(2002-03-19) e

Jon Udell on having Radio generate truncated blogbits for RSS. This supports a model of using an RSS reader as a table-of-contents to the source WebLog rather than a standalone interface to its content, which I agree with. But I wonder whether it makes more sense to transport the full content, so that the reader can do some background BlogWeb processing, even if it only displays a truncated description. For instance, the reader could assign a blogbit to a reader-defined Category based on matching keywords anywhere in the content.

How about if the items just transported a link that pointed back to a 'more complete' XML representation of the object? This would allow a smarter client to understand where to get the additional info needed. This while allowing the 'dumb' client programs to make use of a small, easy to download, list of the headlines? -BillKearney wkearney@hotmail.com

"But I wonder whether it makes more sense to transport the full content," says Seitz. Congratulations, you've just reinvented Usenet (originally invented 22 years ago). I wish one of you XML/RSS/Userland people would bother to learn from Usenet. --RichardUhtenwoldt, ru@river.org

• see PaperCut for some notes on this idea. --BillSeitz