AndySylvester01

This site is dedicated to promoting tools and services that support building social networks based on RSS feeds. See https://andysylvester.com/2025/05/26/announcing-the-feed-net... for more information!

A video announcing the return of the Org Mode for Beginners video series. Leave a comment with your top question about Org Mode, and I will address it in a future video!

I comment on a recent On The Media podcast about podcasting, and respond with a podcast in the style of Keith Olbermann.

I have created a proof of concept for a microblogging tool relying on RSS for data storage and rssCloud for notification. I was motivated to do this to show how rssCloud could be used to support a Twitter-like experience. Check it out!

I included the information about Dave Winer in the article because (1) there have been problems in his products regarding rssCloud support for WordPress sites, which I wanted "on the record", and (2) I felt that his attitude toward "help" needs to be called out, otherwise people would not be aware, and have that context in reading his blog/side of the story. He mentions Automattic in his post on December 24th (http://scripting.com/2022/12/24/162940.html#a163527) regarding rssCloud work with WordPress, but it was really Andrew Shell (http://feedland.org/?item=880552) that did the work to make it happen.

See my earlier reply, Atom can support rssCloud through the addition of a cloud element.

The main benefit of rssCloud is quicker notification of updates versus polling every 10 to 60 minutes, as most feed readers do. The drawbacks are that the tool generating the RSS feed needs to include another element (the cloud element), the tool needs to inform a server that an update has occurred (need a server), and there has to be an app that registers with the server to get updates, and to display those updates (need an app that supports rssCloud). Without all of those 3 pieces, rssCloud is not going to provide the value of quicker notification. You could also consult your fellow employee, Joseph Scott, who worked on the WordPress plugin, for more context.

I am not familiar with what is needed to support WebSub, but I assume there is some work involved, just as there would be for XMPP, Jabber and any other protocol that involves more than polling. That "extra work" is the barrier to entry that helps keep people using Twitter and Facebook - the users get that notification "hit" and network effect without any extra work on their part.

Atom feeds can also support rssCloud through the addition of a cloud element as defined in the RSS spec.

I would be interested in know what your feed reader service is, and how subscriptions support WebSub.

rssCloud is a separate protocol, but performs many of the same functions as WebSub.

I use River5 (https://github.com/scripting/river5), and pipe the output to a web app (https://readinglist.andysylvester.com/).

My summary of the recent work in the rssCloud arena