[wp-hackers] Re: RSS Decisions

[Scott Merrill]

Danny Ayers wrote:
> Yes, and other weblog tools are available too. I'm afraid the blatant
> lack of research on the subject prior to proposing the removal of a
> feature doesn't inspire much confidence in me as a WordPress user. 

Heaven forbid we engage in conversation to discuss the relative 
strengths and weaknesses of user-submitted proposals.

On #wordpress, I submitted the suggestion that RDF and RSS 0.92 should 
be ditched.  Mine was a _completely_ uninformed comment, because I don't 
track syndication technologies too closely.  I fervently wish that 
WordPress 2.0 would have shipped with Atom 1.0 support.  I _really_ want 
to see Atom-enabled commenting.  David opened the ticket, and posted the 
link in the channel.  I promptly donned my AOL hat and hit METOO!!!111

Contrast this entire discussion with Matt's one-sided decision to 
implement the feed: prefix to feed URIs somewhere in the 1.5 release. 
That instantly broke links for a majority of users.  It generated dozens 
of threads in the support forums.  There was _zero_ discussion about it, 
and the bug opened about it was promptly closed with "wontfix" at the time.

> Are
> all decisions made from such an uninformed perspective? 

We're not making decisions, we're discussion one suggestion.

> Again, I
> believe Atom alone could provide usable data for the vast majority of
> clients. But I see no compelling argument for the arbitrary removal of
> RSS 1.0 support.

 From what you've put forward, I still don't see a compelling argument 
to keep RDF.  Sure, some people use it.  You haven't yet proven that 
_many_ people use it.

If a plugin were made available to provide RDF support, all the RDF 
users would be happy.  This wouldn't be the first time a plugin was 
required to work around shortcomings of core deficiencies.  We're 
_still_ required to use a no-nofollow plugin, even though nofollow has 
been wildly unsuccessful in stopping comment spam...

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