Mystery Writers Forum

General Discussion and News => Technology Troubles => Topic started by: Brenda B. on January 17, 2007, 09:05:19 AM

Title: RSS buttons
Post by: Brenda B. on January 17, 2007, 09:05:19 AM
Hello all,
Haven't been able to write in some time, just one thing and another.
Now I need help.
I hate to go back and ask my friend who gave me the information in the first place.
How do I use a RSS button on a newspaper website? I want it to email me any relative stories about my cousin's recent murder. But when I click on the RSS button like my friend told me to, I get a page full of HTML code like links and I don't know what to do with them.
Can anyone explain this in plain, non computer geek language? I know the RS stands for Real Simple, but evidently I need REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY Simple.
Thanks in advance.
Brenda B.
Title: Re: RSS buttons
Post by: Michele Viney on January 17, 2007, 10:25:30 AM
Brenda

Sorry I cannot help on your RSS issue but I did want to extend my condolances to you about your cousin. I don't really pray but my thoughts and sympathy are winging their way to you across the Atlantic.

Michele
Title: Re: RSS buttons
Post by: Zara on January 17, 2007, 06:19:15 PM
Brenda,

Like Michele, I'm no help for your RSS problem. Just wanted to tell you I'm sorry for your loss. You and your family will be in my prayers tonight.

Zara
Title: Re: RSS buttons
Post by: Brenda B. on January 20, 2007, 03:11:36 PM
Thank you both for your words of comfort. It's been many, many years since I last saw my cousin, so my grief is not strong, but I feel such empathy for her parents and my mother. I'm so disappointed that no one here was able to help with the RSS Button, I thought surely Clay would have words of wisdom for me, being the newspaper man that he is, or Charmaine. I'm betting we have other journalists or newshounds that might know this. Maybe I picked the wrong topic to post this in, but I can't imagine short of CHAT where else would make sense. Oh well.

Again, thank you both for the kind words and thoughts.
Brenda B.
Title: Re: RSS buttons
Post by: JIM DOHERTY on January 20, 2007, 08:49:23 PM
Brenda,

More "no help" on the RSS button question, but your cousin is in my prayers.   So sorry for your family's loss.
Title: Re: RSS buttons
Post by: Kathy Wendorff on January 21, 2007, 07:30:03 AM
My thoughts are also with your family, Brenda.

And I'm sorry, but I've never used RSS either. Or even tried. Here's a link to a column by Walter Mossberg, which may or may not have helpful info and links, depending on what browser you're using:

http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/ptech-20050505.html

And here's another article with more of a "how to" slant:

http://www.slate.com/id/2096660/

Hope one of those helps.

Kathy
Title: Re: RSS buttons
Post by: krisneri on January 21, 2007, 02:49:36 PM
I've come across that "RSS" in other contexts, but I don't even know what it means.

But like the others, Brenda, I'm sorry for your family's loss.

Kris
Title: Re: RSS buttons
Post by: Ingrid on January 21, 2007, 05:28:49 PM
Me, too, Brenda.

Ingrid
Title: Re: RSS buttons
Post by: Susan August on January 21, 2007, 08:50:33 PM
Brenda,
I am sorry for your family's loss.

I think that RSS is just lingo for automatic newsfeeds.  If you give me the actually page link where you saw that one, I'll try to figure it out for you.  No promises, but I always like a puzzle and I'm happy to give it a try. 

Susan

PS  I also could check with my daughter who seems to know the answer to all things on the web. 
Title: Re: RSS buttons
Post by: Brenda B. on January 22, 2007, 02:56:53 PM
Susan,
I think you are correct about that. I think it is supposed to somehow send emails to me when new articles appear with regard to that particular article.  Here is the link to one on my cousin:
http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2007/01/15/news/news760.txt

Again, thank you all for your kind words and thoughts.

Brenda
Title: Re: RSS buttons
Post by: Susan August on January 22, 2007, 04:35:23 PM
Brenda,
I followed your link to the article about your cousin.  When I click on the orange RSS button, I don't get HTML code, but a list of what is available through the feeds, with more buttons that seem to walk you through the steps to sign on.  I wonder if there was just a 'glitch' when you tried it.  Can you try again and see if it works for you this time?  The other possibility is that this web site is not compatible with whatever browser you are using and that has fouled things up.  I use Firefox.

Let me know if it works...if not, I can always walk you through the options and 'sign you up' from here, I suppose.

