From 0fdd9180f7ebdf0694980e0926c78eb91ab44403 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Tigran Najaryan <4194920+tigrannajaryan@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Fri, 26 May 2023 11:23:42 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] Explain why custom attributes are not recommended to be
 placed in Otel namespaces (#3507)

The @open-telemetry/technical-committee discussed and decided to keep the
existing recommendations but clarify them and explain the purpose.
---
 specification/common/attribute-naming.md | 7 +++++++
 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+)

diff --git a/specification/common/attribute-naming.md b/specification/common/attribute-naming.md
index 67aee0ad09..badb9acbd0 100644
--- a/specification/common/attribute-naming.md
+++ b/specification/common/attribute-naming.md
@@ -133,6 +133,13 @@ To do that consider a few options:
   `myuniquemapapp.longitude` is likely fine). Make sure the application name
   does not clash with an existing semantic convention namespace.
 
+- It is not recommended to use existing OpenTelemetry semantic convention namespace
+  as a prefix for a new company- or application-specific attribute name. Doing so
+  may result in a name clash in the future, if OpenTelemetry decides to use that
+  same name for a different purpose or if some other third party instrumentation
+  decides to use that exact same attribute name and you combine that instrumentation
+  with your own.
+
 - The name may be generally applicable to applications in the industry. In that
   case consider submitting a proposal to this specification to add a new name to
   the semantic conventions, and if necessary also to add a new namespace.