https://github.com/w3c/activitypub/issues/404
It's quite long, but the summary is:
- AP says that the identifier of the special public collection is https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public (section 5.6).
- JSON-LD programs may replace https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public with as:Public. There is a note in AP that warns about this quirk.
- One proposed erratum re-frames the current normative text. as:Public is presented as a "correct" variant, and https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public is said to be "erroneous". Another proposed erratum replaces https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public with as:Public in all examples.
Why is it harmful?
- https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public is used everywhere. Even among those few implementations that do JSON-LD processing, most don't produce as:Public. The whole problem is made-up.
- as:Public and Public are not valid HTTP URIs, so you need to special-case them when you parse audiences. These variants should be banned, but what happens is the opposite.
- Specification will become even more confusing than it is now, because examples will contradict the normative text.