[rdfweb-dev] partly anonymous web communities

[Morten Frederiksen]

Hi Bernhard,

On Wednesday 02 July 2003 16:05, Bernhard A. M. Seefeld wrote:
> Given a web-based community of anonymous profiles with descriptions and
> pictures, where each user (each profile) can list friends on this site.
> This looks like great data to publish as FOAF.
Indeed it does.

> The issue is that this community has grown as an anonymous system. I do
> have the user's email address, but it isn't public. FOAF seems to use
> foaf:mbox as the primary way of identifying people.
It may be seen and used as the "primary" way, but it's certainly not the only 
one. Several properties can be used, namely the ones that are declared to be 
socalled inverse functional properties - properties that over time belongs to 
one person (or organization, or ...) only. They don't have to last, you can 
change these properties as much as you want, as long as the ties between them 
are kept.

Among those properties are currently also foaf:homepage and foaf:weblog, of 
which the first should probably be of use to you and your  community.

As you point out, should someone at some point decide to give up anonymity, a 
simple statement about the real mbox (or any other of the mentioned 
properties) is enough to merge the two profiles.


Regards,
Morten Frederiksen