is RSS 2.0 still RSS 2.0 if we add our own unique tags to it?

J

Jake Barnes

I've been trying to read up on RDF and RSS. I've been trying to get my
mind around not just the technical issues but some of the cultural and
political issues that surround these formats. I've been given the task
of adding some unique tags to our companies feed, and I'm wondering
what path to follow. In theory, we are extending our RSS feed with new
tags. I worry what technical and political landmines I might trip by
doing this wrong.

As regards RSS, I read this essay by Mark Pilgrim, and it gives me a
lot to think about:

http://diveintomark.org/archives/2004/02/04/incompatible-rss

In his essay, he says "I would like to publicly apologize for my
previous misstatements. There are not 7 different and incompatible
versions of RSS; there are 9."

After reading that essay, I'm left with the impression that it is a bad
thing to extend RSS 2.0 with new tags.

Yet, I've the impression that Dave Winer expects others to extend RSS
2.0.

I'm working for a small software company that was working on software
that was suppose
to allow people to go online and create RSS feeds that they could use
to offer podcasts on their websites. However, my company now feels that
the market for podcasting software
is saturated and so we must do something unique. One idea that has been
discussed
by my co-workers involves extending RSS 2.0 with new tags. Another idea
has been
to use the cloud tag in RSS 2.0 to register the company's website as a
central directory of
all information about what people are podcasting. Another idea is to
give up on RSS and simply use a unique blend of RDF to offer rich
metadata regarding what people podcast. A friend suggested that we
design a set of tags that would offer a lot of friend of a friend
networking that would also have all the info one expects to see in RSS
2.0.

I'm left wondering, if we add a bunch of tags to RSS 2.0, should we
still call in RSS 2.0, or should we call it something else?

Whatever thoughts or information you can furnish, I'll be grateful to
you,

Lawrence Krubner
434-825-7694
 
A

Andy Dingley

After reading that essay, I'm left with the impression that it is a bad
thing to extend RSS 2.0 with new tags.

It's a bad idea to _use_ RSS 2.0
Another idea is to
give up on RSS and simply use a unique blend of RDF to offer rich
metadata regarding what people podcast.

Do this within RSS 1.0 This is the strength of RSS 1.0 - because it's
based on RDF, you can easily pull stuff like this.

OTOH, if I were a commercial developer looking at new RSS tools, I'd be
looking at Atom 1.0 It's early days as yet, but Atome is (IMHO) where
the future is.
 

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