I just asked someone why they only provide partial-text feeds. Here’s the answer I got back:
Currently our sites only provide excerpt feeds because we feel it is really important to get customers to our sites. We will be looking into full text feeds to see if this is something that is feasible for our sites. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
OK, let me get this straight? You’re asking me to send people to your Web site, but you treat me like a slave? Got it. Unsubscribed! No link for you. You just lost my 18 readers. Er, NewsGator says I have 18,000 subscribers. None of them for you. I’m not going to be your slave today. No sirreeeeeeeee.
I think the reality is that each company can think and act the way they want. I tend to agree with summary instead of full content in feeds for content generators such as blogs or enthusiast sites. Have you seem how many scrapper sites making money of our content there is around? They simply paste the whole feed.
Now, you saying a company will not get a link from a page you control just because they don’t provide full feeds… Sorry but I am now removing YOUR feed from my list.
I think the reality is that each company can think and act the way they want. I tend to agree with summary instead of full content in feeds for content generators such as blogs or enthusiast sites. Have you seem how many scrapper sites making money of our content there is around? They simply paste the whole feed.
Now, you saying a company will not get a link from a page you control just because they don’t provide full feeds… Sorry but I am now removing YOUR feed from my list.
“What the mainstream media (MSM) lacks, the blogosphere has in spades: energy, momentum, and a growing audience. But what bloggers lack is money — bloggers have yet to find an efficient way to turn their hard work into revenue … and until they do, blogging will always be a lonely sidelight, vulnerable to dying with the next missed mortgage check.”
Michael S. Malone
Isn’t leaving your slavishly derived CGM a fair trade for the attention that your site derives from the other zombie like readers deciding that your comments merit further investigation?
“What the mainstream media (MSM) lacks, the blogosphere has in spades: energy, momentum, and a growing audience. But what bloggers lack is money — bloggers have yet to find an efficient way to turn their hard work into revenue … and until they do, blogging will always be a lonely sidelight, vulnerable to dying with the next missed mortgage check.”
Michael S. Malone
Isn’t leaving your slavishly derived CGM a fair trade for the attention that your site derives from the other zombie like readers deciding that your comments merit further investigation?
“What the mainstream media (MSM) lacks, the blogosphere has in spades: energy, momentum, and a growing audience. But what bloggers lack is money — bloggers have yet to find an efficient way to turn their hard work into revenue … and until they do, blogging will always be a lonely sidelight, vulnerable to dying with the next missed mortgage check.”
Michael S. Malone
Isn’t leaving your slavishly derived CGM a fair trade for the attention that your site derives from the other zombie like readers deciding that your comments merit further investigation?
I checked with my lawyers and they still consider that murder.
I checked with my lawyers and they still consider that murder.
I checked with my lawyers and they still consider that murder.
Wasn’t the whole intention of an RSS feed in the frist place to provide a summary so you could decide wether or not you wanted to load the site to read what was written?
Wasn’t the whole intention of an RSS feed in the frist place to provide a summary so you could decide wether or not you wanted to load the site to read what was written?
Wasn’t the whole intention of an RSS feed in the frist place to provide a summary so you could decide wether or not you wanted to load the site to read what was written?
OK, I’ll say it, since I didn’t see this go by in the comment thread:
I thought you weren’t reading feeds anymore…? Something something no time something skimming something Memeorandum something?
What changed?
(On a side note, I principally offer full-text feeds at TVT, and you managed – historically – to subscribe to the sole partial-text feed. Something upthread about “how hard is it to offer both?” Not hard at all.)
OK, I’ll say it, since I didn’t see this go by in the comment thread:
I thought you weren’t reading feeds anymore…? Something something no time something skimming something Memeorandum something?
What changed?
(On a side note, I principally offer full-text feeds at TVT, and you managed – historically – to subscribe to the sole partial-text feed. Something upthread about “how hard is it to offer both?” Not hard at all.)
OK, I’ll say it, since I didn’t see this go by in the comment thread:
I thought you weren’t reading feeds anymore…? Something something no time something skimming something Memeorandum something?
What changed?
(On a side note, I principally offer full-text feeds at TVT, and you managed – historically – to subscribe to the sole partial-text feed. Something upthread about “how hard is it to offer both?” Not hard at all.)
