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RSS Awareness Day - Help Spread The Word

rssday.org — If you use Digg you probably know how useful the RSS format can be. Only 5% of the Internet population use it though, so let's try to increase this awareness on May 1st.

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  • ubernoggin, on 05/01/2008, -2/+32I'll be sure to wear my armband.
    • Onestone, on 05/01/2008, -1/+6Why RSS? Atom is the technologically superior standard. I'd prefer having a "feed awareness day".
      • esquilax, on 05/01/2008, -0/+3Agreed, besides, if you were praising RSS day, you'd have to figure out which of the 9 mutually incompatible and not backward compatible versions of RSS to praise: http://diveintomark.org/archives/2004/02/04/incomp ...

        Atom's just not a product of some misguided holy war, let's standardize on that.
      • dbr_onix, on 05/03/2008, -2/+1For all it matters, Atom *is* RSS.
        Trying to inform people of the benefits of Atom over RSS before they have the slightest clue about "RSS" won't help RSS/Atom/feeds at all.. Besides, RSS is a more distinct word than "feed"..
        • MktingGuy, on 05/07/2008, -0/+0sorry couldn't resist joining this one - technically RSS is not a word and so wouldn't be more distinct than feed.

          Anyway moving on, i don't care what it's called but it should definitely be done and dugg it is
  • envec, on 05/01/2008, -10/+4Yeah we should have "I love RSS!" t-shirts around also. Dave Winer should produce them...
  • Surferess, on 05/01/2008, -7/+3Really appreciate the heads up here!
    BRB gotta run out and get presents for all my computer geek friends!
  • jaychuck, on 05/01/2008, -12/+3My feeds include TechCrunch, Joystiq, ZeroPuncuation, Rev3, 1up.com, and my forum board. I 100% the use of RSS and it's an important part of m internet use. Glad we have it.
  • meruru, on 05/01/2008, -7/+37In the spirit of RSS day how about you inform those of us (including me) who see no value in subscribing to RSS feeds. Why should I subscribe to an RSS feed for a site I follow regularly? I mean if I'm visiting the site daily what tangible benefit does the RSS feed have, I'm going to see the content anyways by just visiting the site. Open my mind to the wonders that RSS can provide.
    • theaceoffire, on 05/01/2008, -2/+12I use it for tv.
      By using http://tvrss.net/ and utorrent or deluge, I can have my favorite TV shows auto download themselves with no commercials.
      I also use it to share bookmarks with multiple browsers that I use (Cause I am kinda lazy and RSS makes it easy to change em all).
    • Doktag, on 05/01/2008, -1/+10I only started using RSS feeds about 3 weeks ago, but I wouldn't go back to not using it now. It depends how many blogs / websites / webcomics you read regularly, but I have found it immensely useful. It quickly allows me to see if any of the websites I read have published a new post, and I can either read it in the feed reader, or go to the website and read it there.

      My biggest issue when deciding to try using RSS feeds was finding a good feed aggregator. I ended up going with Google Reader ( http://www.google.com/reader ), as I already had a gmail account, I can access it from anywhere, and I had heard other people recommend it.

