AYP Forum 2.0? -- RSS

[Kirtanman]

quote:Originally posted by ruirib

There is code around to add an rss feed to a Snitz forum. Let me know if you are interested and I'll easily add it.

To hopefully help clarify (since I started the RSS piece of this thread - actually, the whole thread, come to think of it .... ).

I'm talking about making AYP feeds _available_ TO the world, so that THEY can add AYP feeds to their sites, and/or add an RSS chiclet to their feed reader / browser.

Per Yogani's comments, we would want to do this for the Lessons, and presumably for the Forum as well.

AND "PER THAT", A COUPLE OF NOTES TO YOGANI:

1. RSS is 100% non-invasive, and 100% "opt in" (the user "opts in" to use it). It's purely a convenience to people who frequent the AYP site and forums --- but can be a pretty major one. All it is, in a nutshell, is an easy method for AYP content to "come to" a site participant, rather than the site participant having to "go to" the content.

Example: I'm a lot more likely to participate more often on the Taobums forum, now that I have the RSS feed set-up, as a user (elapsed set-up time, roughly 4.5 seconds - no exaggeration).

All I'm suggesting, is setting up what's technically called a syndication feed of AYP content, so that AYP visitors have the same convenience as Taobums visitors do --- which is why I suggested visiting http://www.taobums.com, and clicking (at the bottom of the page) on the RSS option - to see exactly what I mean.

You'll see the little Taobums RSS chiclet at the top of your browser, and you'll see what it can do, by clicking on it.

Then, just imagine the same, for AYP.



2. The infinitely more powerful use of the same thing (meaning, you / we set-up the syndication feeds once, and the "world" gets benefits #1 and #2 (the one I'm about to thrill you with .... ) -- as follows:

Once the AYP syndication feeds are set-up, not only can people add an RSS feed link to their browser, as described above --- but they can add the feeds (one or more, their choice - i.e. one might be certain lessons, another might be the Tantra folder in the Forum, etc. etc.) to _their_ web site or blog.

Essentially, setting up RSS feeds of AYP content, is probably the:

A. Least invasive (see http://www.taobums.com RSS add-in option at the bottom of their home page.)

B. Easiest (dare I say it .... R_eally S_imple ... ) to set-up (see http://www.xul.fr/en-xml-rss.html

C. Most potentially viral and far-reaching marketing option currently available to AYP.

D. Most Cost-Effective (F-R-E-E ... all it takes is a bit of time, and very minimal technical know-how ... for the most part, it involves cut-n-paste HTML / XML code --- something a bit more complex, like a Snitz Mod, just helps to automate things.)

Well, I'm Kirtan-toast .... - so I'll leave it at that for now.

As I've seen stated several places on the web recently, there's basically no reason NOT to set up a series of RSS feeds, if you have a site -- in fact, it's sort of a new slicker version of giving people access TO your site (AYP, in this case, of course) -- it just contains a lot of built in FREE / automatic marketing options - i.e. RSS syndication services picking up the feeds, which other yoga related sites can offer, etc.

Hope that helps --- and I can definately help with some of this, though if there are those (Kumar? Ruirib?) with more hands-on web / database experience than I have, they may be able to do it easier / faster than I could.)

I will gladly volunteer to help make this happen, and fast, though - for one (per my starting this thread) - I'd love to have the option as an AYP member / participant - and "for two", RSS is an excellent, easy to implement, and FREE (not counting time involvement - which is minimal) - way to promote AYP - in a way that addresses all of Yogani's concerns up front (i.e. it's not invasive, or spammish, it's not bandwidth / throughput intensive, etc.)

Hope this helps - let's discuss / implement - Yogani / Kumar / Ruirib - please advise concerning suggested next steps.

Peace & Namaste,

Kirtanman

[yogani]

quote:Originally posted by Athma_Shakti

viral marketing is a powerful technique to reach the media easily using email broadcasts, IM's, pop's etc..

this will increase number of hits/users also the traffic/load of the server.

and for webmasters and moderators maintaining the forums is the difficult think in the world haha.

Hi AthmaShakti:

Can you suggest specific programs you can implement yourself? If so, those would be much welcome.

Unsolicited email, IMs, popups or desktop icons are not appropriate -- these are spam.

AYP supporter produced "opt in" marketing programs are what we want, like networking sites (all of them), shared files (interview), links (but not "link exchange" spam), maybe RSS, etc.

