Extension: Would like to have a "-n" test Salmon endpoint for UX, privacy

[GoogleCodeExporter]

It may be very useful to be able to send a test Salmon to an endpoint and 
determine what would happen if it were posted.  Like the "-n" command 
line flag for a lot of Unix commands, this pretends to run the command 
and gives you errors but doesn't actually change the state of the world.  

Specifically, it would be useful to be able to:
- Test if a salmon can be verified before sending, so that problems with 
configuration can be identified and the actual send can happen 
asynchronously;
- Tell the user where (what feed(s)) a salmon _will_ be published, so the 
generator can surface this information before the user commits to sending
- Tell the user an estimated audience size for the salmon; this is useful 
feedback that is easy to compute for totally public feeds (it's about 6B 
people).  This assumes that showing an estimate for the size of an 
audience isn't a privacy issue itself (for a private feed).  Alternatively, 
have 
some general set of classifications -- just the recipient, a small group, 
large group, open to the world -- which users can understand.

Any return information from this endpoint would also be useful status 
data to return when a salmon is actually posted.

Finally, perhaps a GET on this endpoint could return a list of activity verbs 
that the endpoint supports.  If your activity isn't on the list, you don't need 
to bother showing the user the option to send a salmon at all.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by jpanzer@google.com on 26 Feb 2010 at 6:12

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Original comment by jpanzer@google.com on 6 Apr 2010 at 10:04

• Added labels: Type-Enhancement

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Typo in example, should be 'mentioned' per the spec text.

Original comment by jpanzer@google.com on 26 Jul 2010 at 8:03

• Changed state: Accepted