Fairly new to RSS - Do I have to link to the site offering the feed? - RSS, ATOM, and Related Technologies forum at WebmasterWorld

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Fairly new to RSS - Do I have to link to the site offering the feed?

Or can it be customized a little better?

anon123

7:24 pm on Nov 9, 2009 (gmt 0)

There is a site that offers news related to my field, that is updated much more often and faster than I update the news on my site, and they offer an RSS feed, so I think it's finally time to just use their news on my site.

However, there RSS feed I think will take away alot of the people on my site as the story titles/text and everthing else is just 1 big link to there site.

Can I customize the RSS feed to not be linked to like that, and instead just offer a link at the bottom later?

I will gladly give them credit as the source and a link but I'm hesitant to use them now because my homepage basically becomes 1 big link/advertisement for my competitor.

eelixduppy

9:53 pm on Nov 9, 2009 (gmt 0)

If they have a Terms of Use then you could probably find out in there someplace. Otherwise I don't see why not, although, personally I would cite the source of the data. If not at each article, it should be marked someplace where you got the data from. After all, it isn't yours. Especially might run into issues if their material in copywritten.

bill

2:45 am on Nov 10, 2009 (gmt 0)

Syndicating someone else's content without citing them would not be ethical. It is good that you plan to cite them and maintain their link, but you would want to check with their Terms to see if changes to the format offered are acceptable. I have seen some sites that offer JavaScript snippets or iFrame solutions for embedding feeds on your site that have fairly strict terms. If it is just an RSS feed you may have more flexibility in the presentation.