I answered your stackoverflow question there. I would basically say that hierarchy is what is important. For your example /document is more generic than /user

I answered your stackoverflow question there. I would basically say that hierarchy is what is important. For your example /document is more generic than /user/document. e.g. meaning that /document/{id} may belong to 1 or more users, where /user/document belongs to 1 and only 1 user. So while I may be wrong, I feel RESTful services should follow the hierarchy. It makes everyones jobs behind you much easier.