3 ms·

> If a reader happens to scrape the blog 5 minutes before a new entry is posted, it would then take over 23 hours for it to update. Given the update frequency

> If a reader happens to scrape the blog 5 minutes before a new entry is posted, it would then take over 23 hours for it to update. Given the update frequency and kind of content it does not seem much of an issue does it? > the author's policies seem rather heavy handed and counterproductive to providing an open feed It’s not though? “Open feed” is just that, it’s not a license to be a resource hog because you refuse to be a good citizen. > God forbid their most dedicated readers receive the most timely updates. Rachel does not post day to day life updates. “Most timely updates” is not a thing, it’s not a storm reporting feed. Latency is not a concern.

veeti 2y ago
Whether latency is a concern or not depends entirely on the end user controlling the feed reader and their expectations. For all you know, the developer of the reader may be facing complaints from a disgruntled user upset that the feed isn't updating, even though they can see a new blog post on the website. A lecture on HTTP 429 status codes, Retry-After headers and "being a good citizen" is unlikely to make them any happier. You are free to not serve such requests, but as a blogger you might want to consider that such bot traffic serves your legitimate readers. It appears to me that the author is also rate limiting well behaved clients that are already trying to be respectful of resources using conditional requests.
- simoncion 2y ago
  > A lecture on HTTP 429 status codes, Retry-After headers and "being a good citizen" is unlikely to make them any happier. Why install a lecture in the feed reader? Just have a banner/toast/status-bar-message/whatever that says "This feed will update in X minutes/hours/days.".
  - thaumasiotes 2y ago
    Nothing makes the user happier than telling them they can't use the only functionality you provide. If you're going to show that message, why are you a feed reader at all? Open the webpage and show the content.
    - simoncion 2y ago
      I agree that not showing any message is generally preferable. GP seemed fixated on showing a lecture, which I thought was strictly worse than just showing a short message. > If you're going to show that message, why are you a feed reader at all? What? The feed readers I used showed status messages. Status messages are nice, they give the operator a fighting chance to understand what's going on and fix things if they've gone wrong.
eviks 2y ago
> not a license to be a resource hog because you refuse to be a good citizen. Which resources are you "hogging" by reloading a webpage twice?

veeti 2y ago

Whether latency is a concern or not depends entirely on the end user controlling the feed reader and their expectations. For all you know, the developer of the reader may be facing complaints from a disgruntled user upset that the feed isn't updating, even though they can see a new blog post on the website. A lecture on HTTP 429 status codes, Retry-After headers and "being a good citizen" is unlikely to make them any happier. You are free to not serve such requests, but as a blogger you might want to consider that such bot traffic serves your legitimate readers. It appears to me that the author is also rate limiting well behaved clients that are already trying to be respectful of resources using conditional requests.

simoncion 2y ago
> A lecture on HTTP 429 status codes, Retry-After headers and "being a good citizen" is unlikely to make them any happier. Why install a lecture in the feed reader? Just have a banner/toast/status-bar-message/whatever that says "This feed will update in X minutes/hours/days.".
- thaumasiotes 2y ago
  Nothing makes the user happier than telling them they can't use the only functionality you provide. If you're going to show that message, why are you a feed reader at all? Open the webpage and show the content.
  - simoncion 2y ago
    I agree that not showing any message is generally preferable. GP seemed fixated on showing a lecture, which I thought was strictly worse than just showing a short message. > If you're going to show that message, why are you a feed reader at all? What? The feed readers I used showed status messages. Status messages are nice, they give the operator a fighting chance to understand what's going on and fix things if they've gone wrong.

eviks 2y ago

> not a license to be a resource hog because you refuse to be a good citizen. Which resources are you "hogging" by reloading a webpage twice?