OK, this is the last 'x is dead' post for today, I promise! But really if your site doesn't have RSS, it is dead and not a live member of the worldwide RSS conversational flow.

From The Vision Thing: RSS Revisited.:

QUOTE

RSS has reached the point for me personally, that if your site isn't available via RSS, you're dead to me. Seriously. There are some exceptions, but by and large, I like the self-contained nature of BlogLines and like to read through my list of 50+ feeds in a single sitting. Less browse, more peruse.

Now since this is a patch of common ground with ole Doc Searls, I will note that unlike his other smart-alecky critics, I understand what [whoever, not sure that this was credited to any one ClueTrain author, and I famously traded the book in at Half Price Books without finishing it, so who knows] was saying about "hyperlinks subvert hierarchy". One thing that more "traditional" entities in brick-and-mortar land (you know, "places") don't get, or didn't, is that on the web, nothing is off-limits on your publicly-facing site. You may want me to "only" link to your front page, but if I find your eMeat* specs noteworthy, I'm linking there, and passing it on. Nuts to you.

If you're super-worried about what can/cannot be linked to, then password-protect everything, or build an internal intranet**.

Thus, I found Tom Tomorrow's mini-rant interesting, because really, RSS is to some extent out of his control (apparently). A much higher level of flexibility (and portability) is applied via RSS, and while I'm not rushing out to hear "podcasts" (I will someday), I recognize the value in RSS feeds. FULL feeds, at that, not that lousy "teaser" stuff. Bonus points for formatting, instead of monster single paragraphs that make my eyes bleed.

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