# Can we turn on RSS feeds? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 26, 2004, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-turn-on-rss-feeds/256925 "2004-07-26T12:59:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2004, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-turn-on-rss-feeds/256925/1 "2004-07-26T12:59:44Z")
Do you think it would be a heavy load on the server to generate them? It would be _extremely_ nice. I’m also curious if the reader ever considered publishing a feed for the homepage. I guess a “downside” is that it would probably bring more people to the site. It would undoubtedly be heralded as one of the cool feeds on the net. /Alterego ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2004, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-turn-on-rss-feeds/256925/2 "2004-07-26T19:50:48Z")
Nothing coming like this week or anything like that, but watch this space, we’re looking at it. your humble TubaDiva Administrator ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2004, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-turn-on-rss-feeds/256925/3 "2004-07-26T20:28:40Z")
What’s an RSS feed? ---
**Author:** ![Achren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@Achren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achren)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2004, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-turn-on-rss-feeds/256925/4 "2004-07-26T20:52:14Z")
[RSS Feed](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=rich%20site%20summary) Doesn’t mean I understand it. Is there a tech translator in the house? ---
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2004, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-turn-on-rss-feeds/256925/5 "2004-07-26T21:21:19Z")
To over-simplify, this would allow you to see what had been changed on the Straight Dope web site at one fell swoop. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-turn-on-rss-feeds/256925/6 "2004-07-27T06:04:28Z")
> [@paperbackwriter](#): > > To over-simplify, this would allow you to see what had been changed on the Straight Dope web site at one fell swoop. I’m not sure if this over-simplification is too simple or not simple enough. But I still don’t get it. Happy ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-turn-on-rss-feeds/256925/7 "2004-07-27T07:15:09Z")
> [@alterego](#): > > I’m also curious if the reader ever considered publishing a feed for the homepage. I may be confused a bit, but would [this](http://www.jwz.org/cheesegrater/RSS/straightdope.rss) help? ([Here](http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=thestraightdope) if you’re on LiveJournal.) ---
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-turn-on-rss-feeds/256925/8 "2004-07-27T12:57:20Z")
The simplest way to learn about RSS feeds is to sign up at [bloglines.com](http://bloglines.com) and subscribe to a few. They are really neat and save loads of time. ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-turn-on-rss-feeds/256925/9 "2004-07-27T13:26:05Z")
RSS, explained (both the what and the how): [http://slate.msn.com/id/2096660](http://slate.msn.com/id/2096660) ---
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-turn-on-rss-feeds/256925/10 "2004-08-23T10:04:35Z")
_twiddles thumbs anxiously_ any possible word on this? ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2004, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-turn-on-rss-feeds/256925/11 "2004-09-03T14:29:04Z")
RSS is enabled in many vBulletin 3.0 boards, even if the administrator doesn’t realize it. Try the normal URL for a forum, followed by /external.php?type=rss . (No, it does NOT work for the SDMB.) RSS and Javascript feeds add queries to the MySQL database and slow things down for those actually using a very busy board. At the risk of junior administrating, I would imagine this is one reason why they aren’t turned on here.