Doug (91): NOOOOOO!!! That absolutely is NOT the reason feeds were invented. Talk to Netscape and Dave Winer about what they were used for. Syndication!!!! IE, redistributing content to where YOU wanted it.
Ethan: I started reading my feeds again cause I realized I was missing the small things.
Doug (91): NOOOOOO!!! That absolutely is NOT the reason feeds were invented. Talk to Netscape and Dave Winer about what they were used for. Syndication!!!! IE, redistributing content to where YOU wanted it.
Ethan: I started reading my feeds again cause I realized I was missing the small things.
Doug (91): NOOOOOO!!! That absolutely is NOT the reason feeds were invented. Talk to Netscape and Dave Winer about what they were used for. Syndication!!!! IE, redistributing content to where YOU wanted it.
Ethan: I started reading my feeds again cause I realized I was missing the small things.
Weekend Quickies and Wrap Up
I had a fun week this week. First off, we all watched the implosion of the JOAB/Scrivs/FineFool/9Rules fiasco (I can now add Blogebrity to that) …what a train wreck that was!!!.
That great man himself, Scrivs, wrote a quite witty and colorful a…
[...] And finally, Jeremy Wright this week, got “offended” over the issue of …. full or partial rss feeds! Yep, rss feeds!!! All because over at Scobleizer, the big guy had a rant over his dissaste of partial feeds. Seeing how wound up Jeremy got you’d think the post was aimed at him … hmmm – go and take a look-see…. [...]
[...] The other day, Robert Scoble, who’s opinion I highly respect, had this post about sites not offering full-text feeds, and how they irritate him to no end. And yet, in another post he talks about Digg being one of the hottest sites on the net. [...]
scobelizer, I beg to differ that IS what RSS feeds were originally intended for.
According to rss-specifications.com the very name in its self is its definition:
“RSS is defined as Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary. RSS files are formed as XML files and are designed to provide content summaries of news, blogs, forums or website content.”
“The feeds are generally simple headlines and brief descriptions if the user is interested they can click to see additional information.”
“Initially rss feeds were intended for news headlines.”
scobelizer, I beg to differ that IS what RSS feeds were originally intended for.
According to rss-specifications.com the very name in its self is its definition:
“RSS is defined as Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary. RSS files are formed as XML files and are designed to provide content summaries of news, blogs, forums or website content.”
“The feeds are generally simple headlines and brief descriptions if the user is interested they can click to see additional information.”
“Initially rss feeds were intended for news headlines.”
scobelizer, I beg to differ that IS what RSS feeds were originally intended for.
According to rss-specifications.com the very name in its self is its definition:
“RSS is defined as Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary. RSS files are formed as XML files and are designed to provide content summaries of news, blogs, forums or website content.”
“The feeds are generally simple headlines and brief descriptions if the user is interested they can click to see additional information.”
“Initially rss feeds were intended for news headlines.”
One aspect that doesn’t seem to have been discussed is what Feed Readers are designed/used for. My understanding was that this was the latest way of getting information from various sources without having the overhead of downloading styling, visiting multiple sites etc. It is for the information hungry consumer.
Personally excerpted feeds come across as teaser ads, not content – this is not what RSS/Feed Readers was designed for.
FWIW I don’t think the small click through revenues warrant forcing people to visit the site in order to read unless the site has a huge readership. For most publishers I believe that your RSS publishing is better seen as developing a recognition of your expertise within your given industry. It’s more of a marketing tool than a revenue stream.
One aspect that doesn’t seem to have been discussed is what Feed Readers are designed/used for. My understanding was that this was the latest way of getting information from various sources without having the overhead of downloading styling, visiting multiple sites etc. It is for the information hungry consumer.
Personally excerpted feeds come across as teaser ads, not content – this is not what RSS/Feed Readers was designed for.
FWIW I don’t think the small click through revenues warrant forcing people to visit the site in order to read unless the site has a huge readership. For most publishers I believe that your RSS publishing is better seen as developing a recognition of your expertise within your given industry. It’s more of a marketing tool than a revenue stream.
