I think a third party that tries to get user to subscribe to your show using their own RSS feed that echoes back yours is just downright scumbaggy. I’ve actually set up an URL rewriting rule on my webserver that if I’ve got it pegged right, will prevent Creative from being able to read my feed in order to present it as their own. I actually think the Creative products in general are kind of cool, but this is rank.
There seems to be a battle for the RSS feed, and getting people to subscribe to a feed you control is the high ground. Fight the power, don’t subscribe to the Zencast.com feeds.
I see your 301 redirect. That’s a good solution. But are you not giving Creative the feed when they poll for it? That seems like a mistake if you’re doing the 301.
I’d just make sure I didn’t send Creative a 301.
Hugh, if you get a 301 then you are loading one of the old feeds. Creative is not getting a 301, they are getting the text of this this feed instead of the actual feed.
And you have to “enjoy” their copyright blurb (I guess the “included on this site” is the getaway clause).
All content included on this site, such as text, graphics, logos, button icons, images, audio clips, digital downloads, data compilations, and software, is either the exclusive property of Creative Technology Ltd, its affiliates (collectively, “Creative”), its content suppliers, or its licensors.
I let them know exactly how I feel about their products and the shady practice of supplanting feed URLs.
And did you notice they call them P.O.D.casts? Personal Option Download? Where have we heard that crap before?
No offense to Doc Searls, but he should refrain from any more marketroid takeover attempts of someone else’s idea. If he comes up with something, he can call it whatever he wants.
He should stick to his strength, which is business analysis. I very much enjoy reading his analysis of open source business vs. closed source business.
By the way, Dave Slusher, you’re my Apache hacks hero. 🙂
I tried ZenCast this morning and it subscribes to the original feed. Hitting > button is only a call to action for the zencast organizer. To my understanding feeds are not re-published by zencast.com
Try it for yourself. Subscribe to a feed and then look it up. It’s the original one.
Hector, they have changed that since I posted this. It used to be to a zencast feed with an ID in the parameter, now it is directly to the underlying feed. I also note they took my feed out of the catalog. They must have gotten the message.