Free Republic RSS feeds! (Firefox found them)

Free Republic ^ | 9/19/2004 | pcx99

[pcx99]

People have been asking for a free republic RSS feed ( RSS FAQ ) for quite some time and while there isn't a traditional graphic there is a hidden meta tag which the new FireFox 1.0 browser discovered. Which means that if you're a newsfeed user you can finally subscribe directly to the free republic forums here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/browse.rss

[pcx99]

Three cheers to Free Republic and it's most worthy tech staff!

[numberonepal]

Cool. It works too.

[ConservativeMan55]

LOL!

What does all this mean?

[The Old Hoosier]

What exactly does this mean? If I post that html on my web page, will that make FR headlines come up?

[ConservativeMan55]

I'll test it.

[octobersky]

Bump to figure out later.

[ErnBatavia]

What does all this mean?

I might as well have been reading Greek....

[beebuster2000]

bt

[RandallFlagg]

Let's act like you're my Wife and you assume I'm dumber than a half eaten chimichanga.

Translation?

[kitkat]

HUH?????

Oh well, RAH! RAH! RAH! anyway.

[pcx99]

What does all this mean?

I linked to a FAQ (frequently asked questions) that explains RSS if you're interested. Here it is again: http://my.yahoo.com/s/rss-faq.html

[pcx99]

What exactly does this mean? If I post that html on my web page, will that make FR headlines come up?

As for posting the link on your website, you'll need a snipit of code which can change the rss feed into HTML but there are programs out there that can do it like feedsplitter ( http://chxo.com/be2/software/feedsplitter/ ) if you have access to server scripting services. I'd ask free republic before I posted it on the website too, it's only fair. :)

[reboot]

It means that if you have a program such as Thunderbird email client that can pick up news feeds, you can subcribe using that url and Free Republic postings will show up in you email program as they are posted. Great for reading blogs too.

[steplock]

I just put in on one of my web sites - with descriptions - it works FABULOUSLY!

http://www.gohotsprings.com

[reg45]

Thanks for letting us know that the newer release of Firefox is now available. It's better than Netscape and far better than IE. I had been using Firefox 0.9 and I just uploaded 1.0PR. Thanks again!

[Vermonter]

I'm using FIreFox 1.0 on a Mac and when I link to the FR URL you provide I get a page with HTML and text with an error message at the top: "This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below."

What am I missing here?

[SeeRushToldU_So]

What is RSS? RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication." It’s a format that web sites and blogs can use to send updated headlines to you via services like My Yahoo!. My Yahoo! gathers the content you select from a variety of sources and displays it for you in one convenient location. Syndication means you don't have to visit each site individually to see what's new -- you simply scan headlines or brief article summaries and click to read the full text. That’s the "really simple" part. And it’s "really simple" for publishers to make their content accessible this way too. Because RSS is a relatively new format, not all sites currently syndicate their content in this way. However, many notable sites already do offer RSS, and every day the RSS offering grows. For example, news sites such as the Christian Science Monitor, the BBC, and CNet's News.com use RSS to syndicate news headlines and summaries. Other sites use RSS to alert customers of new products or upcoming events.

---

What are the benefits of using receiving syndicated headlines via RSS? There are many benefits to accessing headlines and information this way:
 

• Efficiency -- timely news and information is automatically there when you need it;
• Breadth -- headlines from the web sources you care about are consolidated;
• Organization -- sources can be displayed in order of importance with the latest news on top;
• Productivity -- email newsletter subscriptions and unruly bookmarks can lead to clutter and information overload.

Ultimately, you save time while consuming more information. Instead of browsing multiple sites to find information of interest, syndicated headlines are delivered directly to your My Yahoo! page. And they are consolidated in a way that's easy to scan periodically throughout the day. When a headline interests you, just click and go directly to the source.

---

How can I use RSS? Typically, people use RSS to:

• Gather, read, or quickly scan frequently updated headlines from a variety of sources using a "News Aggregator" or "Newsreader" program.
• Incorporate syndicated headlines into their personal weblogs (often called "blogs") as a way to display information from different publishers.

