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RE: The real world doesn't have an "other xyz", neither should

• From: "Toby Considine" <Toby.Considine@gmail.com>
• To: "'Michael Sokolov'" <msokolov@safaribooksonline.com>,"'Costello, Roger L.'" <costello@m...>,<xml-dev@l...>
• Date: Sun, 9 Feb 2014 11:06:41 -0800

Good point.

Good information exchanges must support learning and evolution.

The use of Other is a learning opportunity. You may learn that your partner
is simply unreliable, or you may learn that you left out something big, or
you may simply be harvesting potential examples for eventual inclusion in
Rev +1. 

On the other hand, it may be entirely legitimate to refuse to "accept" a
given message if it uses "Other" depending upon how critical it is to know
that answer.

tc

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Sokolov [mailto:msokolov@safaribooksonline.com] 
Sent: Sunday, February 9, 2014 7:33 AM
To: Costello, Roger L.; xml-dev@lists.xml.org
Subject: Re:  The real world doesn't have an "other xyz", neither
should your XML

On 2/9/2014 9:27 AM, Costello, Roger L. wrote:
> Hi Folks,
>
> I see many XML instances (and corresponding XML Schemas) with an "other"
catchall element.
>
> I wish to convince you that an "other" catchall element is contrary to
one's objectives and should be avoided.
>
Roger - there is a tradeoff to everything.  If you force people to choose
among categories that don't fit, they may just walk away.  I can't count the
number of surveys I have declined to fill out for that reason.

-Mike

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• References:
  • The real world doesn't have an "other xyz", neither should your XML
    • From: "Costello, Roger L." <costello@mitre.org>
  • Re: The real world doesn't have an "other xyz", neithershould your XML
    • From: Michael Sokolov <msokolov@safaribooksonline.com>