Do you use the link relationship(xfn)?

[kingjacob]

I just noticed you can define a relationship of a link in WP's blogroll. Im not sure what the point of having rel="friend" in your link so is there?

Oh and heres the link to the developers page (http://gmpg.org/xfn/)

[BPartch]

Hello

Yeah I generally click one of them (on certain links) just for the heck of it. :)

[ses5909]

I've never used them and typically skip over them. I'm sure it is better that I use them for some reason but I couldn't tell you what that is!

[jMcQuarrie]

Bloggers like to share with others (hence they blog). Bloggers like to share with others the list of other blogs and news sources that they like to read — blog rolls. Some bloggers even like to annotate their blogrolls with an asterisk "*" next to the names of folks that they have met. XFN is the logical next step. A way to annotate the links in a blogroll according to whether you have met the person (and thus know they really exist), whether you think of them as a friend (and thus imply a stronger recommendation for their site) etc. XFN: Frequently Asked Questions (http://www.gmpg.org/xfn/faq)

In theory, over time as browsers / spiders / etc start to understand Mircoformats these xfn relationships can be used to add a new level of meaning to people's blogrolls.

[ses5909]

So James, you think we should try to make use of them now, and perhaps in the future we will be able to do more with them?

[jMcQuarrie]

So James, you think we should try to make use of them now, and perhaps in the future we will be able to do more with them?

I don't think it's imperative, but I guess the more people that use them the more useful they become to everyone. It's one of those "need critical mass to be worth it" things.

I have to admit that I've not been using them so far on the "Elsewhere" section of my site (where I use the Wordpress Blogroll list) but this thread has got me thinking that maybe I should.

I do look forward to the day when the mythical semantic web is more of a reality and this does seem to be a step in the right direction...