Re: [syndication] RSS vs. HTML Bandwidth and "Scalability"...

["Dave Winer" <dave@userland.com>]

We allowed for this in the xmlStorageSystem spec. That's why it has
notification.

http://www.soapware.org/xmlStorageSystem

Supported in RSS 0.92 through the <cloud> element.

Dave


----- Original Message -----
From: "Morbus Iff" <morbus@disobey.com>
To: <syndication@yahoogroups.com>; <sjoerd@w3future.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2001 1:07 PM
Subject: [syndication] RSS vs. HTML Bandwidth and "Scalability"...


> From w3future.com/weblog/:
>
>  >In July my RSS file has been downloaded 15741 times. That's 134Mbyte,
55%
>  >percent of my total traffic. This is way to much, if you compare that to
the
>  >2617 times my html weblog has been downloaded last month. This looks
like a
>  >scalability problem. But I have a monthly traffic limit of 1500MByte, so
I
>  >don't worry.
>
> Initially, I was "hey! what's the problem? people care more about your
> content than the pretty design! be happy!". But as I started to write
> exactly that, I shifted quickly.
>
> He makes a bit of an interesting point when you think. Beside search
engine
> spiders and proxies, I can think of no magical programs that hit a website
> time and time again to get updates, when there aren't updates to be had.
>
> On the other hand, most "constant on" RSS aggregators hit websites every
> hour to get the latest updates. However, I'm not really sure how Meerkat
or
> NewsIsFree.com handles it (or for that matter, xmltree.com).
>
> So, what's the solution to this pointless waste of possible bandwidth?
>
>   a) Embed the time limit in the RSS file. This has been
>      allowed in the old MS CDF format, as well as in
>      scriptingNews (i think). The big problems is that
>      aggregators don't listen to them, since there's a
>      stunning lack of adoption. Sadly, I fall into this
>      group with my AmphetaDesk too. I know Jeff Barr's
>      Headline Viewer has an internal option on when
>      to update; however, I don't know the default.
>
>   b) Check the HTTP headers from the server. This would
>      only work if the content wasn't dynamic, which is
>      rare nowadays. For a while now, I've been thinking
>      of checking content-length's / filesizes and
>      comparing for newness.
>
>   c) Implement server control - block repetitive ip's
>      on a cron'd schedule and allow them back in when
>      the going gets happy. This shifts the "blame"
>      onto the server people though, and we really shouldn't
>      be making RSS maintenance any harder than it is.
>
> What are your thoughts? Any additions to the above?
>
>
> --
> Morbus Iff ( i am your scary godmother )
> http://www.disobey.com/ && http://www.gamegrene.com/
> please me: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/wishlist/25USVJDH68554
> icq: 2927491 / aim: akaMorbus / yahoo: morbus_iff / jabber.org: morbus
>
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