I've been seeing RSS gaining more and more popularity over the last
years and I simply do not understand why. Why is RSS so great? What
does it do that is so great and wonderful? The only thing it seems to
have over anything else is that it's using XMLwith a standardized
format.
RSS is great because lots of people & sites use it to disseminate interesting stuff. Also, lots of software (especially blogging software) pumps out feeds by default, so this dissemination consumes zero effort on anyone's part.
If you want to be up to date you want to
see *all* entries. Miss a day and *whoops* you missed a bunch of
stuff. This is part of why I like my Slashdot e-mails. I can not read
them for a week (if I don't have the time) and go back and read them
all later on.
Use a server-side feed aggregator. Feed On Feeds is a popular one, and I maintain a derivative project called Reblog (http://reblog.org) which I am very proud of. That way, you miss nothing.
* RSS readers allow the user to categorize feeds much like mail, and to
keep track of un/read feeds/entries.
Which brings up my point again. If it's so much like mail....why not
just have it *be* mail?
Administering a mailing list sucks, badly.
------------------------------------------------------
michal migurski- contact info, blog, and pgp key:
sf/ca http://mike.teczno.com/contact.html