Blogs are web pages which typically consist of timestamped, frequently updated links to news items and web sites. Blogging has developed into an online publishing tool used for many purposes: traditional journalism, personal diaries, collaborative journals, digital note-taking, topical group discussion forums, and hybrid combinations.

---

How can I use RSS on My Yahoo!? Because My Yahoo! now supports the RSS format, you don't actually "use" RSS to benefit from it. My Yahoo! uses RSS to pull headlines and summaries from your favorite web sites and blogs. All you have to do is specify which sites you'd like to see added to your personal My Yahoo! page -- we'll take it from there.

---

How do I add the RSS Module to My Yahoo!? Adding the RSS Headlines beta module is easy. Just click to add the module and follow the instructions on the page. If you don't currently have a My Yahoo! page, you can sign up here. Just choose where to display the module on your page and you've got an RSS newsreader in just a few simple clicks.

---

How do I know if a site supports RSS? Any site that supports RSS can be added to My Yahoo!. Look for a small white-on-orange rectangular "XML" -- that indicates a link to an RSS file. If your favorite site doesn't yet support RSS, you can email them to request support of RSS.

---

Is My Yahoo! becoming a Newsreader? Yes. A newsreader (sometimes called a news aggregator) is software that periodically polls a specified set of web sites or blogs, pulls the latest headlines, and displays them on a single page. It works a lot like My Yahoo! in gathering together content from all across Yahoo!. With this beta release of the RSS Headlines module, My Yahoo! becomes a web-based newsreader that can display your choice of syndicated RSS feeds from tens of thousands of sources around the Web. But this is just the beginning. Your feedback on this beta release can help us improve and refine this exciting new tool. Our goal is to make it easy for all Yahoo! members to find and add RSS feeds to My Yahoo!.

---

What are the benefits of using My Yahoo! as my newsreader? In addition to the benefits of headline syndication, you can customize My Yahoo! to create your own individual Internet start page. RSS headlines coupled with My Yahoo!'s 100+ customized modules and frequently used services -- such as email, maps, stock quotes, etc -- work in tandem to help you find, organize, and share information on the Web. My Yahoo! is easy to set up quickly. You choose the page layout, pick a color or pre-built theme, and then select the content modules to add. If you've already set up your own My Yahoo! page, you can easily add another page dedicated to RSS Headlines.

---

How do I add syndicated headlines to my RSS module? We've tried to make it easy, but remember this is just a beta release -- think of it as a test of how RSS might work in My Yahoo! in the future. Once you've added the RSS module, start by simply clicking the “Edit” button in the upper right-hand corner. You now have a couple of options for adding sources. First, you can search for by keyword (ie. "England") or for the specific source or site you want to add. My Yahoo! will attempt to automatically discover the corresponding RSS URL. If the site is known, just click the "Add" checkbox.

• For example, if you want to add top stories from BBC simply type "BBC" and My Yahoo! will find for the corresponding RSS URL.
• This works for blogs too. For example, to add Mercury News columnist Dan Gillmor's blog, enter the URL, and My Yahoo! will find and add the RSS file.

Alternatively, if you know the specific RSS URL for the source you want, just type or paste it and click the "Add" button. Like most newsreaders available today, this is the primary way to add RSS headlines, but it means you need to know the specific URL of the source.

---

How do I find the URL for a site's RSS file/feed? The little white-in-orange "XML" button () indicates that a web site supports RSS. It usually points to the site's RSS file. If you click the button, don't worry about the text in your browser -- all you need is the URL in the browser's web address bar. To add the RSS feed to My Yahoo!, simply right click on the orange XML button to "Copy Shortcut." Go to My Yahoo!'s RSS edit page and paste ("Ctrl V") it into the "Add URL" box.

