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What? Not at all. RSS is a product category. Many RSS feeds are, if you look into them, Atom. Your RSS reader just doesn't bother to tell you, because why would
by thaumasiotes 3mo ago
What? Not at all. RSS is a product category. Many RSS feeds are, if you look into them, Atom. Your RSS reader just doesn't bother to tell you, because why would you care?
Try putting a Betamax tape into a VHS VCR and see if you can watch it.
- superkuh 3mo agoAtom is a response to not wanting to support backwards compatibility like RSS does in order to improve things. https://web.archive.org/web/20080216234454/http://www.sixapart.com/about/news/2003/06/why_we_need_ech.html https://web.archive.org/web/20080216234454/http://www.sixapa... It's explicitly a different thing. This is like pointing at the monitor of a desktop computer and saying, "that's the computer". It is effective to communicate with people who aren't interested in computers, but it's also not true and the distinction does have important consequences for behavior. Atom is not RSS even if some feed readers support both and most people don't know what feeds are. And because of that, and the early popularity and widespread adoption of RSS, the better format (atom) isn't used nearly as much. And calls to increase use of betamax/atom generally went and go unheeded.
- stymaar 3mo ago> and the early popularity and widespread adoption of RSS, the better format (atom) isn't used nearly as much. That may have been true 20 years ago, but now that pretty much no-one uses either of them , I'd be surprised if RSS was still meaningfully more widespread than Atom. (Except everything is being called RSS). https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49141336 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49141336 is the only valid response to your VHS/Betamax comparison, really.
- verisimi 3mo agoI use RSS multiple times daily.
- stymaar 3mo agoAnd you're also on HN, you're not exactly the average human being. Do you use “RSS” as a protol specifically, or do you use “RSS” as in “any feed no matter the protocol”?
- verisimi 3mo agoI was responding to the generic comment that: > pretty much no-one uses either of them
- stymaar 3mo agoAnd I stand with that phrase. I'm pretty sure that are more VHS users than RSS these days. It's not strictly zero, but it's a negligible fraction of internet users.
- superkuh 3mo agoI don't disagree. But I would also assert the absolute number of RSS users is probably higher than it has ever been. And that's what matters, not what "most people do" now that there are far more non-technical users on the internet than ever before.
- kelnos 3mo agoOne person using something doesn't mean it's popular.
- talideon 3mo agoWell, the likes of Wordpress make this a bit of a mixed bag. It still publishes multiple feeds in multiple format, with what proports to being an RSS feed actually being a Frankenstein's monster of RSS, Atom, and random other namespaces. I don't know why they persist in still doing that after all these years.
- thaumasiotes 3mo ago> This is like pointing at the monitor of a desktop computer and saying, "that's the computer". Referring to an atom feed as an "RSS feed" is exactly equivalent to bringing Hydrox cookies to a potluck and hearing someone call them "Oreos".
- fanf2 3mo agoWhich of the nine incompatible versions of RSS supports backwards compatibility? https://web.archive.org/web/20110726002019/http://diveintomark.org/archives/2004/02/04/incompatible-rss https://web.archive.org/web/20110726002019/http://diveintoma...
- benj111 3mo agoTo extend the metaphor though. An RSS reader that works with atom is the same as a VHS player that also has a beta max player. Or your blueray player that plays dvds and CDs....
- thaumasiotes 3mo ago> To extend the metaphor though. An RSS reader that works with atom is the same as a VHS player that also has a beta max player. An RSS reader that works with atom is the same as a VCR that will play VHS and Betamax cassettes out of the same physical slot, in a world where videocassettes are sold with no indication of which format they've been printed in, and they're all the same shape, and there are no VCRs that can fail to play either format. > Or your blueray player that plays dvds and CDs.... Which, yes, is a lot like this, but absolutely nothing like VHS vs Betamax.
- LAC-Tech 3mo agohuh, I call the atom feed on my site an atom feed. I wonder if that confuses people...
- thaumasiotes 3mo agoYes, obviously it will.
- LAC-Tech 3mo agoWhat a bitchy reply