RSS Feed 2.0

April 26, 2003

Nicole should be happy about this: http://www.thudfactor.com/index.xml is now an RSS 2.0 feed with complete entries (but no comments). It took me some digging but I finally found a pre-made template that seems to work. The Big Pink Cookie has more.

Now, I have to say I like the concept but I’m not sure about the execution. I’m not sure for two reasons. One is the RSS feeds seem to be layered on top of everything else. UNIXGal apparently had to install three plugins and create a seperate feed for her comments in order to get it to fit her needs. And this effort is for what? So some application like NewzCrawler can come along and show my content without my snazzy design, links to my friends, and other things I want to show off?

That’s bad enough, but mark my words: if someone hasn’t already done it, there will be adware supported newsreaders—using my complete content to sell advertising on their site. And what will we do then?

Folks, putting content into XML serves one purpose and one purpose only: to improve the portability of that content. In other words, you are making it easier for people to copy you and easier for people to use your content in ways you never thought of.

Posted in Archived Unsorted