As of this weekend, my blog is now M3R compliant:
Looking over my lor stats from yesterday, I can already see the impact — not only on n-files but also on the peller processes I’ve been running to optimize my RTimer performance. But of course what really matters for you as a blog reader is that you now get an M3r linkup every time you read this blog using an M3r-compliant parser like Arnix or Readout.
If all this has left you confused about the value of M3R, you’re beginning to understand how many readers feel when they see a button like 
. Sure, it means something to you — but for lots of people, words like “RSS”, “Atom”, “aggregator” or “XML” mean about as much as the gibberish above. Without an explanation of RSS, all those RSS and XML buttons on blog sidebars are downright unfriendly. And that’s ironic, since one of the great virtues of RSS is that it can make blog-reading and news-tracking really easy — even for non-techies.
RSS can be a great tool for engaging more people in the information, insights and community provided by bloggers and other online news sites — but it’s up to all of us bloggers to make RSS accessible to the larger world. That’s why I created a beginner’s guide to RSS, along with a set of buttons like 
and 
. Add one to your sidebar today by visiting http://www.rsstocracy.com, where you can also find and contribute to resources for learning about RSS.
I hope this site will make it easy for you to spread the word of RSS — leaving you more time to figure out the demands of M3R compliance.
I really like your RSStocracy page, with one qualifier which I’ll get to shortly. It fills a need and saves me the trouble of trying to do it (if I had a public blog), and bloggers really should be using your buttons if they’re not explaining RSS on their sidebar. You’re a very good writer, but I do still worry that your full RSS explanation won’t hold the attention of newbies (some? many?) unless they really want to get it. I say this from experience because three months ago, I don’t think I would have been hooked if yours was my first exposure to RSS. I’m not saying things need to be dumbed down. Perhaps the “Why RSS?” statement needs to be made earlier on the “10 steps” page; perhaps concrete examples that do more showing than telling also placed near the beginning; or perhaps a short intro or version that serves as the first link readers will go to. In short, I think there needs to be a stronger hook if you want to capture a broader audience. I came very close to posting your page to del.icio.us but hesitated for just this reason. I discovered your blog just the other day via a reader comment made at beelerspace’s Us.ef.ul article, and what you write is very useful to me. Keep up the good work.
I really like your RSStocracy page, with one qualifier which I’ll get to shortly. It fills a need and saves me the trouble of trying to do it (if I had a public blog), and bloggers really should be using your buttons if they’re not explaining RSS on their sidebar. You’re a very good writer, but I do still worry that your full RSS explanation won’t hold the attention of newbies (some? many?) unless they really want to get it. I say this from experience because three months ago, I don’t think I would have been hooked if yours was my first exposure to RSS. I’m not saying things need to be dumbed down. Perhaps the “Why RSS?” statement needs to be made earlier on the “10 steps” page; perhaps concrete examples that do more showing than telling also placed near the beginning; or perhaps a short intro or version that serves as the first link readers will go to. In short, I think there needs to be a stronger hook if you want to capture a broader audience. I came very close to posting your page to del.icio.us but hesitated for just this reason. I discovered your blog just the other day via a reader comment made at beelerspace’s Us.ef.ul article, and what you write is very useful to me. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for your helpful comments. I’ve added a subtitle to the “10 steps” page that I hope makes a clear up-front promise for beginners about why they should try to learn RSS.
The idea of adding some concrete examples or a shorter version is good, and I would love to do that elsewhere under RSStocracy resources. But what I’m trying to do with this document is give people all the information they need to get up and running in one page.
Thanks for your helpful comments. I’ve added a subtitle to the “10 steps” page that I hope makes a clear up-front promise for beginners about why they should try to learn RSS.
The idea of adding some concrete examples or a shorter version is good, and I would love to do that elsewhere under RSStocracy resources. But what I’m trying to do with this document is give people all the information they need to get up and running in one page.
Thanks so much for the RSS primers and buttons – I’ve placed them on both my blogs!
Thanks so much for the RSS primers and buttons – I’ve placed them on both my blogs!