Kirtanman, on RSS, I will look into it with Ruirib, our Snitz consultant, and see what can be done. The Taobums RSS only produces a page of code here, maybe because I am still on Win98. This old computer is a well-oiled publishing machine that only requires the writing itself to do it all. Would not want to reinvent that on a new machine until the books are done. Same with the forums and anything else that is working reasonably well on the existing AYP sites. It is a matter of maintaining maximum productivity and efficiency over the next 18 months or so -- a lot of writing still to do!

But spreading the word/marketing programs? Yes, we need much more of it. For that, many hands make light work.

Many thanks to all!  

The guru is in you.

[yogani]

Hi Kirtanman:

With some checking, come to find that a reader download is needed for RSS for most computers, and neither Taobums nor Snitz RSS cue the user for that. What you end up with instead is a page full of code. Therefore, it would appear RSS is not ready for the teeming masses out there yet, which is the only reason I would be interested at this time. Maybe later when universality has been better-established.

Unless I am missing something?

The guru is in you.

[Wolfgang]

quote:Originally posted by yogani

Unless I am missing something?

May be an isssue of operating system (WIN98 )
Or a browser issue ?

L&L
Wolfgang

[yogani]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Wolfgang

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by yogani

Unless I am missing something? <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
May be an isssue of operating system (WIN98 )
Or a browser issue ?
L&L
Wolfgang
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Hi Wolfgang:

I was given to understand that a reader download is needed by many for RSS. I have both MSIE and Firefox here, neither is that far out of date (even though the operating system is old), and neither works with RSS.

Well, one way to settle it is to see who can see this and who can't:

http://www.aypsite.org/forum/rss1.asp

What does everyone say?

I just don't think we should be putting up a feature that will confuse lots of folks, and not be useful for spreading the word.

On another matter, your request for gender identification in the member profile did not go unnoticed. It was deliberately left out from the beginning so no one would feel pressured to reveal more about themselves than they wish. If it were active, the gender question would not be mandatory, but just having it there could send the wrong message, particularly in view of some of the subject matter we are covering here. Keep in mind that many experiences are being shared here that have rarely been revealed in public before, and with very good benefits so far. We do not wish to jade it in any way. Less on exactly who is doing the sharing can be more! Those who want to reveal their gender will find a way ... that has been the philosophy so far, and it seems to work. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

The guru is in you.   

[weaver]

Both the browser and operating system apparently need to be fairly recent to be able to read RSS feeds directly. I can not read them with Windows 98 second ed. and Internet Explorer 5.0, or with Windows 2000 and Internet Explorer 5.0 or Netscape 7.0.

[Athma_Shakti]

<hr noshade size="1">
<html><head><body bgcolor="lemonchiffon">
<script language="vbscript">
dim xmlDoc
Set xmlDoc = CreateObject("microsoft.xmldom")
xmlDoc.async = false
xmlDoc.load("http://www.aypsite.org/forum/rss1.asp")
document.write(xmlDoc.documentElement.text)
</script></body></html>
<hr noshade size="1">

its a simple (test)program to decode the data from rss file, copy and save it as ".html" file. if everyone can see the data, then i will enhance it by adding proper interface.

RSS feed is good idea from Kirtanman, how far its practical here not sure, needs idea from everyone.

Thanx

[Kirtanman]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by yogani

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Wolfgang

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by yogani

Unless I am missing something? <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
May be an isssue of operating system (WIN98 )
Or a browser issue ?
L&L
Wolfgang
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Hi Wolfgang:

I was given to understand that a reader download is needed by many for RSS. I have both MSIE and Firefox here, neither is that far out of date (even though the operating system is old), and neither works with RSS.

Well, one way to settle it is to see who can see this and who can't:

http://www.aypsite.org/forum/rss1.asp

What does everyone say?

I just don't think we should be putting up a feature that will confuse lots of folks, and not be useful for spreading the word.

On another matter, your request for gender identification in the member profile did not go unnoticed. It was deliberately left out from the beginning so no one would feel pressured to reveal more about themselves than they wish. If it were active, the gender question would not be mandatory, but just having it there could send the wrong message, particularly in view of some of the subject matter we are covering here. Keep in mind that many experiences are being shared here that have rarely been revealed in public before, and with very good benefits so far. We do not wish to jade it in any way. Less on exactly who is doing the sharing can be more! Those who want to reveal their gender will find a way ... that has been the philosophy so far, and it seems to work. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

The guru is in you.   

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Hi Yogani & All,

Initially, I thought this was likely an operating system issue ...

