RSS never forgets or deletes posts
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I have seen this topic in other threads, but I still have not found a good answer to the problem. It seems that RSS is a technology that is very much like an elephant, it never forgets. It never forgets a post, an article, or any content that it grabs. It is exceptionally persistent.
I wanted to say however that I do not think that this is a problem that is unique to WordPress but instead that it is a problem that is common to all RSS feeds. I have searched all over the net however and I have not been able to find anyone who has come up with a solution to this problem.
It can be very frustrating when you make a mistake on your blog and the RSS grabs the post before you notice your mistake. That post it seems is like a stain that just cannot be removed.
Any ideas Pressers?
FT
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Yes, make a new post correcting the error. Otherwise, come to terms with the limitations of the technology: RSS readers read things at the time, not generally as archives, so subsequent corrections are irrelevant to them. It is a snapshot of your post at the time of its creation, nothing more.
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Raincoaster,
I can “come to terms with the limitations of the technology”, but I love what RSS allows me to do with my content in terms of widgets. If this never forget accuracy is just a bad side effect of RSS, is there some other tech that pulls data, does automatic updates, and spits out new data that can be reformatted into new content? For instance: What Wowzio does with RSS feeds [see it @ http://www.wowzio.com/%5D
If RSS is so bad Raincoaster, what pray tell is better?
FT
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If you publish a post the search engines can get that. It could happen before you edit or remove the post but then they have the data and once they have it they do not let go.
It’s the same as RSS readers – it’s not the publisher, it’s what technology does with it after it is published. -
Mark,
Thanks for the reply. I guess in one sense, I have to be allot more careful before I hit the publish button.
“It’s the same as RSS readers – it’s not the publisher, it’s what technology does with it after it is published.”
That’s beautifully stated, but once again, what tech is better, or does it simply not exist yet?
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Mark,
What I am wanting is a tech that allows me to have some editorial control over my feed.
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Mark,
I think I may have found a solution, at least for feedburner rss feeds. With feedburner, you can resync a feed. From the page http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/troubleshoot?id=2473054:
Resync takes the following actions:
Clears our cached version and refreshes its content from your Original Feed
Creates podcast enclosures for items that did not previously have them and contain links to podcast content
Reports any feed formatting problems encountered during the resync
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You can resync so that new readers will see the new post but the original post will still be out there.
Once you click Publish you have to consider it on the net in that form. -
So Mark,
Since there is no way to ever completely clear an RSS feed, then is there some other technology that does the same things that RSS does, but does it better? [allows the author to edit and have more control over his content-new or old]?
FT
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Let’s say you get my blog feed.
I publish a post and see a typing error a few minutes later. By that time your feed reader may have already taken my post and you will see that error.
I correct the error. Someone else’s feed reader may come along after that and not having seen the first. They get the corrected version.
Your feed reader may or may not then take the correct the post when it next checks my site. If it does you will see the corrected post.Now if you read your feeds constantly you may have seen the error, but maybe by the time you read the feed it has already got the corrected version. This is down to the reader – not WordPress.
There is no alternative to the way we provide feeds though someone may argue over RSS v Atom but that doesn’t matter in this I think.
But in the end there is only one way to stop mistakes and that is to carefully proof your own work – or just accept that errors happen.
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Your RSS feed is always current with what is on your blog. The problem is that many RSS readers will cache the contents of a feed after they’re read it. Many don’t check the feed for updates to old posts.
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Mark,
My problem is not so much typing errors but deleted posts. On my regular site I mistakenly approved a spam post one day and to this day, even after it was deleted, that post still pops up in the RSS.
I guess what I am learning is that RSS is extremely unforgiving. Thou shalt never make a mistake!
FT
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