      I haven't tried anything else, but i love Google Reader. There are also various Google Reader Notifiers out there, so you can know the second a new post is put up.
      • macweirdo42, on 05/01/2008, -0/+3I visit a lot of websites regularly, but I pretty much know when to expect something new - webcomics generally have a weekly schedule, and of course places like digg update pretty much constantly.
        • Doktag, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1I actually don't subscribe to digg's rss feeds, because, like you said, it updates constantly. I would be getting a ridiculous amount of notifications otherwise. I like refreshing digg, because you know there will almost always be new content when it loads. You can't exactly say the same with blogs or webcomics. Wouldn't you want to know exactly when a new post or comic is up, without having to constantly check the page? That's the beauty of RSS.
      • MattBD, on 05/01/2008, -0/+3Google Reader is the best way there is to keep up with lots of feeds. Even if you're at another computer, you can use it to read your feeds. I sometimes read them during my lunch break.
    • scyon, on 05/01/2008, -2/+18I monitor about 200 feeds. Checking each of them daily would be impractical without the use of an rss reader.
    • tiuk, on 05/01/2008, -1/+10I was a pretty slow adopter of RSS considering my background (probably started using it 1.5-2 years ago), but even after using it for a short time I realized I could never go back. Basically the idea is you don't -have- to visit a favorite site regularly to follow it. Why periodically check a website for updates (many times finding that there aren't any and you've just wasted time) when you can have the content come to you instead?
      • Ebeach, on 05/01/2008, -1/+6I'm in the same boat as the parent. I had a digg, slashdot and a few other feeds. And after a while I realized that I enjoyed visiting those sites. Maybe it had to do with my routine, but RSS was taking away from that. It seemed so bare bones. Oh, here's all that info you wanted, minus the UI and character you've come to know. It started to feel, dare I say it on the web, impersonal.
    • funkytaco, on 05/01/2008, -0/+4http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/1268/rsspe4.gif
      My reason - with pick-atch-ures.
    • theOster, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1i throw the few that i like on my google ig page, so whenever i need to do some internetting, i just glance thru the headlines...
      • theOster, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1also great for monitoring forum responses to threads i'm interested in...
    • MrCalifornia, on 05/01/2008, -4/+1If you go to a site 20 times a day that means you have to read a minimum of 20 articles twice because on each additional visit you'll get to the article that was the first article you read on your last visit and the only way and you'll have to read the headline to know you've already seen it. Kind of like if your gmail never marked anything read and every time you had to check to see what was new.

      RSS marks my info read for me.
    • slashbigbang, on 05/01/2008, -1/+2http://youtube.com/watch?v=AwtmOPdrEL8
      • someguy92, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1OMG! I've never seen such a multi-touch screen that advanced!!!
  • ginestony, on 05/01/2008, -7/+1My fav RSS feed: The Burger King blog
    http://www.topblogarea.com/rss/Burger-King.htm
  • aaasinger, on 05/01/2008, -6/+2I Digg RSS
  • Owwmykneecap, on 05/01/2008, -2/+27Yes we need to help awareness and raise funds for those afflicted by RSS.

    Lets set a target to eradicate it from every man woman and child by the year 2525.
    • Doktag, on 05/01/2008, -3/+8That and TBA. TBA is a terrible disease that needs more fundraising.
  • talkingwires, on 05/01/2008, -4/+22Judging by the number of XKCD and Zero Punctuation stories on the front page, only 5% of Digg users use it, too.
  • twiztidsinz, on 05/01/2008, -5/+5Why would digg users use RSS?
    Isn't that what Digg is for? *looks at xkcd and zeropunctuation*
  • feebes, on 05/01/2008, -4/+1RSS? I thought the word of the day was "legs".
  • TrevorBelmont, on 05/01/2008, -2/+3It's always heart warming to see people come together in support of a noble cause.
  • schnikies79, on 05/01/2008, -5/+6I frequent two sites, digg and slashdot.

    No need for an RSS when you visit a site regularly.
    • serif69, on 05/01/2008, -0/+4And both of those are best described as aggregators as it is, so you're basically subscribing to two RSS aggregators that filter out all the stupid crap for you. Well, some of the stupid crap anyway.
  • dculpepper, on 05/01/2008, -5/+1@meruru - What if you are trying to follow several websites/blogs daily? The time you save by using RSS feeds and good feed reader can be huge. Sure there are certain sites that I prefer to actually visit daily but without RSS feeds I would never be able to stay up to date on my various niches and get my work done.
    • 11oops, on 05/01/2008, -0/+3Learn how to use the reply button. It's there for a reason.
      • dood, on 05/01/2008, -1/+1There is no reply button on my RSS feed reader.
        • 11oops, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1That's super, but there are reply buttons on Digg which is where this guy posted.
          • dood, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1All kidding aside, the reply buttons frequently fail to appear. I haven't investigated it, but I've seen it a whole bunch of times, and not just when threads get "too deep".
  • Chimone, on 05/01/2008, -1/+10New things scare me. RSS is the work of the devil

