Business.txt
Web and SaaS
business information standard
SHOW HN2012
264points
109comments
#51of 1,677 in 2012
Top 4%of 2012 by points
How HN took it
RoastedHalf or more of the comments are critical
7 positive, 15 neutral or asking, 3 mixed, 32 critical, out of 57 comments about the project. Thread score -0.45.
Idea: 4 for, 16 againstDesign: 1 for, 13 againstExecution: 1 for, 2 againstDocs: 1 for, 0 againstPerformance: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Good idea for small businesses that keep listings up to date.
From 3 comments
Great idea. Added one for our company. It took just a couple of minutes. http://pierlis.com/business.txt
oleganza on HNThis is a really cool idea. As a small business guy, this is definitely worthwhile and usable. Please keep working on this.
wheelerwj on HNThis – in some form – is probably a good idea. Recently, I've worked on a few Business Improvement Area projects and one of the hassels for BIAs is keeping up-to-date information…
tomkin on HN
Objections
Should use existing standards like microformats, schema.org, microdata or RDF instead.
From 5 comments
The idea of a text file at the root isn't a bad one, but the format of the document should be far more descriptive. Have you looked at http://schema.org/docs/schemas.html and the…
buro9 on HNI think this usecase is already covered very well by microformats and the various metadata standards that already exist and are supported by Google, Facebook et al. I'm not sure…
tommoor on HNWhy not just use Microdata (which Google already supports): http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=146861
ig1 on HNThis is already a solved problem. Microformats, while only moderately successful, can embed all relevant information in a standardised way.
troels on HNI like this idea very much and its simplicity, but it seems inevitable to me that going down this path will just recreate RDF[0] and RDF Schema. A sort of a semantic web version…
maayank on HN
Placing the file at the root adds clutter; /.well-known/ is the correct location per RFC 5785.
From 2 comments
hostname.com/business.txt is wrong. You are supposed to use the /.well-known/ subfolder. http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5785 If you plan to implement a "standard" please try to…
Terretta on HNRegardless of the format of the content, I think that it'd be nice if files like this would be placed in /.well-known/[standard] in accordance with…
m_eiman on HN
A plain text format is fragile; XML, JSON or YAML would be more robust.
From 3 comments
I would strongly suggest e.g. JSON or XML - if you can upload a website, the chance are that you could also create something like this. There would of course also be a template…
oellegaard on HNWhat world do you live in where XML is easier? Have you ever written a SAX parser? XML parsing is not "easier". Screw the libraries that "do it for you". You still have to…
alttab on HNYAML is the easiest combination of human and machine readable that has been implemented (so far). http://yaml.org/
engtech on HN
Format is US-centric and not suited to international addresses.
From 2 comments
I like the idea a lot, but as it stands the format is pretty US-centric. I've written up some suggestions on how to fix this at https://github.com/fesja/businesstxt/issues/2 The…
Zarkonnen on HNThe schema is rather US-centric. For instance, many countries don't have "states". They may have other divisions, in the 0..N level range, with other names. It would be better to…
facorreia on HN
Spoofing: anyone could publish a fake business.txt to defame a business.
From 1 comment
How well does the business.txt standard hold up against malicious behavior? For example, what happens if I want to defame Restaurant X, so I make restaurantXsucks.com and put a…
gpcz on HN
Requests
Add a meta tag or link rel pointing to the file.
From 2 comments
So more senseless errors in my error log and more traffic caused by robots requesting a file that doesn't exist? While I applaud the idea, can we please, please have a meta-tag…
pilif on HNIt's probably better to use a <link rel="business" href="/business.txt" /> than a meta tag.
zacharyvoase on HN
Move the file to /.well-known/ per RFC 5785.
From 1 comment
Regardless of the format of the content, I think that it'd be nice if files like this would be placed in /.well-known/[standard] in accordance with…
m_eiman on HN
Support internationalization, including language and country codes.
From 2 comments
How about internationalization? Shouldn't this be self-descripting - like indicating language code (use ISO...) of the narrative/description? Also, how about country codes? I…
daemon13 on HNI like the idea a lot, but as it stands the format is pretty US-centric. I've written up some suggestions on how to fix this at https://github.com/fesja/businesstxt/issues/2 The…
Zarkonnen on HN
Questions
How to prevent fake business.txt files from being used for defamation?
From 1 comment
How well does the business.txt standard hold up against malicious behavior? For example, what happens if I want to defame Restaurant X, so I make restaurantXsucks.com and put a…
gpcz on HN
Why not put this information in robots.txt?
From 1 comment
I like the idea of having a standard place to find this information. It's still for robots though isn't it? Why not include this information in robots.txt?
will_critchlow on HN
Alternatives named
Schema.org
From 1 comment
The idea of a text file at the root isn't a bad one, but the format of the document should be far more descriptive. Have you looked at http://schema.org/docs/schemas.html and the…
buro9 on HN
Microformats and Microdata
From 2 comments
Why not just use Microdata (which Google already supports): http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=146861
ig1 on HNI think this usecase is already covered very well by microformats and the various metadata standards that already exist and are supported by Google, Facebook et al. I'm not sure…
tommoor on HN
Open Graph protocol (ogp.me)
From 1 comment
Why not just use http://ogp.me ? A lot of sites are already using it.
flexterra on HN
Google Places verification and listings
From 2 comments
How well does the business.txt standard hold up against malicious behavior? For example, what happens if I want to defame Restaurant X, so I make restaurantXsucks.com and put a…
gpcz on HNIs it missing fields for e-mail and logo? Or have you specified this actually somewhere (i.e. not just examples?) I think this is great idea, however Google has something like…
0ptr on HN
RDF and RDF Schema
From 1 comment
I like this idea very much and its simplicity, but it seems inevitable to me that going down this path will just recreate RDF[0] and RDF Schema. A sort of a semantic web version…
maayank on HN