One aspect that doesn’t seem to have been discussed is what Feed Readers are designed/used for. My understanding was that this was the latest way of getting information from various sources without having the overhead of downloading styling, visiting multiple sites etc. It is for the information hungry consumer.
Personally excerpted feeds come across as teaser ads, not content – this is not what RSS/Feed Readers was designed for.
FWIW I don’t think the small click through revenues warrant forcing people to visit the site in order to read unless the site has a huge readership. For most publishers I believe that your RSS publishing is better seen as developing a recognition of your expertise within your given industry. It’s more of a marketing tool than a revenue stream.
[...] And ads in RSS bug me, big-time. If I see those in a feed, I just unsubscribe. I might still wander over to the site from time-to time, if I think of it. If you want me to come to your blog (to see your ads), then just use excerpts in the feed. Useful excerpts, not just headlines and one line of text. I’ll go over to the blog if I think the post is interesting enough (unless it’s a billblog, or bullblog). Robert Scoble, Microsoft’s premier blogger, doesn’t like less than full posts in feeds. I don’t, either. But I’d rather have that than ads. [...]
Peter you maybe should have read some of the previous posts ,but thanks for furthering what I was saying
Peter you maybe should have read some of the previous posts ,but thanks for furthering what I was saying
Peter you maybe should have read some of the previous posts ,but thanks for furthering what I was saying
[...] I’d suggest bloggers all start by stating their terms and conditions of copyright re-use. How much content can be republished (eg: three paragraphs/1000 words/partial-RSS feed only) and under what terms and conditions that can occur (eg: proper attribution and link). And then I’d love to see some of the big media companies start dropping lawsuits on serial plagiarists. The content community needs a big stick of some variety or they will be powerless to enforce copyright. I’d love to see a global organisation that any content provider can become a member of which would be charged with enforcing copyright through the legal system. The software industry has one, so does the music industry. Also, the blogosphere needs to get over it’s reticence for partial-RSS feeds. Let’s face it, if you publish a full RSS feed, you’re inviting people to rip off your content. Om Malik’s blog couldn’t have been ripped off as easily as it could were it not for the full RSS feed he offers. Robert Scoble last month wanted to “shoot someone” because they refused to publish full RSS feeds, reasoning that they were treating him like a “slave”. The subsequent discussion is well worth reading. I really don’t see how you can expect to run a commercial blog, if you value your content so little, that provide a mechanism for anyone to publish it, wherever the hell they want. [...]
[...] I stand firm in my position to back Scoble’s beliefs in the right to full RSS feeds simply because he is right. [...]
Finally i found what i’ve been looking for!! Your site!
Great site, folks!!
great graphics…;)
Finally i found what i’ve been looking for!! Your site!
Great site, folks!!
great graphics…;)
What about membership based sites, where the full text of the article is for members only, and requires login at the main site?
The teaser text or partial text is simply to let members, and ysers (prospects) know that new content has been posted. The partial of course includes details as to the gist of the full text.
Partial feeds make sense to me in this sense. Am I wrong?
What about membership based sites, where the full text of the article is for members only, and requires login at the main site?
The teaser text or partial text is simply to let members, and ysers (prospects) know that new content has been posted. The partial of course includes details as to the gist of the full text.
Partial feeds make sense to me in this sense. Am I wrong?
Kevin: I guess but the number of sites that I’m willing to be a member of to read the content is very very very very small. Are you the New York Times? That’s about it.
Kevin: I guess but the number of sites that I’m willing to be a member of to read the content is very very very very small. Are you the New York Times? That’s about it.
I am not the Are you the New York Times… but I am responsible for getting as many members of the company I work for (trade association), which has approx 6000 members, to come back to our web site. I think partial feeds are just fine in this regard. Perhaps such feeds are even a “member benefit”. Am I misguided?
I am not the Are you the New York Times… but I am responsible for getting as many members of the company I work for (trade association), which has approx 6000 members, to come back to our web site. I think partial feeds are just fine in this regard. Perhaps such feeds are even a “member benefit”. Am I misguided?
Have found everyting I needed on your site. And already put in my bookmarks :)
Have found everyting I needed on your site. And already put in my bookmarks :)
Hi! Nice site!
Hi! Nice site!