Thread:Talk:Requests for comment/API Future/Reduce the amount of query parameters/reply (3)

No, let's not make format=json and format=jsonfm behave differently. The only difference should be the formatting of the output, and that should boil down to "fm" adds insignificant whitespace and HTML formatting for viewing in the browser. Otherwise debugging becomes a pain because you have to remember all the things that behave differently depending on whether you're looking at the "fm" or raw versions.

But I do agree on the defaults question: if you want something, ask for it. Maybe Jdlrobinson wants dimensions and a thumbnail and buckets of reuse information, while maybe I just want to know whether it's local or from Commons. The default should strike a balance, returning information that is generally useful, cheap to query, and small enough that it's not a huge waste to send it when it's not actually wanted.

As for REST, I've yet to see any specific examples of how such a thing might look. Looking at generic REST and ROA descriptions, though, it looks to me like it would result in the replacement of  with 500 individual queries with one title each. If that's true, no thanks.