Via Ex Libris: “Nothing I’ve read or experienced while using RSS and news aggregators convinces me they are yet perfected enough to offer the fine-grain tuning that produces the control required for a true strategic approach to keeping up.”

I have a big beef with this statement. One could have said the same thing about the Web when they first loaded Lynx on the command line… or NCSA Mosaic in Windows 3.1. Half of you are laughing because you remember the way the WWW was in the very beginning, and the other half of you are searching Google because you have no idea what I’m talking about. My point? It all has to start somewhere. Imagine how stupid I’d look if I made the same statement about HTML back then. “Well, you can only create blue hyperlinks, but at least the blink tag is in full effect!”

RSS is not the cause for information mismanagement.

If you don’t “get” RSS, it’s because you choose not to understand or accept it. The concept is quite simple to grasp, and its power is beyond beneficial to the average Internet junkie at the present time. What it boils down to is finding the right aggregator for you - the one that fits your lifestyle (and we have a lengthy list of ‘em on our Resources page, should you still be in the market for one). Once you realize that there’s no “ultimate aggregator” for all users, it’ll be easier for you to make your choice. Need further hand-holding? Click on a few screen shots and Feedster for user experiences; if you can’t find either, consider that a sign. I’m not alone in this line of thinking.

Another reason you may be so “confused?” Because it seems like everybody and their grandmother has a content / data syndication format. In the end, I argue, IT DOES NOT MATTER. Ultimately, the news aggregator (software) will be responsible for bringing the dynamic information directly to your desktop. I know some people out there have been carrying a fifty-ton chip on their shoulder about which one is better, and which came first, and what’s best for… whatever. The rest of the world doesn’t care. There’s something out there that WORKS, for heaven’s sake.

Just as you can view an HTML page in any Web browser of your choosing, you can subscribe to an RSS feed in any news aggregator. RSS 0.91, 0.92, 1.0, 2.0, 3.14, 6.022 to the 23rd power - they’re all out there, and (sadly) anybody is free to choose whichever version they wish to promote. Just as I could implement one version of HTML or CSS over another, I have to look at how the majority of Web browsers are going to interpret my page. Again, it all boils down to the software supporting the standard - not the standard supporting the software. But it has to start SOMEWHERE.

News aggregators can only get better when their programmers receive valid feedback from their supporters. In return, the programmer(s) should evaluate and implement valid requests. Take a look at the Mozilla project and tell me this process doesn’t work. If your favorite program’s creator isn’t willing to make his or her client compatible with a compliant format due to a fragile ego, then you’d be wise to slap them upside the head and tell ‘em that they’re setting this whole damn movement back to the days of gopher. I ain’t talkin’ ’bout no bartender, neither.

I’ll save my rant on how e-mail marketers are shunning the concept point-blank for another day.