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POLL: RSS Feeds

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Basil

Basil

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I'm running a little poll to see 1) If people even know what RSS Feeds are and 2) If folks are interested in having RSS Feeds available here for individual forums.
 
I'm not that computer savvy Basil. Be interesting to find out what they are.
 
Let me guess: Racing Swallow Sidecar
 
I'm a big fan of them, Basil. I'd still come to the forum regularly, but would love a feed for the particular forum I use the most.

Probably not worth a lot of effort to add it, but if it was simple to do, then I'd say it's worth it.
 
For the uninitiated, I put together this little video to give you an idea what RSS is all about. I narrate using my best Stephen Hawking impersonation.

<p style="visibility:visible;">x-shockwave-flash" data="https://pro.toufee.com/cgi2/player.pl?userID=44505&projID=rss_tutorial" height="270" width="320" style="width:320px;height:270px">[VIDEO]https://pro.toufee.com/cgi2/player.pl?userID=44505&projID=rss_tutorial" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="scale" value="noscale" /><param name="salign" value="lt" />ransparent"/> <param name="flashvars" value="userID=44505&projID=rss_tutorial"/></object></p>
bT*xJmx*PTEyMzE3MTgzOTEzNTkmcHQ9MTIzMTcxODM5NDA3OCZwPTEyMzcxJmQ9Jmc9MiZ*PSZvPWZkNTJiNGQ2MTJjZDRhNjhiZWRkYTA*ZWM4MTFlMTg1.gif
 
Steve said:
I have done the Klipfolio thing and have it all set up. Guys, this is really nifty! :banana: :banana:
Click to expand...
Your a better man than I. As soon as I add another feed to Klip, they all stop working.
 
I've used RSS for a couple years on a few other forums, but I'd need to see how they're implemented here before making a commitment.

No problem giving it a try, as long as I can "control" the feed down to small details; they can get overwhelming, especially on a busy forum.

Tom
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]
No problem giving it a try, as long as I can "control" the feed down to small details; they can get overwhelming, especially on a busy forum.
[/QUOTE]

Feeds tend to pile up too... self-discipline ain't one of my strong suits.
 
NutmegCT said:
I've used RSS for a couple years on a few other forums, but I'd need to see how they're implemented here before making a commitment.

No problem giving it a try, as long as I can "control" the feed down to small details; they can get overwhelming, especially on a busy forum.

Tom
Click to expand...

It would be implements as depicted in the video. Each forum would have its own feed from which you could pick and choose. I'm not familiar with other RSS readers, but I'm sure most allow you to control the same things as Klipfolio, such as how often the feed is refreshed, and how old something is before it is removed. I made a mistake in the video. I thought you could set the max number of clips is a feed, but it doesn't appear to be the case. Instead, you set when old clips are deleted.
 
With Klipfolio, it appears that only the most recent posts would be displayed, as a new feed is shown it replaces an older one from the bottom of the list, chronologically speaking, read or not. The individual feed windows can be as large, or as small, as you want.
 
How accurate are you guys finding the feed? I set Klip to refresh @ 5 minutes and hit manual refresh a couple times. I've only received 2 out of 9 posts in the pub this morning. Aside from that I'm not sure I see the point of the feed if I'm going to come here anyway. What do ya'll use it for, how is it helpful?
 
Seems like less work to me if one simply visits the forum to read replies. I don't want to see every reply to every post anyway. Much quicker to skim the topics, then view the ones I'm interested in.

Then again, it took me a couple years to warm up to the idea of tabs.
 
Like Steve says it is easier to visit the forum and scan posts. the number of replies is usually an indicator of whats happening....i noticed this feature has been removed from the forums, and now is only on the main forum page??


mark
 
If we're ever thinking about adding more features ...

how 'bout adding a "floating summary" balloon (?) on Forum topic lists. You put your cursor over a newly posted topic title, and see the first sentence or two of the first post (what the original poster is asking) in a window that appears over the topic entry.

You can see if you're interested in the new topic without having to click and open it.

Example:

https://www.rotaryforum.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=11

I find it useful on other forums - any thoughts?

Tom
 
OH, I would love to hear this discussion! :smile: The fact is, that is a feature I can turn on, but when I tried it, it drove me nuts (short trip for me). I'd be interested to hear what others think.
 
I don't think it's so bad. Not sure if I'd use it or not but it doesn't bother me. The fact that there is a delay makes it better. The delay is just right, too. Click fast and you never see it, but you don't have to wait long if you do want to see it.
 
I think that's one of the "beauties" of the hover preview (?). You don't have to use it - it doesn't change how you see anything, and you dont' have to "sign up" or subscribe to it and learn something new.

Maybe let members turn it off individually if they want?

But it sure makes members' "scanning" new topics faster and more efficient.

Tom
Edit: PS - if folks start using RSS to "preview and scan" new posts, doesn't that actually have a negative impact on forum page hits? And thus cuts down on advertising revenue?
 
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