Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: What to do about RSS

Author:Chuck Shotton
Posted:9/2/2000; 3:58:10 PM
Topic:scriptingNews outline for 9/2/2000
Msg #:20743 (In response to 20742)
Prev/Next:20742 / 20744

I'm glad to hear at least some people who are developing around RSS see it the same way that I do, that its simplicity is its contribution, and to mess with that is to change it to something else.

I suspect the camel's nose is already under the tent on this particular specification. Just like HTTP 0.9 lingered for years and years, morphing into HTTP/1.0 which was really only a slight variation, relatively speaking, I think RSS 0.91 will continue to persist. Regardless of what the RFC-mongers contend, there is too much existing infrastructure. There are LOTS of content authors using automated tools that they didn't implement to create RSS versions of their content. That disconnect between author and coder is enough to make sure this is a long, painful process.

IMO, we're a lot better off with people USING the current spec than undertaking a rewrite just for the sake of adding features and hoping programmers follow along. RSS is in use because it is EASY. Rewriting all the RSS support code on the planet to support something HARD isn't a compelling prospect. This is destined to simply fracture and retard the content syndication area even further. Argh!!

FWIW, we patterned the entire internals of our personal publication process in go'trieve directly on the XML hierarchy of a RSS document. There is a 1 to 1 mapping of RSS elements to objects in our database. I am definitely NOT interested in reengineering at this level!!!

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