layout: post title: CBC removes agreement on RSS usage, my feedback email created: 1103262274 categories:

• Personal Publishing
• Canada

CBC has in the meantime removed the agreement I wrote about in my first post.

I sent them my feedback letter today. Here's what I said:

Update: I got a (very fast) response, posted as well.

Dear CBC:

Thanks for implementing RSS for your website. I posted some feedback several days ago. I notice that you've now removed the agreement page -- thanks for that. I have a few suggested links below that you might like to add. Also, I would request that you consider turning the feeds into full article content, or at the very least present "teasers". The current headline-only format is nothing more than a token implementation -- it is very rare that I can tell by reading the headline whether the entire article would interest me. So, as it is, I tend to skip over 98% of the headlines that appear in my news reader.

For News Reader tools, you should add the following two links under the Apple section:
NetNewsWire
NewsFire

Gush is a Flash-based tool that works on all operating systems that you should also add.

MyYahoo is another web-based tool that can be used to read news.

I would be happy to discuss RSS strategy or any other questions that you might have. In my opinion, the more open CBC is, the better the online interaction can be for everyone, and that everyone wins.

And the response, signed with an actual person's name:

We thank you for your kind feedback. We have also received similar requests from other users and therefore will consider your suggestions carefully.

Unfortunately, since there are so many News Readers available on the web, we cannot list all of them. However, we will keep your suggestions in mind when reviewing our list of readers, and will also recommend them to affiliates requesting support for CBC RSS feeds.

We thank you once again for your interest in Free Headlines. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

"so many News Readers available on the web"?! Again, might I point out that the ones listed under "Apple" I have never heard of either one of them?! And that typing in "apple news reader" into Google has NetNewsWire as the #1 hit?! Is updating the CBC website with additional links really THAT hard?

The rest of it is basically just saying that if enough people email headlines AT cbc.ca, they'll consider putting in teasers. What are you waiting for? Go email!