The RSS Files -- Readers Weigh In

* "My main problem with RSS is that its branding as some sort of 'wire service' makes me feel like just the text from RSS feeds should appear in my RSS viewer. Headlines do indeed show up, but when I click them, I am transported to a Web site with the posted information. I would like it much more if an RSS viewer could 'rip' the text from the selected feeds, and send me that information instead -- eliminating the need to visit Web sites." -- David Gitlin, Louisville, Ky.

* "I tried to set the feed (feeds?) up a few days ago and totally failed. ... I am a mainstream user who is interested but apparently not interested enough (yet). I might be shamed into trying again if RSS becomes the norm but, for now, your story quelled soaring panic that I am once again being flung out of the personal-technology whirl-a-wind, back into the realm of technopeasants." -- Jo Mancuso: Portland, Ore.

Don't panic! I know this phrase is coming back into style with the Hitchhiker's Guide out in the movies now, but really. Technology frightens many people still because we feel like it might somehow bite us if we turn away from the monitor for a second. Fear not. Many actions done online can be undone too.

* "I'm far from a technophobe but not an unquestioning technophile. Your column is the first that has even piqued my interest in RSS, primarily because you're so frank about not being impressed to date. As for pasting the info from the 'orange button' into a registration form, that's a hilarious example of accidental genius. Similar events have occurred in my long hate-love relationship with my PC; it's how most of us keep persevering." -- Linn Blanchard, Dickson County, Tenn.

"Grandma Linn" (as she calls herself) told me more about how geography affects her Internet experience: "I live out in the boonies on a TN creek in Dickson county: Garners Creek Road. My only internet access is a rural telephone line which provides 28.8 Kbps on a good day, like now. There's not adequate profit to the cable companies to come here and satellite uplinks aren't fast enough to justify sacrificing my huge walnut trees. My great hope is for the local electric system to install the latest technology which piggybacks internet connections on the ubiquitous electric grid."

Sounds like material for a future column. Thanks, Grandma Linn.

* "I use Firefox as a browser. I, like you, tried clicking on the 'xml' orange boxes and got garbage. I had the most trouble with the Washington Post site, even after reading the instructions. One day, I noticed a strange icon in the lower left corner of my screen when I was on the CNN site. I clicked on it and that was my epiphany. With that one click I had a live bookmark! However, the Washington Post (and others) was a mystery." -- Ray Merlin, San Antonio, Texas.

There's nothing like a little healthy constructive criticism. Meanwhile, here's a story of someone who stuck it out and reaped the reward:

* "My introduction to [RSS] was prompted mostly by sheer curiosity of those annoying orange blocks on the sidebars of so many sites. Most technology advances, particularly of the computer variety, annoy me. What is this new scrap of useless technology, and how much is it going to cost me (in time)? The explanations of "RSS Feed" really got my goat. Can they stop speaking binary long enough to tell me what this is? I kept at it because there was just enough intelligible language to let me know that it might be useful. Turns out, yes, it is. I use the feeders to keep me up on business, technology and energy/environmental news." -- Tanya Flemons, Washington, D.C.

As Emerson's friend Henry David Thoreau said, "Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!"

Thanks to all who wrote to me, and let's keep talking about technology and how it fits -- or doesn't -- in your daily life. Write to me anytime.