Verb:namespace
From eg
The verb namespace tracks the exact meanings of common verbs in protocols, public web and other user interface command grammars.
Any shared ontology of services that share users requires aligning similar verb phrases to make the same operational distinctions, so that users who learn one set needn't unlearn the control verbs they've already learned. Naming conventions are very hard to unlearn. See also preposition, punctuation and pronoun.
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[edit] context/subject/object/affect
The most significant information about a verb is its victim: what will be affected if the action is taken? After that, the next most important is the actor: who takes the action itself? If these are the same, and there are no side effects, then the verb is reflexive - there is one body/subject/object. If they are not the same, then the context and affect must be considered to determine the comprehensive outcome of action.
User interfaces that control technology only must list all control verbs in one list early in the project. In particular, list commit verbs that cause transactions to occur that involve commitment of external resources or that make the user commit to do something, e.g. join or donate.
Systems implementing military doctrines must list all human command verbs and very closely control the exact verb phrases used, in order to avoid any possible confusion. Confusion kills.
[edit] Why to limit verbs
As GUIs get jammed onto tiny mobile screens and as voice controls emerge, tight control of verbs and derived command phrases gets even more important, since users may have to work without visual reminders and reinforcers like icons or even a list of verbs.
Also, in some applications, like government, everyone has the right to understand, including the stupid. An increasing number of verbs acquire meaning from TV best practice, radio best practice, wiki best practice and especially game best practice, all of which are becoming mass media.
See verb/noun/type for a complete description of why programmers control verbs.
[edit] list of all verbs
(all pages with page name prefix verb:):
- verb:buy and verb:pay
- The verb:price is an uncommitted buy and pay, it's related by a capital asset model to verb:value
- verb:copy
- verb:done as in safe/fair/done, the most reflexive and most contentious:
- The verb:govern and verb:debate are required to terminate before something is done when you govern reflexively but otherwise not; some degrees of done may be involved, as decisions may be verb:appealed or otherwise challenged.
- verb:edit (see category:edit for more detailed articles on editing)
- The verb:align, verb:avoid and verb:try apply when trying to edit or socialize taxonomy - these words allow for some resistance, e.g. when something is renamed there may be pushback.
- The verb:draw (usually vector-based), verb:paint (usually bitmap) and verb:retouch (usually photos) apply to diagrams and pictures of all kinds
- The verb:say and verb:record usually apply to voice user interface features
- verb:find and verb:search
- verb:get often ambiguated with "verb:go" via bad spatial metaphor; Also, verb:refresh and verb:reload are used in different web browsers, but seem to be just variants of get.
- verb:lock and verb:unlock
- verb:refer is what most links do
- The verb:cite, verb:verify and verb:authenticate apply where intellectual integrity requires evidence/source/authority beyond simple reference
- verb:patch
- verb:post
- verb:put
- verb:redirect includes verb:delete and its first step verb:ignore (see ignore page)
- verb:rename often ambiguated "verb:move" via bad spatial metaphor
- verb:save
- verb:tag
[edit] ECG verbs
Some more abstract verbs defined CC-by-nc-noderivs by ECG in ECG dogmas:
- verb:troll defined in doctrine:troll as a catch-all similar to verb:post
- verb:go defined with verb:move in various ECG dogmas to support mobility - see doctrine:mobility for a comprehensive list of consequences of this support.
- verb:do defined in various ECG dogmas, most simply as part of a reflective process in which the action is defined first, and then executed (like the buy vs. pay distinction), i.e. there's a decide versus do operational distinction, allowing for renegotiation or failure of delivery of some components
- verb:build applies only to green building scenarios, never to coding etc.
[edit] Geekspeak
Aside from these legitimate English short verbs, some geekspeak has sadly crept into DAV verbs: verb:mkcol creates collections in DAV, verb:propfind and verb:proppatch change properties on resources in an atomic transaction, but these names violate naming conventions.
[edit] Required to design eg:next
This page is in category:eg since it must include all verbs used in eg:itself meaningfully, and in category:next since it's a perpetual goal to keep the verb namespace up to date and exactly reflective of the usage in main namespace.
[edit] Doctrines affecting this namespace
- doctrine:REST advises drastically limiting the number of verbs to those in HTTP or at most WebDAV, or more generally "that when choosing between two grammars, one with customizable verbs (methods) and nouns (UR(I|N|L)s), and the other with a small fixed number of general verbs but customizable nouns, either of the two grammars can express the same thing, but the second grammer has better adoption characteristics among a large group of uncoordinated actors." - Clay Shirky describing The Essence of REpresentational State Transfer
- doctrine:troll advises always representing deference and command hierarchy from the point of view of an unwelcome, excluded, obnoxious intruder expressing experiences from new troll point of view using Crocker's Rules; In other words, avoiding verbs that assume that power relationships are legitimate, or ever used to "protect" a "community". It also proposes trollish as a language that could converge with REST usage via troll ontology, suggesting that the verb:namespace defines trollish verbs
- doctrine:initiative advises documenting all have/bet/get/go paths formally as verbs
[edit] Tagging evidence that affects decisions in this namespace
Use verb as a tag only to mark good evidence of usage. See verb/term/position for a full explanation of why verb is not a category and how verbs like other normative terms arise from ontological metaphors that implicitly express positions.
