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Post by Odin on Apr 10, 2006 21:28:44 GMT -5
I am determining the feasibility of a VT RSS feed for those of you who understand what this is.
How interested would you be in subscribing to an RSS feed for this forum?
Please ask questions, make comments and suggestions below. I'll save the RSS definitions for you, but all indicators suggest these as the immediate future of the Web.
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Post by Husker_fan_in_VA on Apr 10, 2006 21:48:27 GMT -5
What is an RSS feed?
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Post by Odin on Apr 10, 2006 22:07:21 GMT -5
In a nutshell.
RSS is a file in a specific format, that is read by "rss readers/aggregators". RSS feeds are updated with new content as it appears. Aggregators/RSS readers is software that runs on your computer, or on a website, that tracks RSS feeds, and "reads" it similar to email. When the RSS files that you subscribe to change, you are given, in your aggregator, a summary of the new information.
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Post by IdahoBoy on Apr 11, 2006 0:09:54 GMT -5
RSS and the Aggregators that read them, to general users can be considered an email program for your favorite websites.
With an RSS feed, you are notified when the content is updated on your favorite pages.
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Post by OverAndUnder on Apr 11, 2006 15:12:02 GMT -5
The first consideration is the granularity of the feed. In my opinion there's no point in providing RSS on an active message forum unless each thread has a separate feed, because the alternative is a rather lame, "There are three new posts at VolleyTalk";. Well yeah... there are three new posts every couple hours even on slow days. On average there's enough daily traffic here (especially on the Women/Girls forum) that we don't need notification of the simple fact of traffic itself.
Second, RSS feeds tend to be most useful for visitors to expansive sites that offer a wide variety of top-level subjects and content (politics, science, sports, music). Visitors use RSS notifications to see only those updates in the topical areas they care about without having to visit the site and slog through the postings on other subjects. VolleyTalk, on the other hand, is a community board of narrow focus, which means that most members are motivated by an unusual interest in a specific subject (volleyball, duh) and have a regular presence or status in the discussion community, and are therefore generally interested in all threads (or at least, sufficiently interested to open and scan them before deciding which to ignore). There is very little "noise" to be filtered here, and during peak times it's difficult to keep up with the discussions even if you're sitting on the forum home page reloading every ten minutes. Not that I myself have ever exhibited such behavior, mind you.
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Post by IdahoBoy on Apr 11, 2006 18:06:16 GMT -5
I agree a little, overandunder. But some of the aggregators are improving functionality, so those who only care about hawaii volleyball news, or Idaho, can set up an RSS so that only content with that information is sent to them.
It's not a perfect system... it has a LONG ways to go to be mainstream, but it's getting much better!
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Post by Husker_fan_in_VA on Apr 11, 2006 21:36:51 GMT -5
Hey that would help the folks that are not interested in reading husker or hawaii post too huh? Good to know.
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Post by IdahoBoy on Apr 11, 2006 21:54:27 GMT -5
Hey that would help the folks that are not interested in reading husker or hawaii post too huh? Good to know. One could even write a filter to omit my comments if one were interested...  |
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Post by Alberta on Apr 12, 2006 1:10:21 GMT -5
You computer geeks make me sick. Always showing off your computer vocabulary.
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Post by IdahoBoy on Apr 12, 2006 3:05:15 GMT -5
An RSS feed I subscribe to notifiied me of the Dosty article 3-minutes after it was posted.
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Post by simplycurious on Apr 12, 2006 4:32:04 GMT -5
An RSS feed I subscribe to notifiied me of the Dosty article 3-minutes after it was posted. AH HA!!! IB's "secret" is out!!! THAT'S how he knew about Dosty choosing Arizona - he had an RSS feed that was directly connected to her computer!! As soon as she logged on to IM all of her friends about her decision, IB "swooped in" and took that precious information to this board for immediate consumption by 'The VT Faithful'. Genius my boy, simply GENIUS!! ;D |
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Post by OverAndUnder on Apr 12, 2006 10:01:23 GMT -5
I agree a little, overandunder. But some of the aggregators are improving functionality, so those who only care about hawaii volleyball news, or Idaho, can set up an RSS so that only content with that information is sent to them. That's a valid theoretical point. But thus far, VT mainly discusses the AVCA Top 25 programs, especially the perennial top 10, so even the ultra-specific threads on teams like Michigan State, Texas Tech, or Oregon, will eventually draw several comparative posts referring to programs like Minnesota, Nebraska, or Stanford. The numerous fans (and haters) of those three schools inevitably jump in with their opinions, and start to track the conversation, which then might become an interesting thread to someone who otherwise wouldn't have read it. Will aggregators, say, be able to grep VolleyTalk for "Florida" "FL" "Mary" "Wise" "Gators" "SEC" "Collymore" "Aury", etc., for the Gator completist who simply MUST read all posts that are even marginally related to the program? And really, isn't every thread a Hawai'i thread, either because it mentions Hawai'i directly or because it conspicuously and suspiciously doesn't mention the premier volleyball program in the nation? ;D Understand that I'm not arguing against providing a feed... just opening up a discussion on a few points of implentation and utility. ps i threw "grep" in there just to brighten alberta's day. |
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Post by cyberVBmidwest on Jul 31, 2006 14:06:30 GMT -5
I just added the Volleyball Magazine Forum RSS feed to my AdvantGo list and synched with my Treo 650. I quickly checked it out and the latest posts are now downloaded onto my Treo for reading during those standing in line or other waiting scenarios...
Are we going to do the same with VT?
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Post by Odin on Aug 7, 2006 20:34:21 GMT -5
I just added the Volleyball Magazine Forum RSS feed to my AdvantGo list and synched with my Treo 650. I quickly checked it out and the latest posts are now downloaded onto my Treo for reading during those standing in line or other waiting scenarios... Are we going to do the same with VT? This was the plan, but it has been sidelined due to lack of interest and lack of availability with the ProBoards software set. I'm still lurking around with different forum software, hosts, places, and even building my own server to host VT. But it'll be another season, unforunately before this can happen at this point. |
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