Its the difference between whether you believe you are using HTTP as a transport mechanism or you believe you are using it to create a DSL protocol.

Personally I prefer to think of HTTP as a transport mechanism, with business logic at a higher level. The question "If I replaced this http transport with, say, FTP or a dvd drop, would it require changes at the business logic level?" feels important to me.

That preference puts me on the wrong side of history at the moment though, and Im going with history. Lets express our business logic through the error system provided by our transport mechanism instead....