    Save me Jeebus
  • alanondigg, on 05/01/2008, -7/+2My .02, RSS isn't that helpful. It's easy to coordinate but you end up with a glut of news/forum posts/blog posts/whatever that if you were to actually go to the source site you'd peruse and choose what to read or not read much more readily. I think bookmarks are sufficient and RSS is clunky.
    • adamuffa, on 05/01/2008, -0/+7RSS changed my life forever with how I get my information and I could never go back.
      Bookmarks are the clunkiest invention ever. Yea, let me manually browse to which sites I want to view instead of them having the information delivered to me.
      • alanondigg, on 05/01/2008, -1/+0Fine, so that works for you. For me, I have my internet pit stops and I like to see everything that's going on with that site and it's not a chore to "manually" go to my bookmarks. Also, rss lists are visually unappealing, a bit clinical- I like to see the graphics and images on sites.
    • gandhii, on 05/01/2008, -0/+2I agree,,, if all rss feeds included the article in the feed.. it would be fine.. but when you have to go to the site.. it is a pain.
  • toconnor, on 05/01/2008, -2/+1Just what we need! First it's RSS Awareness Day. Then it's the powerful RSS lobby in Washington. Then the RSS political party. Where does it end?
  • potterboy, on 05/01/2008, -4/+2Everyone with a blog should make a post about this.
    http://lifeofahomeschooledgeek.com/2008/05/01/what ...
  • JK1150, on 05/01/2008, -4/+20uhhh why?
  • sgromoll, on 05/01/2008, -4/+0Most people also don't seem to know that (thanks to dotgo.com) you can text any domain name to the phone number DOTCOM (368266) from your cell phone to read its RSS feeds, if it has 'em. (e.g. like how I get my Digg fix by sending the text message "digg" to 368266). RSS is great...
    • ErikHK, on 05/01/2008, -0/+0Or you can get a Sony Ericsson mobile phone that supports RSS feeds natively..
  • sykotik, on 05/01/2008, -4/+4Geez. An RSS-Day article makes it to the front page, but I cannot get even an interesting article like "What Happened Before the Big Bang" or various economic articles I've posted up there. That makes me sad, I like all the comments that come along with the scientific articles.
  • madk, on 05/01/2008, -1/+5I am subbed to about 20 feeds but I am definitely not the average internet user. While I love it, RSS is just another tech that is useless to the average user.
  • yukevster, on 05/01/2008, -1/+7okay, someone tell me why I would need RSS....
    • halogoggles, on 05/01/2008, -1/+2Everything is in one spot. You can set up different folders to know when ***** updates. For example, I have a music folder which contains feeds for my favorite bands. Anytime anything I give a ***** about is announced I know instantly, it's sent to me right away. I'm a big hockey fan so I have a hockey folder, which has all of my favorite columnists and hockey blogs in one place. When it's updated it's there.

      Most feeds contain the entire posts, so there is absolutely no need to visit the website, but many only have the first couple lines or first paragraph; all depends. I also use feeds on Monster example, to update me of new jobs in my field that I might be interested in. It's just easy to have everything in one place... it's my home page.
      • gandhii, on 05/01/2008, -3/+2I wonder how the time you save by having it all there compares to the amount of time it took to set all that up.
        • twrife, on 05/01/2008, -0/+2Lmao. Is it that hard to copy and past a link? Instead of going to 10+ websites to look and see if there are new posts, you get them in one spot.
          Additionally, if you don't have time time to look at some during the middle of the day (work, school, etc.), they are all still there and easily accessible when you have the time.
          Before I was using RSS I would go back several pages in Gizmodo to the last article I viewed and scroll through everything on every page. Now it's all in one spot. If you want to know what all passed through Digg in the time you were away I think it would be near impossible for you to do that without RSS.
        • zongamin, on 05/02/2008, -1/+2I monitor about 50 music blogs - yes it took me a while to set up but now they are in my feed I just check them once a day to see whats been posted. Much better than visiting each page separately!
    • BobsYourUncle, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1I just use them for podcasts. Easy to tell if I new one has been posted without having to go to the site.
      • gandhii, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1Yea.. that is the main reason for them. I have an rss/podcast program on my windows mobile type phone that automatically downloads them when they are released. Nice.
    • zongamin, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1All your news feeds on one page - no need to go to BBC, DIGG, Guardian - just have them all in your feed reader - Ps. Use Vienna!
  • epstephen, on 05/01/2008, -2/+0As much as I like RSS, its hard to explain its benefits to the general public. It's already more convenient (and cheaper) to read an online newspaper than it is to get the physical copy daily, for me at least. RSS only makes a slight difference in convenience, but one of the funny things about computers is that any little difference - even if it doesn't sound like a big deal in theory - can make a huge difference in day-to-day life. Second, I would suggest it's still too tricky to find RSS feeds on web sites. My browser (OmniWeb) has a feed sniffer, so I don't have to root around web sites looking for that little link to the RSS feed. To us tech fans, finding that RSS feed may not seem like a big deal, but to people who'd rather never think about how technology works, it's too out of the way. I don't expect RSS to take off until someone innovates a new interface to the technology that makes its use more intuitive than it is today. All the "activism" in the world won't make a difference.
  • D14BL0, on 05/01/2008, -0/+7Tomorrow is D14BL0 Day, an equally important holiday in Internet history. On D14BL0 Day, we celebrate my minor uses and praise me as a god.

