Re: [syndication] A message to the lurkers on the list

[Ian Graham <ian.graham@utoronto.ca>]

Well, I'm still here (and commenting on occasion) but am interested in a
format for syndication of various types of data. The discussion here (of
which RSS is the most discussed instance)  is focussed on syndication of
news-summary-style data.

So, the first question I'd ask is -- what does the word 'syndication'
mean, in the context of this list, and what goals do the list's members
have for such a syndication language?

Ian

On Sun, 15 Oct 2000, Tristan Louis wrote:

> A message to the lurkers on the list:
> 
> There are only a few people talking in this thread yet egroups shows 
> that there are 239 members on the list. Folks, it's time to delurk. 
> We have a lot of work to do here.
> 
> First, we need to come to term as to whether we want to move on to a 
> spec that would be different from the RSS 1.0 one. There still seems 
> to be some issues around that. According to the poll on that matter 
> (http://www.egroups.com/surveys/syndication?id=320021) a vast 
> majority want to move on to 1.0. However, that vast majority is 12 
> people out of 16 votes. On 239 members, there wasn't even a tenth to 
> make that decision!
> 
> Second, if we do so, we then need to figure out whether we want to 
> still call it RSS (which could create some confusion in the 
> marketplace) or something else. The main reason behind this is to 
> clear up the air so that if that spec were to evolve, we can all 
> agree on it. 
> 
> Third, we would need to define what goes in and what does not. That's 
> a major piece of work. As part of this, we need to assess the 
> membership's view on complexity. Where do we draw the line. Some of 
> us are better versed at software development than others so the line 
> has to be drawn somewhere but without your consideration
> 
> Fourth, we might want to create an evangelism sub-group to convince 
> the big players in software (the usual suspects: Microsoft, Netscape, 
> Oracle, IBM, Sun, etc...) to integrate this in their software 
> offering. That group should also be involved in evangelizing to the 
> big boys of content (traditional media and large online content 
> players) about the benefits of RSS (or whatever we call the new spec) 
> and why they should support it.
> 
> Last but not least here: this is an open forum and we are trying to 
> define a standard. There are a few times in your internet career 
> where you get a chance to do so. Much like an election, some people 
> will gripe after a standard has been defined. However, it is my view 
> that your right to gripe is annuled if you do not get involved. In 
> other words, it's easy for people to stand aside, not make any 
> decision either way, and then complain about the results. While there 
> are some disagreements between the people who are exchanging emails 
> on this list and others (see the whole battle between the pro-RDF and 
> anti-RDF groups as a prime example), those people are trying to push 
> the standard in one way or another. If you don't get involved, then 
> you might end up with something you really don't like. 
> 
> As you can see, there is a lot of work here and it will affect you 
> one way or another. Please get involved! I've created a few polls on 
> the egroups site (http://www.egroups.com/polls/syndication) to cover 
> some of what I talked about here. All the polls are anonymous so no 
> one will know what you voted for but it will make it easier for us to 
> assess in which direction to go. Please vote, it will only take you 
> less than 5 minutes and could make a lot of difference.
> 
> Allright, end of public service message and general bitching. Let's 
> get going!
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 
>