... but that actually appears to not be the case.

First, this article may contain the answer:

http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2005/07/01/rss.html

Second, I understand why, if you're not familiar with RSS, that you'll perceive separate software as being needed (the mention of a "reader" - makes it sound somewhat akin to a PDF reader, or some-such.)

However, pragmatically speaking, that isn't the case --- because RSS reading capability has been integrated directly into current browsers (Firefox 2.0 and IE 7 -- and I believe a version or two back, or at least a partial version or two back, for each.)

For instance, when I click on the Taobums RSS (or any other RSS) link,  Firefox recognizes the RSS feed, and saves it as a Bookmark, and puts an RSS icon in the toolbar.

When I click on it, I see links to the five most recent Taobums message threads(the titles).

(And I believe that number is flexible - some of my RSS links show five, others ten or fifteeen.)

When I click on the link -- I go directly to that message thread.

As another example, check out www.dooce.com -- the ever-increasingly popular exploits of a formerly hard-drinking, currently medicated Salt Lake City housewife with an attitude.

Currently one of the most popular sites on the web, which says a lot .... about something.

(Primarily Heather Armstrong's wit and writing ability.)

She was fired from her former job for blogging, and now makes enough from it to support her family.

Clicking on this link will illustrate why:


http://www.dooce.com/shop/

(It will not, however, explain exactly why she was flown to New York to be interviewed on CNN, or why she is invited to keynote at industry conferences ... but that is a topic for another day, and/or another forum.)

I'm entioning Dooce here, though, per the fact that Heather ("Dooce"), doesn't have an RSS feed for forum posts (per no forum) -- but rather, her blog entries.

So, RSS can basically be set up for any content that can be "demarcated" - whether forum posts, AYP Lessons, blog entries if there are ever AYP blogs, and so on.

And (finally) -- clicking on the AYP RSS link -- I see the same XML code that everyone else sees (and I'm running XP w/SP2, Firefox 2.0) -- which tells me that the article link at the beginning of this post may contain the answer, after-all.

As cool as open-source is (especially the general FREE-ness of it all) - many blog (as with Dooce) or forum (as with Taobums) applications offer RSS feed creation as part of the software.

Since Snitz requires kind of a DIY approach, certain technical additions may be more than a one-step process .... but per the link ip above (posted here again for convenience -
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2005/07/01/rss.html - it appears that this one additional step, which looks fairly easy --- may be the needed fix.)

Peace & Namaste,

Kirtanman

[weaver]

quote:Originally posted by Athma_Shakti



<html><head><body bgcolor="lemonchiffon">
<script language="vbscript">
dim xmlDoc
Set xmlDoc = CreateObject("microsoft.xmldom")
xmlDoc.async = false
xmlDoc.load("http://www.aypsite.com/plus/forum/rss1.asp")
document.write(xmlDoc.documentElement.text)
</script></body></html>

its a simple (test)program to decode the data from rss file, copy and save it as ".html" file. if everyone can see the data, then i will enhance it by adding proper interface.

Athma_Shakti,

I saved this code as an HTML file and ran it in IE 5 and Netscape 7, but only the yellow background shows up. And I do have active scripting enabled.

[yogani]

Hi All:

I'm afraid I don't have a clue what all this RSS talk is about. If we can't show a simple icon that everyone can point and click for the result, it will not be implemented here. It is as simple as that.

But feel free to use the beta link above.

If at some point it becomes a simple point and click feature for everyone, then let me know. Keep in mind that administrative time available here for setting up and operating this sort of program is zero. So if it is going to be done, someone else has to do it. Right now it looks like a can of worms.  

Sorry, that's just how it is at this stage of AYP development. It is as much about the offline stuff as the online stuff, and there are only so many hours in the day.

The guru is in you.

[Athma_Shakti]

hi Weaver

http://www.aypsite.com/plus/forum/rss1.asp

click on the above link

"rss1.asp" page has been moved or removed, thats why the script is unable to read the page.

[weaver]

Yes, when I click on the link above it says that page can not be found.

[yogani]

Hi All:

Our Snitz consultant must have removed it today. I have been away. Would anyone like it back?

The guru is in you.

[Athma_Shakti]

Hi Yogani

yes it will be helpful to develop the reader.

[Christi]

Hi Yogani,
I clicked on it when it still existed. I use Windows XP and the latest IExplorer. I saw a page, it was full of type which was surrounded by code at the beginning and end of each line of type.
Christi