> a blank spot on a page).) The rationale for this HTML comment
> approach is to avoid messing with any visual aspects of an item
> description.
>
>Approach 3: A text line:
>
> MADML [ name="Dar al Gani" mass="2.75g" ... ]
>
> A simple, consise, inelegant visible presentation. Not pretty.
>
>Approach 4: Approach 1 wrapped in an HTML comment
>
> The benefit is easy switching from visible to invisible data. Just
> remove or add the HTML comment syntax:
>
> <!-- Nothing will show up, but the data is still there.
> <!-- MADML 1.0 -->
> <table border=1>
> <tr><td align=right>Name:</td><td>Dar al Gani 607</td></tr>
> ...
> <tr><td align=right>Weathering:</td><td>1</td></tr>
> </table>
> -->
>
>Which approach do you prefer?
>
>No matter what format, we (!) want several fields:
>
> name: Required.
> Either
> 1) the unabbreviated name from the Met Bulletin or
> 2) unabbreviated, unofficial, pre-Bulletin name.
> Examples: "Northwest Africa 1694" "Bensour"
>
> mass: Required.
> The mass of the specimen offered in grams.
> Examples: "2.75g" "2345g" "0.003g"
>
> cut: Required.
> One of "Individual" or "Partslice" or "Fullslice" or "Fragement" or
> "Endcut" or "Specks" or "Speck" or "Dust" or "Vapor".
>
> classification: Optional (suggested).
> The standard (?) abbreviated classification or "unclassified".
> See 'http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/9278/systemat.htm'.
> For achondrites, use the first three letters.
> All caps.
> Include petrologic type.
> Examples: "H5" "L3.8" "EUC" "HOW" "CV3" "H3-6" "H/L3" "CV3R"
> "IAB" "H IMB" "C-UNGROUPED" "MES" "PAL"
>
> shock: Optional (suggested). 1-6
>
> weathering: Optional (suggested). 0-6
>
>Comments:
>
>Readers can use online sources to look up classification data from
>names, so it's not essential to replicate that data here. However,
>it'd be much easier to have it here.
>
>Other standard data (e.g., fall/find, year, location, etc.) is
>probably best left to external sources. Feel free to provide it:
>
> find="yes"
> year="1917"
> location="Los Angeles, California, USA"
>
>Comments, please. Flames expected (from people with lives,
>presumably and ironically).
>
>BTW, I'm looking into getting a life. First I'm going to read about
>it on the Internet.
>
>--Jamie
>
>
>
>
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Received on Fri 31 Oct 2003 02:19:00 AM PST