A + B + C = D?

And now for my final word on this subject (at least until August): Website A produces a syndication feed of the type Protocol B. I use Product C to attempt to read the feed. For whatever reason, I am not satisfied with the results. Do I complain to A, B or C? Dave’s answer, of course, is D, the maker of the product that produces Website A.

I think the answer should be A. Especially if D provides for A to produce multiple feeds in multiple formats. In my case, no one has ever complained. Yet Dave has taken it upon himself to complain about my D on behalf of my B users who have not complained (and if their C is properly following the spec for B, would have no reason to). I hadn’t even seriously looked at an RSS spec since I was trying to figure out how to produce a feed with GreyMatter. But now, I am started to understand all this more. I noticed this feed doesn’t have any kind of dates. Maybe I will write his D and complain.

Oh, and to answer Dave’s questions. Yes, Movable Type allows real people to produce XHTML. It may not always validate, but it is XHTML. Oh, and Ben Trott? Man, you should see him on the pitch.

Update(July 2): There is, of course, another case to consider. A produces a feed according to his reading of B’s spec and/or comments. If C does not read the feed for A because C does not follow B’s spec, you have two choices. Eiher complain to the creator of C or switch to another C. Complaining to A makes little sense to me. In this particular case, the creator of B is complaining that the creator of A is adhering to B’s comments. The creator of B should either disavow his comments and allow the creator of A to follow the spec for B, or explain to everyone that the creator of A is correct and a whole lot of C creators are wrong.

Oh, and one other thing: I have yet another feed template for RSS 2.0. This includes guid as a permalink, and a link that leads to the complete set of links in the entry. Borrowing from Brad’s example, it uses not a single RDF component. However, I left the namespaces calls at the top even though I am not using them, so the Funkidator considers it funky. I am satisfied, though, that this is well within the official specfication and is therefore defunked.

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It is satisfying to see all the interest in your ideas. You are one of the great thinkers of our generation.

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