6 ms·

Here's an example https://help.abc.net.au/hc/en-us/articles/6147104938383-Why-are-RSS-feeds-no-longer-being-updated https://help.abc.net.au/hc/en-us/articles/6

Here's an example https://help.abc.net.au/hc/en-us/articles/6147104938383-Why-are-RSS-feeds-no-longer-being-updated https://help.abc.net.au/hc/en-us/articles/6147104938383-Why-...

aragilar 8mo ago
It's all about licensing sadly...
- 6510 8mo ago
  It is somehow less funny today but in the 90's we would say "is there something wrong with your hands?" A truly funny story: I wrote an rss aggregator and one day I discover some feeds had died without me noticing it. I looked at the feed, it was gone, I look at my aggregate and the headlines were all there?!?! Since I gather a lot of feeds I couldn't help but noticed that a very large amount isn't wellformed. For example, in xml attributes the & (in urls) is suppose to be &, if you do that however many aggregators won't be able to parse it. Every other month I wrote little bits of code to address the most annoying issues. 1) if I cant find a <link> or <guide> etc I eventually just gather <a>'s and take the href. 2) if I really cant find a title for the item I had it fail back on whatever is in the <a> since I was gathering those anyway. 3) if I cant even find an <item> I just look for the things that are suppose to go in the <item> 4) if I cant find a proper time stamp ill try parse one out of the url 5) if the urls are relative path complete them. What was actually going on: The feed was gone, it redirected to the home page. In an attempt to parse the "xml" it eventually resorted to gathering the url and title from the <a>'s and build valid time stamps from the urls.
6510 8mo ago
Uh, they lie about everything? https://www.abc.net.au/news/feed/51120/rss.xml https://www.abc.net.au/news/feed/51120/rss.xml I haven't fully examined it but looking at the xml I see it was last build in 2026 and a headline about Women's Asian Cup 2026. abc.net.au/news/2026-03-05/matildas-iran-asian-cup-quick-hits-hayley-raso-mary-fowler/106413886
- crabmusket 8mo ago
  Oh that's wild. I guess the system is just on autopilot and nobody knew how to actually act on their policy change.

Here's an example https://help.abc.net.au/hc/en-us/articles/6147104938383-Why-are-RSS-feeds-no-longer-being-updated https://help.abc.net.au/hc/en-us/articles/6147104938383-Why-...

aragilar 8mo ago

It's all about licensing sadly...

6510 8mo ago
It is somehow less funny today but in the 90's we would say "is there something wrong with your hands?" A truly funny story: I wrote an rss aggregator and one day I discover some feeds had died without me noticing it. I looked at the feed, it was gone, I look at my aggregate and the headlines were all there?!?! Since I gather a lot of feeds I couldn't help but noticed that a very large amount isn't wellformed. For example, in xml attributes the & (in urls) is suppose to be &, if you do that however many aggregators won't be able to parse it. Every other month I wrote little bits of code to address the most annoying issues. 1) if I cant find a <link> or <guide> etc I eventually just gather <a>'s and take the href. 2) if I really cant find a title for the item I had it fail back on whatever is in the <a> since I was gathering those anyway. 3) if I cant even find an <item> I just look for the things that are suppose to go in the <item> 4) if I cant find a proper time stamp ill try parse one out of the url 5) if the urls are relative path complete them. What was actually going on: The feed was gone, it redirected to the home page. In an attempt to parse the "xml" it eventually resorted to gathering the url and title from the <a>'s and build valid time stamps from the urls.

6510 8mo ago

Uh, they lie about everything? https://www.abc.net.au/news/feed/51120/rss.xml https://www.abc.net.au/news/feed/51120/rss.xml I haven't fully examined it but looking at the xml I see it was last build in 2026 and a headline about Women's Asian Cup 2026. abc.net.au/news/2026-03-05/matildas-iran-asian-cup-quick-hits-hayley-raso-mary-fowler/106413886

crabmusket 8mo ago
Oh that's wild. I guess the system is just on autopilot and nobody knew how to actually act on their policy change.