# Using RSS feeds



## plowjockey (Aug 18, 2008)

Anybody use RSS feeds?

I have noticed them on certain sites, but am not sure the best to configure and use them. 

One sight in particular is Craigslist. Will using feeds push new listings to my desktop, or is ther an apps that is better to use?


----------



## Mechanic Intern (Jun 10, 2007)

There are a number of different programs you can use to read RSS feeds; Thunderbird, the "Live Bookmarks" feature of FireFox, or (my personal favorite) RSS Owl (almost forgot, you'll need Java installed on your computer to use RSS Owl). As for whether the RSS feed will alert you to new craigslist listings, I'd expect so. Configuration is purely a matter of personal preference (unless you're on satellite, in which case I recommend telling the feed reader to update ONLY weekly). If you have any more questions, PM them to either me or Kung. Plz don't expect me to reply between 1/6/2010 and 2/8/2010, though; lots of work to do elsewhere, little time in which to do it.


----------



## Kung (Jan 19, 2004)

plowjockey said:


> Anybody use RSS feeds?
> 
> I have noticed them on certain sites, but am not sure the best to configure and use them.
> 
> One sight in particular is Craigslist. Will using feeds push new listings to my desktop, or is ther an apps that is better to use?


It honestly depends upon what type of computer user you are. If you're the type of person who doesn't like a lot of clutter on their desktop, doesn't like learning new programs, etc., then it's best to let your web browser handle it; as MI, said, the "Live Bookmarks" part of Firefox handles that, as well as Internet Explorer, I believe.

If, however, you want them sort of 'separated', want a specific place to go to view them, RSS Owl or other suggestions (NewsGator and Feed Demon come to mind) are good.

It is pretty handy; if you like certain kinds of news, for instance (i.e., I like technology and Christian stuff; MI obviously likes techie stuff too, and so on), it's very handy to have it sort of 'piped' to your desktop via whatever means you want to use to have RSS feeds.


----------



## Kari (Mar 24, 2008)

I use RSS OWL on the Windows and Linux pc's. On my phone (HTC w/ Android) I use my Google account RSS reader named "Reader"


----------



## Kari (Mar 24, 2008)

Mechanic Intern said:


> If you have any more questions, PM them to either me or Kung. Plz don't expect me to reply between 1/6/2010 and 2/8/2010, though; lots of work to do elsewhere, little time in which to do it.


It is long standing netiquette and promotes a sense of professionalism to have general questions posted to the forum so that all users benefit. There are of course, exceptions to this when it involves security, personal info etc.

By encouraging PM's then stating you are unavailable for over a month is a real disservice to the user(s) of this forum who may have followup questions.

Just my .02 cents worth based on 19 years of computer tech support/consulting , long time Usenet user, website/forum owner/mod.


----------



## How Do I (Feb 11, 2008)

Craigslist is actually easier to scan with RSS feed in Firefox or IE. Instead of just getting the title you see what's in the listing also. Well, I guess up to a point. Here's an example of what you'll see using your browser to view a craigslist feed. Guess it's just whatever you're happy with.


----------



## farmerbrian (Aug 29, 2009)

I set a whole bunch of RSS feeds from craigslist using this site

http://crazedlist.org/

its not quite as useful now since craigslist added the feature to include multiple search areas if your locality returned few results. But this site is still very useful if you want to search i wide region for a particular and popular keyword, like Kubota!!

be sure to select "get feeds for" from dropdown menu to get the RSS feeds instead of doing a regular CL search. 

I used google reader to read everything. worked great!


----------



## Kung (Jan 19, 2004)

Kari said:


> It is long standing netiquette and promotes a sense of professionalism to have general questions posted to the forum so that all users benefit. There are of course, exceptions to this when it involves security, personal info etc.
> 
> By encouraging PM's then stating you are unavailable for over a month is a real disservice to the user(s) of this forum who may have followup questions.
> 
> Just my .02 cents worth based on 19 years of computer tech support/consulting , long time Usenet user, website/forum owner/mod.


Good point; I was @ work at the time and in a hurry, but you're absolutely correct. There are many knowledgable people here - Nevada, myself, Kari, MI, and so on - who can respond to this.

One problem can be and is often that people might post incorrect information. While that's a possibility, the other techies will correct us and share information as well. As a matter of fact, that's kinda how I became a moderator here; started out as a poster, got proven wrong (and right) a few times, and I earned the respect of the then-moderator enough that I got recommended as a moderator here.


----------

