The activity on Stack Apps has dwindled noticeably; this might be a topic for its own discussion, however I'd like to revisit the API roadmap beforehand to set a proper stage and expectations in this regard. ## Status I'll try to summarize the API status from my perspective, which might be a little biased regarding my own interest in the Stack Exchange platform, which, despite being a very happy Stack Overflow user myself, has always been integration with other platforms I'm involved with (partially with commercial interest, i.e. turning a solution into a product I could live from developing); so please take my statements with a grain of salt. ### Bugs / Feature Requests There have been [141 bugs][1] posted, with [100 completed][2], [23 bydesign][3], [7 norepro][4] and [2 deferred][5], leaving 11 unaddressed so far, which isn't nice, but all in all bugs have been handled properly and promptly so far. On the other hand there have been [118 feature-requests][6] posted, with only [23 completed][7], [3 bydesign][8], [20 declined][9], [12 deferred][10] and [4 planned][11], so a whopping 56 are not even acknowledged/classified officially as of today. (Note that a couple of feature requests are covered in [API V2 Musings: What would you like to see][12] as well.) ### API / App Promotion After announcing the [Stack Exchange API Contest Winners][13] there haven't been much promotional activities, *as far as I know*; it seems particularly worrying that respective inquiries do not even get any comment from the authorities, see [Is it possible to have a StackApps Advertising - Sidebar contest?][14]. ### Legal Issues There are still no *API Terms of Service* and I haven't gotten any kind of feedback regarding this on several channels, see e.g. [Where can I find the “API Terms of Service” referred to from the legal pages?][15] ### Summary The outlined partial (or rather selective) lack of feedback can be seen on [MSO][16] as well, but I think it is even more of a problem for API/App developers, who need to decide whether and how to deal with their own app user base and roadmap in this regard; this is a rather huge impediment for anybody considering investments into App development from a professional perspective (i.e. time/money), I'm afraid. But enough regarding orphaned topics, let's move on to those where official statements/hints are available at least and try to figure out some ideas on how to accelerate API/Apps development from here, eventually: ## Official Statements/Hints The design goals for the API v1, specifically the read only restrictions are covered in Jeffs blog post [Stack Exchange API Public Beta Starts][17]: > **Version 1 is read only**. Coming up with > a solid API is hard enough without > adding writing and authentication to > the mix. For the initial release, it’s > a read-only API. We’ll take on the > much more challenging problem of > writing (and authentication) in v2. Likely it has been this statement which introduced the theme of tying the API v2 with *writing (and authentication)*. A more recent and granular update regarding this has been [Kevins answer][18] to [Timeline for v2.0 of the API?][19], which added bugs and improvements to the API v2 theme: > [...] defects in v1.0. Part of v2.0 would be > addressing these issues [...] > > Another part of v2.0 would be bringing > the API into line with the improvements made on the sites. [...] > > Finally, since we've implied - though not quite promised - write access in > v2.0 the exact mechanisms for that > need to be worked out. [...] Back then I already asked *have you considered a more agile approach of progressive improvement instead*, but haven't gotten any response, hence the revisit here ... ### Jeffs Code Camp Video Interview Recently I've fast forwarded through [Jeffs Interview][20] to get some clues eventually, and actually did - please see [Selective API oriented transcript fragment of Jeffs Code Camp Video Interview][21] for a bit more context, but essentially Jeff is expressing **serious doubts about the feasibility of a write enabled API**: > Yeah, the UI is helping [...] there's > a lot of ambient information present > on the website, how would that even be > presented in an external app we can't > control? I'm fine with reading [...] > but one of the quickest way to ruin a > Q&A system is to flood it with bad > questions - now I'm not sayin having a > write API would cause that, but > anything that risks that is a very > very serious risk. I actually agree with his observations, he definitely has a point in that a writable API could exhibit quality issues and a *rich ajax app* offering much better UI options to deal with this (an interesting variation of the same old argument between *rich clients* vs. *web apps* in general btw.). Still, this puts a serious bump into the current expectations among Stack Apps developers, I'm afraid, in so far *writing (and authentication)* have been the number one feature request, obviously. However, this shouldn't provide a full stop to API development forever, or should it? I'd rather say it is a strong hint towards a necessary *shift in pace and scope* in order to let the API evolve *more* agile with the platform as best as possible under the current read only restriction. I'd personally pretty much prefer an API keeping track of *essential and stabilized* platform improvements (e.g. [Linked Questions][22], [Tag Wikis][23], [Tag Info Pages][24] etc.) over waiting for the golden age of *writing (and authentication)*, which apparently isn't going to happen anytime soon, if ever. **What do you think?** [1]: http://stackapps.com/questions/tagged/bug [2]: http://stackapps.com/questions/tagged/bug+status-completed [3]: http://stackapps.com/questions/tagged/bug+status-bydesign [4]: http://stackapps.com/questions/tagged/bug+status-norepro [5]: http://stackapps.com/questions/tagged/bug+status-deferred [6]: http://stackapps.com/questions/tagged/feature-request [7]: http://stackapps.com/questions/tagged/feature-request+status-completed [8]: http://stackapps.com/questions/tagged/feature-request+status-bydesign [9]: http://stackapps.com/questions/tagged/feature-request+status-declined [10]: http://stackapps.com/questions/tagged/feature-request+status-deferred [11]: http://stackapps.com/questions/tagged/feature-request+status-planned [12]: http://stackapps.com/questions/751/api-v2-musings-what-would-you-like-to-see [13]: http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/08/stack-exchange-api-contest-winners/ [14]: http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/67272/is-it-possible-to-have-a-stackapps-advertising-sidebar-contest [15]: http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/56349/where-can-i-find-the-api-terms-of-service-referred-to-from-the-legal-pages [16]: http://meta.stackoverflow.com/ [17]: http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/05/stack-exchange-api-public-beta-starts/ [18]: http://stackapps.com/questions/1074/timeline-for-v2-0-of-the-api/1076#1076 [19]: http://stackapps.com/questions/1074/timeline-for-v2-0-of-the-api [20]: http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/10/code-camp-video-interview/ [21]: http://stackapps.com/questions/1803/selective-api-oriented-transcript-fragment-of-jeffs-code-camp-video-interview [22]: http://stackapps.com/questions/1348/add-linked-question-data-to-the-api [23]: http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/08/tag-folksonomy-and-tag-synonyms/ [24]: http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/08/new-tag-info-pages/