Option to Disable RSS Feeds

[rebelsheart]

Title
Option to Disable RSS Feeds

Short, concise description of the idea
Give users the option to disable RSS feeds of their account.

Full description of the ideaLiveJournal often takes the stand that users should have full control of their content, but will not allow users to disable the RSS feeds of their journals. While making entries friends

Comments

[lovefromgirl]

This one sounds like a long overdue idea.

[charliemc]

+1

[pauamma]

Yes.

[adudeabides]

Part of me wants to say no -- this doesn't make it impossible to syndicate content, only slightly less easy.

Part of me wants to say yes -- a user should have some level of control over their content.

Since adding this control doesn't really change the fact content can still be viewed or "syndicated" in a number of other ways, though, and the work put into it would be more than is worth because of that, I'm gonna have to say...

-1

[gerg]

I agree with this completely.

[ursamajor]

Yeah, I'm divided like you are.

I wonder if it's possible to create an option that says, "Do not let any entries that I post friends-only or private to be put on my feed." I could support something like that.

The major problem I can think of:

- if someone accidentally posts something public that they meant to post nonpublic, how quickly does the RSS feed get updated to reflect that? Given that search engines are able to index new entries *very* quickly, even if they're public for mere moments, and given that I'm not sure such entries wouldn't get cached into online RSS readers, based on my observations of a few of them, how does this correlate to how quickly the RSS feed can and should reflect that, and will be reflected throughout those readers? (Though the problem would be minimized with judicious use of minsecurity.)

(Seriously, someone more syndication-knowledgeable than me, please comment. *G*)

[gerg]

The RSS feed is updated instantly, but RSS is a pull system, not a push - i.e. readers won't notice until they pull the feed again. Most readers update no more often than every 15 minutes, but if it's been 14 and you post, well... :)

I agree that it creates a false sense of security - if you don't put them in RSS feeds, your friends can still get them, through screenscraping if there's not a feed. Hell, if you're really paranoid about your feed, turn it down to titles only, and at least make people write screenscrapers, I guess.

[mordyn4]

+1

[mskala]

As far as I can tell, the only way an "abusive user" can make a journal's entries friends-only entries public through an RSS feed is if the "abusive user" has access to an account listed as a friend of that journal. That's the same old "if you trust your friends, you have to trust your friends" problem. It cannot be solved by this purported solution: people who can read entries can always make those entries public, RSS feed or not.

I'm against offering a "turn off RSS feeds" option because it gives a false sense of security. The RSS feed doesn't make any entries visible to anyone who couldn't already see and publish them, it only makes entries easier to read for people who already can read them.

+1

[seasleepy]

IAWTC.

[snakeling]

+1

[ziplocless]

+1