---

Can I import a list of sources? If you've already set up another newsreader but want to try the My Yahoo! module, you can import the list of sites you already subscribe to. Many news readers have an export function that outputs in OPML, another format for file sharing.
If this feature is available, export and save your sources as an OPML file. Then from the RSS Edit Page click on "Advanced Import Option" in the "Add New Sources" box. Browse your local drive for the OPML file, click "OK," then click "Import." Once the OPML file is imported, your RSS Headlines module is instantly populated with your sources.

Tip: Have any friends who are into reading blogs? Chances are they use a newsreader to scan for updates. Ask them to email you the OPML file with favorite syndicated sites -- it's a great way to get started quickly.

---

I'm interested in adding content about a specific topic to my page, but only found a few search results. There must be more out there, why are there so few choices? As part of making it easy to find and add RSS headlines to My Yahoo!, we are building an RSS directory. To date, this directory includes thousands of the most popular blogs and web sites that publish RSS feeds, but it is by no means exhaustive. This is where we need your help during the beta period. Any valid RSS file can be added to My Yahoo!, whether it exists in the Yahoo! directory or not -- if you know the URL, you can add it. Once it is added to your page, the URL is also added to the directory for others to discover via search results. Ultimately, you help make the My Yahoo! directory better by finding and adding feeds we don't already know about.

---

How else can I discover RSS? You are welcome to start with the Yahoo! Directory or search for RSS. You'll quickly discover there are several RSS directories on the Web today that are very helpful. Here are some of the better-known resources for finding RSS feeds:

• BloogZ: http://www.bloogz.com/rssfinder
• Syndic8: http://www.syndic8.com
• Technorati: http://www.technorati.com
• Daypop: http://www.daypop.com

---

What happens if I try to add an RSS URL that is behind a firewall? Because the Yahoo! Feedseeker only has access to publicly available RSS files, My Yahoo! will not be able to pull syndicated feeds hosted behind firewalls. For example, if you subscribe to an internal company newsletter that is syndicated via RSS, you will not be able to read it via My Yahoo!

---

How do I learn more about RSS? There's lots of information on the Web about RSS. Depending on what you're looking for, try starting here:

• For non-technical people new to RSS, check out:
  http://www.faganfinder.com/search/rss.shtml
  
   
• For experienced Internet users, check out the resources here:
  http://rss.lockergnome.com/resources/articles/quickstart.phtml
  
   
• For the web developer crowd, check out:
  http://www.oreillynet.com/rss/
  
   
• For a more technical introduction, check out:
  http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/12/18/dive-into-xml.html

[pcx99]

I'm using FIreFox 1.0 on a Mac and when I link to the FR URL you provide I get a page with HTML and text with an error message at the top: "This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below."

In firefox 1.0pr (preview release) a RSS feed appears as a little icon on the bottom status bar (the bottom of the browser where you see the "loading" bar when you change pages). Click the little icon and you'll get an option to subscribe to the newsfeed. This works just like bookmarking and in fact the newsfeed is put into your bookmarks as a folder which when opened shows the latest news topics (live bookmarks -- always updated -- it's actually a pretty cool concept but not something that's very intuitive to new -- or old -- users).

Anyway click on the icon, subscribe to the feed, set where you want the feed to go in your bookmarks and when you put your mouse over the link you'll see the latest free republic stories :)

[smith288]

John Robinson had these here for a long while and I have been using them off and on with a feed reader.

I think the new thing is he is utilizing a new standard that tells a browser the website offers a feed for that page.

[Tweaker]

What in means, in over simplified terms, is the feed is like saying send me a notice whenever something new is added.

If your email client automatically checks your mail every few minutes you will have the pleasure of a "chime" continuously and your in-box will be full forever. Not a good idea if you don't have a hugh amount of space in your in-box. The effect is the same as being mailbombed, hundreds or thousands of emails at once. You machine may freeze for a few minutes or lock up until you reboot. Be judicious when you set this up, you may find that you have been FReeped.

