Yesterday, I was reading an article somewhere that mentioned in passing that RSS 2.0 is more widely deployed than 1.0 because it's easier. The part of me that has been influenced by Dilbert is arguing that it's really because CEOs are demanding, over the objections of engineers, that they use 2.0 because it's the latest...
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In April 82% of email was spam--a new record. And yet, 36% of those using spam filters don't refine them after initial installation. Even worse, 28% of companies in the same survey don't use spam filters at all. I read these statistics, and they sound alarming. Why would so many people leave themselves so woefully...
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Yesterday, I questioned whether legislation can stop spam. Today, I found and article discussing whether technological solutions can stop spam. The level of optimism in the article seems about on par with the level of success that technology is having in blocking spam: it helps, but the battle is far from over.

One proposed solution...
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Moblogging: Moh ' blah ging n. 1. Mobile web logging. Web logging from a mobile device, esp. a mobile phone. 2. Another term that I don't like.

The problem with the term moblogging is that it's too easy to misread it "mob logging". It sounds like some kind of activist activity--artificially spontaneous crowds forming and...
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If you're like me, you've seen not a decrease, but a dramatic increase in spam since the US anti-spam law was enacted. Why is this? Honestly, I don't know. Does it mean that anti-spam legislation doesn't work? It's obviously not a cure-all. But last month, the first four spammers were charged under the act. While...
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After a wait longer than the fiasco after the 2000 presidential election, the results are in. And the winner is...the candidate with the second greatest number of votes! From the general populous that is. The candidate with the most votes from the electoral college of judges won the day. "Webfeed" was selected last week as...
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Am I contradicting myself again? Yesterday the question was "to embrace or to extend?" No, I'm just talking about a related, but separate issue. When a digest format doesn't support something you want or need to do, do you try to get it into the spec, or create an extension?

One of the current issues...
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You may be familiar with the css Zen Garden...or you may not. It's a very cool experiment in the use of CSS in web design. Many designers have contributed many good, bad and ugly designs to it.

The other day, I had a mental arc--why not create a similar site with a slightly different focus....
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One of the many bones of contention in RSS is the introduction of new elements that duplicate the purpose of existing elements. For example, many feeds use content:encoded in the place of description. Is it better to embrace existing elements, or to extend the format with similar elements?

What is the motivation for using elements...
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Last month I posted an entry here about Promoting valid newsfeeds. For the past few days, a discussion has been going full steam on the Atom syntax mail list about what to do with invalid feeds. The discussion began with the suggestion that Atom feeds include a URI that client software can contact if it...
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