Re: Proposal RSSFAQ Group

["Alis Marsden" <alis@contentrelations.com>]

Hi All,

OK, I've had one "go for it" [1] and one "not yet" [2], so I'm still here
for the time being!
I'll just be posting to syndication after this mail, I figure most people
are on that list.

Here are my basic ideas as to what RSSFAQ could do:


* Produce RSS FAQ & Other Documents

I think most of us agree that we need RSS FAQ.
e.g. RSS FAQ for Content Providers, RSS FAQ for Content Management System
Vendors, RSS Versions FAQ, RSS FAQ for Content Subscribers, ASP RSS FAQ...
Writing these well and keeping them updated requires team work and
discussion.  I know people have said before that they are able to help with
this type of work I think it would be helpful to organise these people in
one place.


* Distribute RSS FAQ & Other Documents

That small effort RSS FAQ [3] I did two weeks ago has resulted in interest
from other websites without any effort on my part.  I have had mails from
several websites asking can they reprint it in their newsletters or on their
websites.  So far I have been saying, "can I get back to you", because I
don't want something reprinted unless it is finished.  I do however think
that, once we have documents we are all happy with, it makes absolute sense
to let people reprint them.  Submitting articles to article directories or
writing to relevant websites and inviting them to reprint an article may be
mundane admin but it could be very helpful to RSS.  This type of
distribution work is easy enough that anyone can do it, so lets get people
doing it.  I believe that most people like to be helpful and there are lots
of people that care about RSS but are not going to be a technical
contributor so lets utilize those people.  Again I tend to think a
non-technical list would be a better place to organise this.


* Writing RSS Press Releases and News and Media Relations

To keep up with RSS one currently needs to subscribe to three often busy
lists.  For people without a strong tech background, 20 mails about a
subject like <errorReportsTo> and <rssProviderAgent>, is a bit heavy.  I
don't think I'm the only person who would like keeping up with RSS to be a
little easier.  I think it would be good if this type of discussion could go
on and if a conclusion is reached, one person could post the details to
RSSFAQ.  RSSFAQ could write something up in plain English and publish it.
Voila, we have a simple news service.

Journalists are interested in RSS.
e.g.  Again without any effort on my part I've been contacted by two
journalists about the FAQ I wrote two weeks ago.  Last week it was written
about in the print version of the Irish Examiner and today I was asked to do
an interview on RSS for another Irish national newspaper.
I think it would be good if we could maintain a list of contacts for the
media, i.e. if you are a regional paper like the Irish Examiner and would
like to speak with a Dublin based company you can contact Alis Marsden or if
you are interested in RSS 0.93 Dave Winer would be the best person to speak
to.  RSSFAQ could be a friendly non-technical place where basic questions
could be answered and journalists could be pointed in the right direction
for further information.


* Commercial Discussion

I'm not suggesting that anyone use RSSFAQ to promote their own personal
corporate goals because that would make in a pretty corrupt place.  However
most of us can't afford to have no corporate interests in life and there are
lots of people here who have a commercial interest in RSS.
e.g.  I believe Jeff Barr's Headline Viewer will be a commercial product and
I'm guessing that James Shaw's ASPRSS.com will be ad supported.
I'm not sure how it would work, but I think we need to discuss how we can
work in partnership with businesses to promote RSS.


I realise this mail is already long so I'm not going to go on but to
summarise I think we need to get a RSSFAQ.com website going and I think we
need a place for non-technical discussions.  Apart from anything else I
think it is fair to say that people who are good at marketing, writing, PR,
admin, translating and so forth are not always technical wizards and it
would be nice to have a place to organise those types of jobs.


Alis Marsden

(2.50 am Dublin, Ireland)


[1] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rss-dev/message/1983
[2] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/syndication/message/1688
[3] http://www.purplepages.ie/RSS/index.html