    There will be cake.
    • mycatsasha, on 05/01/2008, -0/+3That sounds a lot better than RSS Day. At least D14BL0 day has cake. No cake = no fun.
    • serif69, on 05/01/2008, -3/+2The cake is a lie!
  • clinko, on 05/01/2008, -0/+2Can someone link to a professional, safe for work (Described below), feed aggregater?

    I'm blocked from Google reader, and everything else is all "Web 2.0" or doesn't look professional. I need something that I can have open on my desktop and not have ridiculous bright colors or punch the monkey ads.

    • WITFITS, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1For what it's worth, I use Netvibes (www.netvibes.com).
  • Arngautr, on 05/01/2008, -2/+3I read this this in my RSS app. :-)
    I used RSS for a while. Then didn't. Now giving it a shot again.
  • Swoshmn, on 05/01/2008, -0/+2I presently have 60 feeds on my RSS Reader. I love it. I've even turned some of my not very internet friendly buddies onto it. But, making a website devoted to spreading it's awareness is borderline retarded. (yes, xkcd is on my reader, haha)
  • CaptainShaun, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1I have no idea what RSS is. The explanations that I've seen when googling all seem to sidestep around the issue. I understand it's XML-based and it updates, but I'm not sure how it does this (through what medium) or what the benefit of this is (as opposed to just going to the website). Must be a brainfart for me or something. If somebody has a weblink clarifying these things for me, it'd be greatly appreciated.
    • Haplo, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1Think of RSS as being able to quickly read the headlines of news of a site. For example, with Firefox I can see the headlines of the latest 25 stories on digg without explicitly visiting digg. With one click in a drop down menu I can visit the story and read it. The browser fetches every hour (or so) the XML file hosted on digg to update the headlines, see: http://johnbokma.com/firefox/rss-and-live-bookmark ... for more info,
    • adamuffa, on 05/01/2008, -0/+2ok, imagine never having to visit any bookmarked sites and having all the content delivered to you in one system. Unless you visit a small handful of sites daily, I guarantee RSS will change the way to get your news.

      check out google reader.
    • CaptainShaun, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1Ok, great. Thanks for the information guys. This is the kind of stuff I wanted to know. Besides finance.yahoo.com, gmail, the Globe and Mail, mother3.fobby.net, and Facebook, Digg is the only website I go to at least once a day.