[Cacique]

L8R

[pcx99]

I guess I should also mention that you need to be on the news summary page ( http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/browse?ao=1 ) to see the icon :) Many pages which offer RSS feeds offer them in a way firefox can see, not all, but some is better than none, just keep checking the status bar now and again and pretty soon you'll have a pretty impressive collection of newsfeeds :)

[cricket]

Thanks for the short course! I am with the group that begins wih ??? to all this. . .

Am wondering how someone like Drudge fairs with all this. . .better? Or not. . .

[RippleFire]

bump

[pcx99]

What in means, in over simplified terms, is the feed is like saying send me a notice whenever something new is added.

Fortunately, no. RSS is updated on your schedule not free republic's. You can say how often you want to check for new material from 1 second to two weeks, free republic gets to decide how many new articles to send you, from 1 to 20 to every post since your last request. In Free Republic's case it appears to be the last 15 items to be posted. Unless you deliberately save an item RSS feeds aren't saved on your hard drive after you refresh everything.

So it's not really like mail at all in that the items are a lot more fleeting -- you most certainly will not get every post made on the free republic this way unless you go to extraordinary lengths to do so. But you can safely use this feed along with your other newsfeeds to have a consistant newsbrowsing environment that saves you from most forms of advertising until you actually want to go see the post.

I set up the free republic on my website feedreader (which is just a small personal page which the log files show as being blissfully ignored by the rest of the world) you're welcome to see how the feed actually would work in your browser and email. (Note the feed actually isn't refreshed until you hit the "up arrow" by the RSS graphic or if an hour has passed since the last update).

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/browse.rss

[pcx99]

Heh I guess it would help to post the correct link for the example of RSS newsfeeds and how they behave.

http://www.hunlock.com/news.php

[not_apathetic_anymore]

Thanks for the info, Lucky you I'm choosing to ask since
(I think) I kind of I understood your post.

All FR postings or can you just choose certain key words?

If that's the case it sounds cool, but if it's all FR postings then maybe[pretty likey]I'm missing something, but that doesn't sound like it accomplishes anything except reproducing every FR link in my email box and filling it up too.

[Incorrigible]

Bump

[Tweaker]

Yes, what you are saying is correct. My only point to those not familiar with this kind of thing was "Be judicious when you set this up,.." I'm still not sure if FR sends the notice for individual forums or just the last 15 posts. If for each forum then it could add up quickly, depending on how often you have chosen to make the check for new articles. I don't mean to knock the feeds or turn anyone away from a very useful tool, should have been more clear about that.

[jokar]

Bump to figure out later.

[amigatec]

It works with Opera 7.54 for Linux as well.

[Tennessean4Bush]

Bip! Thanks! This is just what I have been looking for.

[Weirdad]

This works perfectly in the perfect Opera browser also.

[Sub-Driver]

bump for later

[Vermonter]

Got it, thanks!

[The Bandit]

Someone posted a link to a free RSS reader, anyone have a link for it or another good one?

[snopercod]

Pretty slick.

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[VOA]

bump

[VOA]

My younger, smarter electrical engineering cousin was telling last week that
the "XML" tags indicate a link that can be taken to get the web-info
in a format for rapid repackaging and wide distribution.

I'd noticed some of the orange "XML" tags on some of the Yahoo! News webpages earlier.
I guess it's maybe a way to get people to "repackage" Yahoo's news and
maybe this causes "traffic" back to their site (and more revenues?).

I invite others to correct/amplify the gibberish I've posted here.

[antaresequity]

any idea how to configure this for trillian?

I need the Server and Location

[Willie Green]

I came across those RSS thingies for FreeRepublic just yesterday at NewsIsFree

I'm really not certain how good that place is, I'm still playing around with it, trying to figure it out.

[Revolting cat!]

What does all this mean?

I think it means you don't have to log in to log in!

[Jackknife]

bump

[USA_Soccer]

bump for later

[yonif]

.

[July 4th]

Someone pinged me to the link for the Breaking News RSS feed the other day. It made my day. Now I can easily get the best breaking news site on my cellphone, anywhere.

[texasflower]

To upgrade to 1.0 do you just install over the 0.9?

[Musket]

bump for later