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On the other hand, Flarum has a fully-functional JSON API which can fulfill some of those use cases. See http://flarum.org/docs/api for more info - and you can see it in action at http://discuss.flarum.org/api/discussions.

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Ok - I see how it solves the automation problem. But it means that humans and bots are accessing different web resources to get the same content - it abandons the original idea of the World Wide Web where a single content resource was expected to be used by humans and computers alike using a unified, simple syntax.

Are you talking about content negotiation? I don't think a "single content resource" really makes sense. When humans access a page, they aren't just looking at a single resource, they're looking at a blend of disparate resources (e.g. all the content in the navigation, sidebar, footer, peripheral sections, etc). Hence the need for a dedicated API that returns pristine data.

> it abandons the original idea of the World Wide Web where a single content resource was expected to be used by humans and computers alike using a unified, simple syntax.

I believe we are long past that idea, it's just too much of a restriction for the web in order to compete for audience with other technologies (meaning apps).

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