Why is it that possible entry topics pop up after I've been struggling to sleep for an hour and a half and I can just feel sleep coming over me? Perhaps I need to keep a notepad next to my bed so I can take quick notes and write the entries in the morning. But honestly that never works for me; unless I write the entry right as I'm thinking about it, laziness usually wins and the entry never gets posted (or gets thrown into the dreaded 'drafts' folder, never to see the light of day). C'est la vie.

I heard news that FeedBurner was bought out by NewsGator.

Somehow my mind wandered onto a tangent about the growth of the web. I'm sure anyone reading this journal is well-aware that my primary passion in life is the web. The power of information has always fueled human society and the Internet is simply the next (really really cost efficient) implementation of the Gutenberg press.

The past few years has seen an explosion (literally a Big Bang!) of standards and specs. Before our very own eyes, we've seen RSS become the de-facto standard for content publishing (and also the Atom proposal). To anyone doubting the value of standards, I think simply looking at services like Bloglines and toolkits like Ajax show how much value standards and specifications can add to the web.

So why do people continue to screw with RSS? I cannot STAND summarized RSS feeds and advertisements in RSS feeds.

Specifications are implied social contracts between developers. RSS is a format for pushing content, not for pushing advertisements or simply serving as a notifier for when a site is updated.

The value of the web is not in pretty webdesigns but in the ability to consume information at efficient levels. I think people who give the argument "I offer summarized feeds so people read the content as it was meant to be read - through my design" have an incredibly parochial view of the web. The browser will not remain the only method of consuming content from the web. (Someday) the United States will offer true wifi access via cell phones. Not to mention whatever cool new technologies future generations come up with.

This is a small point, but I also cannot stand advertisements in RSS feeds. Now, I understand the need to commercialize and monetize that content - I don't dispute that many content providers add a lot of value to the web, and they need to be able to support themselves financially.

It's a tough issue that I think really will depend on where you stand. If you stand as a developer, RSS feeds break the social contract of RSS - that the content enclosed is the data that is requested - advertisements are NOT a part of an entry. (As a side note, I also cannot STAND those f'ing technorati tags that people add to their entries so they'll show up in technorati - way to add noise to the web!). As someone who runs a webproject, I understand the need to monetize the content - it's better that the site "sells out" rather than being non-existent. Things can always be worse, right?

Man this was a poorly written entry. I had a conclusion I was going to reach, but the point has been lost after toggling my Winamp playlist.