      Diggs for all of you :)
    • maxgladwell, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1it's the difference between going to content and having content come to you. sure, you have to actually click the drop-down menu, but it's all served up and ready to consume. and once you discover RSS, you'll likely expand the number of news sources you use just because you can. it's possible to check 20 sites in the time it takes for you to check the one or two. this means that you can tailor your news to your interests, rather than using mass media and even digg, where the popular stuff is really a form of mass media.
    • Atomic1fire, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1Its a notification doohicky you read from wherever its supported
      It saves time by delivering updates to your feed reader instead of requiring you visit multiple times for updates or check once and miss something because all the stories get put in one easily seen place
  • Kahnza, on 05/01/2008, -6/+2I have never once used RSS. Just don't see the point. *shrugs*
  • Haplo, on 05/01/2008, -2/+1How to use Firefox, and how to set up your server: http://johnbokma.com/firefox/rss-and-live-bookmark ...
  • mycatsasha, on 05/01/2008, -2/+2RSS Day is ruining May Day.
    • zombies187, on 05/01/2008, -1/+2Thank you. I was wondering if anyone cared about important stuff as opposed to caring about how strangers use their computers.
  • Azriel7, on 05/01/2008, -0/+3I recently got into RSS and love it. However, a lot of sites I go to, do not have RSS. I found a solution though. If you go to a site like http://www.dapper.net/ you can create RSS feeds from sites that do not have RSS, it is not perfect but it is better than nothing.
  • judicar, on 05/01/2008, -0/+2That site's RSS feed is broken...is that irony?
    • serif69, on 05/01/2008, -0/+2Irony is someone posting something ironic and having to ask if it's ironic.
  • pchere, on 05/01/2008, -1/+0http://www.quickonlinetips.com/archives/2008/05/be ...
    Learn about RSS with videos
  • techbrute, on 05/01/2008, -0/+3I need more advance notice next time. This only showed up in my RSS feed an hour and half ago. I need at least a day to request the time off.
  • polko, on 05/01/2008, -0/+0evolutionary advancement!
  • dronkmunk, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1netvibes, *****
  • MattBD, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1I'm glad that the Dilbert website finally has an RSS feed - that was a real pain and now it's a Flash-heavy monstrosity that takes ages to load, I wouldn't want to have to visit it.
  • dood, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1I think this page needs more information on how someone would benefit from using RSS.
    "The main benefit of RSS is that it enables people to stay connected with their favorite websites without having to visit them."
    So instead of one visiting a list of websites they like, they "visit" their RSS reader. Then if they want to read more than an abstract, they have to "visit" the site -- one they probably already have bookmarked and check periodically, anyway.
    Maybe I'm missing something here. I don't see the "win."
  • tastethevenom, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1If you want to make subscribing to your "RSS feed" as easy as possible, install a simple Subscribe button... http://www.addtoany.com/

    There's no explanation needed once people see that they can add the site's "feed" to My Yahoo, Netvibes, iGoogle, AOL... etc.
  • BobsYourUncle, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1Any recommendations for RSS reader add-ons in FireFox? I tried infoRSS and Wizz and didn't really like them. Just using Live Bookmarks right now.
  • falconX, on 05/01/2008, -0/+0I've been trying to get into using RSS since about 5 years ago, I've NEVER found a feed reader that does what I need and want that I can obtain for free legally, and I would build my own, assuming I had the time. Unfortunately, until I find an RSS reader that gives me nothing more than a 'news ticker' interface (that I don't have to hack the code to make work) where I can click on the link to give me more info RSS is useless to me. Now if someone could point me in the direction of an RSS reader thats free, runs on windows and linux, ideally is open source, and does what I need it, that'd be awesome.

    Plus, on un-busy days refreshing digg and slashdot to see the latest stories keeps me entertained on slow days.
    • halogoggles, on 05/01/2008, -0/+2I don't really understand, what is wrong with Google Reader???
    • zongamin, on 05/02/2008, -1/+1vienna
  • Adv1s, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1I used to read RSS feeds a bit. But since Opera introduced 'Speed Dial' into their browser RSS became a bit obsolete for me. I'd prefer go directly to the site as opposed to seeing a digest of things that were happening on there.
  • Noods, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1So why doesn't Digg break up their site into different RSS feeds so I can choose which feeds I want to read? Why should I have to parse 1000 retarded top 10 lists to get to technical news through my Digg RSS feed?
    • Atomic1fire, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1Digg should implement tags to further Supplement categories
  • kraftj, on 05/01/2008, -1/+0too bad for ugly logos on their site.
  • maxgladwell, on 05/01/2008, -2/+1Want to create custom RSS feeds for YouTube? Check out my how-to at http://www.maxgladwell.com/2008/05/really-simple-s ...
  • Kingoftherings, on 05/01/2008, -0/+2I was thinking about putting RSS on my site, today sounds like a good day to do it.
  • 8270369, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1Another advantage to RSS readers is the layout. Articles appear by title, in a clear, clean, concise, ad-free and flashy-thing-free manner. You can easily click though publications and see headlines and summaries -- in a few minutes you can get an idea of what's going on with every publication you subscribe to.
  • piattorney, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1Due can you show me how to make an rss feed for http://www.ehlinelaw.com/ ??
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