What is Digg?122 Comments
- svidrod, on 10/12/2007, -12/+24i'm not using rss because i don't need to be bombarded with more crapplets every time i sit at my computer. if i want to check a website, i'll check it in a browser when i feel like spending some time on it.
- Woknblues, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14So, I "need" to go to school , rysolag? What school did you go to when you learned RSS?? If it was invented about a year ago, I can confidently say that most people on earth didn't get the chance to "learn" it in school. I guess we are all not the super genius that you apparently are. BTW, I am going to school right now, getting a bachelors degree in Nursing. I just looked over the curriculum, and there are no classes in RSS. I will petition the dean to replace Anatomy and Physiology with RSS as soon as I get finished writing this post. In fact, I was going to suggest to her that she replace Inorganic Chemistry with a class in Firefox extensions, but I lost my nerve. Thanks for your help, rysolag!!
- hobbsy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Maybe I'm old fashioned but I quite like visiting my favourite sites manually.
I do have FeedReader installed but haven't been totally converted yet... - captaindan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9From a user's perspective, they're identical. RSS readers display them the same way. But from a technical perspective there are some significant differences. You can read about them here:
http://www.intertwingly.net/wiki/pie/Rss20AndAtom10Compared - sheepeatingtaz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6The article is straightforward and to the point, although it's not particularly newbie friendly;
Quote: "(feeds are XML documents that provide updated content from a particular website)"
Lots of people who would find RSS useful, like my mum for example, wouldn't know what an XML document was if it jumped up and bit her. The article seems to be just in a niche- the language would suit someone familiar with the internet and it's technologies, but these people probably know what RSS is anyway.
I wrote something similar to this on my blog - http://www.sheepeatingtaz.co.uk/blog/2005/12/02/rss-feed/
which in turn links to this page on the bbc website - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3223484.stm which (IMHO) is much more straightforward. - bakagaigin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I use Google's Personalized Home page for my RSS feeds, it makes it really easy, you just have to have a gmail account.
www.google.com/ig - ericvdb, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6For me, not getting bombarded with crap is the entire point of using RSS. I get the content I want without all ads and such.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7please see previous digg about people visiting only 6 websites. This is how most people use the web, they prefer not to be bombarded by info all the time.
- ScoTTeh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4They work pretty much the same way, Atom is just more standardised (RFC 4287). See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atom_(standard) for more info.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Captain -- what is the diff between RSS and Atom? Signed, relative RSS Newbie!
- dogdoodoo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3RSS feeds are the only way I get to digg.. :)
- mackstann, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I agree. I've tried out a number of RSS readers, bookmarklets, etc. I don't get it. But then again, I don't frequent very many sites anymore. And the whole blog craze is completely uninteresting to me.
- ScoTTeh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3RSS is designed to be simple and lays the workload on the end user. Both approches have there pros and cons, but the main pro for RSS is the fact that it uses the existing HTTP protocol.
- jmccorm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3QuickNews for the Palm is very good. Downloads the article title and summary. Browse through all your sites on the go. If you've got WiFi or Bluetooth access, you can pull up the linked to article. Otherwise, you can flag the story to put it into a flagged category for later reading when you've got connectivity. RSS feeds on a mobile device are a great way to catch up when you've got dead time you need to kill.
BTW, if you've got a wireless Palm, you can update your RSS feeds from the palm itself. Otherwise, they have an option that allows you to update it from your PC during a HotSync. Which is perfect for non-wireless Palms. - mercuryswitch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Although I do like Google's original interface, clean and simple, I use the personalized home, and have my RSS feeds go through Google's page.
Instant view of the 5 most recent posts on Slashdot, Engadget, Joystiq, and Digg - vokiel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"Why Aren't You Using RSS?"
Same reasons I'm not using a cell phone, a PDA or any gadget which created a need in the past 10 years. Quite frankly I have no needs which justify use of RSS atm. - clickmyface, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8For the record, I used RSS until I found Digg. I find that Digg covers a wide rangs of stories that I want to follow, and Digg users provide enough of those for me. It makes it more interesting and interactive than an RSS feed.
I make the comparison because I believe the use of Digg is similar to the function of an RSS application. - shattadeya, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Very good article but to be a great article screen shots would be nice.
- midorigin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Also, leaving it up to the client to initiate allows for more flexibility in clients, fer example with portable devices that may sync on an unpredictable schedule.
- casiotone, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6I use Digg's RSS feed :)
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3the only way i'll use RSS is on the www.google.com/ig portal. Otherwise i think it's useless and cumbersome. I can web browse and find news i need just as fast. I've yet to understand the hype behind RSS. Its pointless IMO.
- Maskawanian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I'm not using RSS because even though it would be relatively easy I don't care about people being immediately up to date, I'm sure if it would provide me with a benefit I would use it but my blog is for me, not others.
- antdude, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I rarely use RSS because I check the sites daily whenever I want to. Digg, /., Blue's News, etc. I will go there myself to check. Beside, RSS only gives headlines.
- flamingmonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I use the integrated live bookmark links in firefox and then place these on my toolbar. When i'm surfing i can quickly expand the rss links on my toolbar to see if there is anything of interest.
You can see how this is done here : http://johnbokma.com/firefox/rss-and-live-bookmarks.html
It may not allow the advanced configuration that standalone RSS readers do, but its so handy and that its enough for me :) - cpawl, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I have a feedreader and used that about 3 times total. I rather go to the sites I am interested in, that is part of the fun.
