The technical aspect of redirecting RSS and Atom feeds from one URL to another has been discussed lately, but there is also an issue of etiquette that is worth thinking through. Let me explain…

It has been quiet lately on inkBlots as I’ve been working on a project I intend to announce in a few weeks. More details are forthcoming as things come closer together, but the whole notion centers around a non-profit venue for strong technology-related content that will reach a broader audience than “just my blog.”

My plan at this point is to point the inkBlots feed to the new site, so the transition would be seamless. You would get the same sort of stuff you get on inkBlots, plus (I hope) quite a bit more. Basically, you wouldn’t have to do anything, since the same RSS feed you use now would pull from the new site. (inkBlots would stay behind as an archive, but no longer be updated.)

Technically, this is easy stuff (thanks to FeedBurner.) But what about the etiquette of it?

Is it okay if a feed follows an author to a new site?  Is redirecting a feed to a strongly-related site a reasonable thing to do?  Is it a nice convenience, or does it feel like a bait-and-switch? When is it not okay?  Is announcing intent enough, or should something else be done?
What do you think?

This entry was posted on Monday, December 4th, 2006 at 15:24 and is filed under syndication, rss, atom, inkblots, feedburner. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.