Skip to main content

Why Aren't You Using RSS?

Steve Rubel comments how " No participant understood the mechanisms associated with RSS/subscribing to a blog" - this isn't new either.

Steve Black noted to me a while back that while Canadians are fairly heavy wiki-contributors, they are on the low end of RSS usage.

Why is that? Are users not aware that the Wiki has great RSS support.

Do you want just a brief listing?
Subscribe to this

Want the full details?
Here you go

This page actually gives you the full details of the implementation because you can control it for individual name spaces as well.

Maybe it's because not every one has a built-in news aggregator on their OS. I know that MS is doing this with Longhorn but the word has to get out more and more.

Using Firefox? It's built right into the browser. When you get to a web site, right-click on the orange link in the bottom right hand corner and you're subscribed.

Using IE? Consider OnFolio.

Want something to go everywhere with you? Use NewsGator or BlogLines

Yes, a lot of people complain that they have other things to do with their time than just reading blogs. And they don't want to only read them in Outlook. That's why having a single place (like NewsGator) that works in conjunction with others is a godsend.

My Outlook and OnLine NewsGators are sync'd so when I read a post in Outlook, it marks it as read online. When I read it online, it marks it as read in Outlook as well.

Maybe FoxPro developers want one that's built into the Task Pane? If so, check out TaskPaneCentral for a bunch of downloads that make it easier to find and consume RSS.

Isn't it a lot easier to read things the way YOU want to?

So for those of you who don't use RSS, tell me : why don't you?
For those of you who do, ask others around you: why don't they?

Micro Persuasion: Blogs in the Eye of the Beholder

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Merry Christmas

Whether you celebrate now, have already celebrated your past holiday, are planning to, or not, I hope you find yourself surrounded by family and those you love during this holiday season and are able to remember fondly those who are not with you. We often find ourselves buried in work, or too distracted by other problems, to share and remember a few moments with those closest to us. So many of us are separated by huge distances, we often find it easier to focus on those who are out of arm's reach yet so easy to connect with online, instead of those who are right beside us. So do yourself a favour, put down the keyboard (stylus, mouse, etc) and spend that time. I know I will. Merry Christmas. Powered by ScribeFire .
4 comments
Read more

Who Wants To Be Logical? I Do! I Don't! (with Claude)

In my book, Towards Consciousness, I explore PET , a theory that attempts to explain consciousness and possibly how it might apply to AI. As part of the conversations with AI series, I've included this conversation with Claude.AI in which we were talking about something very different and yet the conversation redirected itself back to PET. For the record, there is no such thing as "Colfsity". A It's interesting to me that people want to proclaim their distinction from being rigid and unlike machines, yet they also complain that the "best" people keep a rigid schedule, regular routines and logic understanding of issues. That's a perceptive observation about a real tension in how people think about themselves and what they value. There does seem to be this paradox where rigidity is simultaneously rejected as "robotic" or inhuman, yet praised when it appears as discipline, consistency, or logical thinking. I think part of what's happening is t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Programmers vs. Developers vs. Architects

I received an email this morning from Brandon Savage 's newsletter. Brandon's a PHP guru (works at Mozilla) but his newsletter and books have some great overall perspectives for developers of all languages. However, this last one (What's the difference between developers and architects?) kind of rubs me the wrong way. Either that, or I've just missed the natural inflation of job descriptions. (maybe, it's like the change in terminology between Garbage man and Waste Engineer or Secretary and Office Administrator) So maybe it's just me - but I think there's still a big difference between Programmer, Developer and then of course, architect. The key thing here is that every role has a different perspective and every one of those perspectives has value. The original MSF create roles like Product Manager, Program Manager, Developer, Tester, etc - so every concept may pigeon hole people into different roles. But the statements Brandon makes are often distinction...
11 comments
Read more