Susan
Title: Re: RSS buttons
Post by: Brenda B. on January 23, 2007, 01:34:56 PM
I do think I need your help Susan. Because when I click on the RSS button on the page, then I get, like you said links, but then when, for instance I click on the Local News RSS or Feed this is what pops up:
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
- <rss version="2.0">
- <channel>
  <title>News from www.cumberlink.com</title>
  <link>http://www.cumberlink.com/</link>
  <description>The latest news from the www.cumberlink.com website!</description>
  <generator>Newsys Template Engine</generator>
  <category>News</category>
  <docs>http://backend.userland.com/rss</docs>
  <ttl>60</ttl>
- <item>
  <title>Housing project planned</title>
  <link>http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2007/01/23/news/news633.txt</link>
  <description>With two new investor groups signed on, developer Shah Mathias may finally begin to fill in the details of his Carlisle Forge project along York Road in South Middleton Township.</description>
  <pubDate>Tue, 23 Jan 2007 10:02:27 EST</pubDate>
  </item>
- <item>
  <title>State of the Union: Mixed</title>
  <link>http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2007/01/23/news/news634.txt</link>
  <description>As President Bush prepares for his State of the Union address tonight, local residents are focusing on the war in Iraq, with some staunchly behind the president and others not so sure.</description>
  <pubDate>Tue, 23 Jan 2007 10:02:30 EST</pubDate>
  </item>
- <item>
  <title>Construction worker shocked</title>
  <link>http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2007/01/23/news/news635.txt</link>
  <description>A construction worker was injured Monday morning when an overhead crane apparently touched an outside electrical service line. The unidentified man was shocked about 10:45 a.m. in the 100 block of Milky Way, a housing development off the Baltimore Road in Southampton Township, Cumberland County. A crew was working on a house when the crane touched the live wire as the man was poised to work on the cable. He was taken to Chambersburg Hospital for observation. Responding to the incident were the Shippensburg Area EMS with a paramedic from West Shore ALS, Vigilant Hose Co. and West End Fire and Rescue. State police are investigating the incident.</description>
  <pubDate>Tue, 23 Jan 2007 10:02:31 EST</pubDate>
  </item>
- <item>

It goes on and on, that's just a sample. There's nothing there that tells me what to do. What am I doing incorrectly? Besides, I don't want all the Local news, just anything that pertains to that particular story. I'm so confused.

Thank you so much for trying to help me. I'm sorry I'm so internet incapable.
Title: Re: RSS buttons
Post by: Susan August on January 23, 2007, 05:51:41 PM
Very strange...not what I saw there!  What browser are you using?  Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape?  I'm not sure that you can limit the articles to only those with your cousin in them...I think it will just be all Local news.  But you shouldn't be seeing all that HTML.

Susan
Title: Re: RSS buttons
Post by: Elena on January 23, 2007, 06:08:48 PM
Brenda,

I just dragged my neighbor in promising him a busman's  holiday.  He followed the link you gave us and it did not give the extra stuff - it worked properly.  However, The Sentinal's RSS feed is not set up to follow a specific story.  They are set up for you to follow all local news, as well as a list of other catagories.  Neither of us know why you are getting all sorts of internal code.  But, he assures me the problem is theirs not yours.

Sorry the information isn't better, and add my sympathies for the loss of your cousin.

Elena
Title: Re: RSS buttons
Post by: Brenda B. on January 23, 2007, 10:26:05 PM
Thank you both, Susan and Elena. In the meantime I mentioned this problem to a co-worker and she showed me how to do exactly what I wanted, get only stories about my cousin, through Google. Go figure.

It really is strange having a murder in the family so to speak. I'm torn between the horror of it and the writer side of me that would like to be following the homicide detectives around to find out what is being done. I know I would never do it, but boy if I were ever to consider doing non-fiction this would be the case I would focus on. How sick is that? :P :-[
Title: Re: RSS buttons
Post by: JIM DOHERTY on January 24, 2007, 01:14:52 AM
Brenda,

James Ellroy did it with his mother.  You're a writer and writing is the way you naturally process the major events of your life.

Nothing to be ashamed of.  A non-fiction piece on how a crime of violence ripples out and affects so many other people might be a worthwhile idea.  It wouldn't be exploiting your cousin's death or your family's grief, the way Ellroy seemed to be exploiting his mother.  It would a way of drawing something positive out of the tragedy.
Title: Re: RSS buttons
Post by: Elena on January 24, 2007, 09:15:12 AM
Brenda,

I'm with Jim.  There is nothing sick about wanting to follow the investigation - it is human nature to want to make sense of the unknown, especially when it's scary and close.  It also is a useful way to cope with the information you are gathering.  To keep it from becoming overwhelming. 

Google away,
Elena
Title: Re: RSS buttons
Post by: Brenda B. on January 25, 2007, 03:11:11 PM
Thanks you two for the reassuring words. Not much of a book until we find whodunnit. Will keep the idea in the back of my mind.
Title: Re: RSS buttons
Post by: Jeanne on February 14, 2007, 05:38:28 PM

How do I use a RSS button on a newspaper website? I want it to email me any relative stories about my cousin's recent murder. But when I click on the RSS button like my friend told me to, I get a page full of HTML code like links and I don't know what to do with them.
Can anyone explain this in plain, non computer geek language? I know the RS stands for Real Simple, but evidently I need REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY Simple.
Thanks in advance.
Brenda B.

Brenda,

Here is a site that will explain about RSS in plain English.  ;D
http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/manageinfo/rss.mspx  (http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/manageinfo/rss.mspx)

Hope this helps.

Jeanne

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