More Syndication Format Intrigue
The well-intentioned Atom Feed syntax effort is at a critical point right now. Many developers are fed up with the contentious turn that the discussion has taken lately and want some kind of resolution sooner rather than later. This frustration has prompted Don Park's proposal (see also the corresponding Wiki entry) that Atom just start with RSS 2.0 as the base syntax and "fix" it. A totally reasonable proposal that was exactly Dave Winer's intention when he finalized the RSS 2.0 spec.
A very good summary of the situation is given by Diego Doval in his blog posting, which spurred an interesting series of comments. For the record, here's where I sit:
- Diego: right on. I feel your pain. Also, this community seems unnaturally predisposed to resort to aggression and pettiness quicker than most.
- Zoe: namespaces are not overrated, and in fact represent the salvation of content syndication by letting us define a very simple core model, which happens to be the speed bump that Atom syntax can't seem to get over right now.
- Yoz: good posting ... the dates are kind of screwy, but most clients will deal with both
<pubdate>and<dc:date>. I personally go with RSS 2.0 with<pubdate>.
- Dave: very well-stated points. Especially like the comment "I would like it if people started with the RSS spec, evolved it into something that wasn't called RSS. Read the Roadmap. That's what it says."
This will be good to keep following, that's for sure!