4 ms·

We need a standard API to subscribe to blogs on other sites, that will appear on our blog feed as news feed -- like how facebook or tweeter feeds work. RSS is t

We need a standard API to subscribe to blogs on other sites, that will appear on our blog feed as news feed -- like how facebook or tweeter feeds work. RSS is too personal, too much outside the flow.

aembleton 5y ago
I don't understand how RSS is too personal. An RSS feed of a blog is usually the same for all readers of the blog.
- mawise 5y ago
  I didn't get that comment either. I've doubled-down on RSS for this purpose in my side-project Haven[1]. Write your own private blog, share it with people who can then subscribe with personal http-basic-auth RSS links (or view it on the web), and I've recently built in (still a WIP) a feed reader so you can create your own facebook-style news feed of anything on the web or things your friends write privately on their own Haven. [1]: https://havenweb.org https://havenweb.org
- tablespoonsruby 5y ago
  Maybe they mean that since there are many different feed readers a person could use, a blog can't have a "Click here to subscribe via RSS" link? Most feed readers will have a bookmarklet for 1-click subscribing, but the blog owner doesn't have the ability to make a prominent "call to action"-style button.
  - hopesthoughts 5y ago
    Sure they can, well they can have a link that brings up the feed anyway. What the browser does with it is a different story, and that depends on whether RSS preview extensions are installed. Copying and pasting that URL wherever it needs to go isn't all that complicated.
lolinder 5y ago
RSS is a standard API to subscribe to blogs. Maybe what you're suggesting is that more tools are needed to make RSS more accessible to lay people?
epc 5y ago
Like OPML? http://opml.org/ http://opml.org/
- diskzero 5y ago
  OPML could be part of a solution for authoring blogs that then can publish using RSS. It is an interchange format for outline with attributed text.
  - epc 5y ago
    Back in the old Web 2.0 days we used OPML files to publish and exchange blog rolls, Dave Winer even had a site you could log into and share, in a sort of social-networking way, your blog/RSS subscriptions via OPML.
    - diskzero 5y ago
      Dave has been working on Drummer [1], a browser-hosted outliner. I haven't used it, but I am glad he is still at it. [1] http://drummer.scripting.com/ http://drummer.scripting.com/
diskzero 5y ago
RSS is too personal, too much outside the flow. I have no idea about "too personal" mean, but the only reason you would consider RSS "outside of the flow" is due to the concerted effort by Google, Twitter, Facebook and Apple to reduce support. Even Mozilla(!) has been involved in removing support. RSS is a perfectly good, tested and usable mechanism. Coming up with yet another syndication mechanism would be a huge waste of time and effort, most likely resulting in insignificance.

We need a standard API to subscribe to blogs on other sites, that will appear on our blog feed as news feed -- like how facebook or tweeter feeds work. RSS is too personal, too much outside the flow.

aembleton 5y ago

I don't understand how RSS is too personal. An RSS feed of a blog is usually the same for all readers of the blog.

mawise 5y ago
I didn't get that comment either. I've doubled-down on RSS for this purpose in my side-project Haven[1]. Write your own private blog, share it with people who can then subscribe with personal http-basic-auth RSS links (or view it on the web), and I've recently built in (still a WIP) a feed reader so you can create your own facebook-style news feed of anything on the web or things your friends write privately on their own Haven. [1]: https://havenweb.org https://havenweb.org
tablespoonsruby 5y ago
Maybe they mean that since there are many different feed readers a person could use, a blog can't have a "Click here to subscribe via RSS" link? Most feed readers will have a bookmarklet for 1-click subscribing, but the blog owner doesn't have the ability to make a prominent "call to action"-style button.
- hopesthoughts 5y ago
  Sure they can, well they can have a link that brings up the feed anyway. What the browser does with it is a different story, and that depends on whether RSS preview extensions are installed. Copying and pasting that URL wherever it needs to go isn't all that complicated.

lolinder 5y ago

RSS is a standard API to subscribe to blogs. Maybe what you're suggesting is that more tools are needed to make RSS more accessible to lay people?

epc 5y ago

Like OPML? http://opml.org/ http://opml.org/

diskzero 5y ago
OPML could be part of a solution for authoring blogs that then can publish using RSS. It is an interchange format for outline with attributed text.
- epc 5y ago
  Back in the old Web 2.0 days we used OPML files to publish and exchange blog rolls, Dave Winer even had a site you could log into and share, in a sort of social-networking way, your blog/RSS subscriptions via OPML.
  - diskzero 5y ago
    Dave has been working on Drummer [1], a browser-hosted outliner. I haven't used it, but I am glad he is still at it. [1] http://drummer.scripting.com/ http://drummer.scripting.com/

diskzero 5y ago

RSS is too personal, too much outside the flow. I have no idea about "too personal" mean, but the only reason you would consider RSS "outside of the flow" is due to the concerted effort by Google, Twitter, Facebook and Apple to reduce support. Even Mozilla(!) has been involved in removing support. RSS is a perfectly good, tested and usable mechanism. Coming up with yet another syndication mechanism would be a huge waste of time and effort, most likely resulting in insignificance.