- stalky14, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I still don't get it. So it makes the Web more like Usenet where your newsreader highlights unread articles
and such? Grouping? The originating site has to opt in on this, right? You can't RSS-read a site that doesn't
offer a feed? Seems like it has reather limited utility in this case. - yurivish, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Yeah, it is a good guide. I hope people will realize how useful it is and start using RSS more.
I find the "live bookmarks" pretty nifty, though. In safari, they refresh each half hour with the number of new things in parenthesis. Saves me a lot of time checking for updates manually!
http://gh.ffshrine.org?r=762 - MaxxDamage, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I think called that a guide is a stretch. I personally use http://www.netvibes.com/ as my RSS reader.
- Emerica88, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Simply putting some RSS feeds on my toolbar in Firefox works for me.
- Haplo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Useful tips for Firefox users, and webmasters: http://johnbokma.com/firefox/rss-and-live-bookmarks.html
Auto-generating RSS feeds: http://johnbokma.com/perl/rss-web-feed-builder.html - InternetUser, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yes, it's a satisfactory description of RSS feeds for the net-savvy user. And what the guy says is valid, but if you feel you are one of those people who needs to keep "in touch" with more than 15 websites a day I think it's time to take a break from the computer eh? You don't always want the most efficient way of getting your news or info (especially if you read at work). I like the idea of being able to read and reply to other people's comments on Digg and Slashdot. RSS Readers make you feel quite isolated. Pass.
- dsandler, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Try the FeedTree project – http://feedtree.net/ – which uses p2p to efficiently share feed updates without all the polling. It interops with all existing feeds, so the simplicity of the feed world is still there, you're just optimizing the distribution mechanism.
- mrgoat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I am biased as I wrote this one
http://podcast.playboy.co.uk/aboutrss/
But I think it's a little better - Lumiras, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Bloglines is an amazing RSS reader. I used Thunderbird for a while, but bloglines is a lot better and I can access it from your browser. I've tried sage and didn't really like it, and bloglines provides just about the same functionality and a built-in blog.
http://www.bloglines.com - OsakaWilson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I indirectly use RSS for podcast apps, but For Bittorrent I've had a track record of 0%. Azureus and uTorrent both appear to have RSS ability, but whether its the app, the explanation or me, it has never worked. And I've tried so many times in so many ways to make it work that you'd think I'd stumble across the right combination of settings even if I were half monkey.
Applications not integrating RSS well is the reason I'm not making more use of it. - flamingmonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Thats nice falc, altough with the amount of rss going on there there is absolutely no way I would ever get any work done again :)
- NimbleRabit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Netvibes is cool but I still use google just because im so used to it lol. Anyways, websites like netvibes and google homepage are nice for the user who doesn't need tons of rss feeds but still wants to get something out of them.
- GarySwager, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1For me, RSS is a very useful tool. I like to keep track of the latest news from many different sites. Rather than visit wired, digg, slashdot, a number of google news categories, dutch news feeds and figure out what's new, I can now just glance at the titles on my netvibes page (I used an rss widget before, but I prefer this).
I've also discovered that RSS feeds are great for the sites that are updated infrequently. I tend to forget about them (remember the other story, six regularly visited sites per user) and miss updates. Now, I just set the RSS feed to display the single latest story (no need to waste space) and I see instantly whenever the site has been updated.
RSS, along with gmail and a number of other technologies, really has enabled me to do much more than I would otherwise. Of course, the drawback is that I now have to make sure I don't obsessively visit every single new link that pops up... An interesting problem that also shows up in the realm of email reading habits, answering mobile phone calls and chatting. - fob9546, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ive always been put off by using it, but now that I see how much easier it makes everything, Im gonna go for it and convert
- GarySwager, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Seconded. I switched from Google to Netvibes for that precise reason. I also prefer the netvibes 'style', and the coming of an API for 'widgets' should be good.
- jupo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I've done a lot of work around publishing and consuming RSS feeds and it's really a great format. If you follow at least more than one news site that provides a feed then you're wasting your time if you're not using a reader. Software that mashes feeds together can save you even more time.
- sporkwitch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Nice find, every single one of this tool's submissions are from his blog, lol.
- Moocat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'd like to thank this person if for nothing else, because I didn't know about Sage, the Firefox plugin. It's really nice and will probably get me around my sites in less than half the time I used to :)
- DarthTurducken, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I have a bunch of feeds set up on my My Yahoo! front page.
One of favorite tools from Google (Yahoo has it too though) is the ability to set up your own feed based on your own keywords - sporkwitch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Know where I can find a FOSS version of it or something like it....? I like my feeds, but not enough to drop 15 bucks on a reader when I can't afford my credit card bill right now, heh....
- goatrandy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Thats not true. Many sites now offer FULL rss feeds of their content.
- GarySwager, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I don't know, the sites that most benefit from RSS also tend to be the ones that I don't visit for graphics (Say, google news, as opposed to penny-arcade). But to each his habits, I guess :-).
- joeb1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1OK. I finally understand RSS now and have installed Sage and love it.
- acidronin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I digg it because I just started to use RSS. It is mostly self explanatory though. The guide really didn't tell me anything that I already didn't figure out on my own.
- sn0wflake, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Some like RSS, some don't. It's always nice to have more options available for getting news but personally I don't get the hype because i prefer just hitting F6, type in the URL, and then see the "real" website with all the bling-bling like images and whatever.
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