RSS Feed Update
January 22, 2010 Sorry to dedicate a whole post to mundane site news, guys, but we've been fiddling with our RSS feed and I know that has a lot of you concerned.
As I noted on yesterday's post, we pulled the full feed in an attempt to thwart evil thieving spam bloggers. However, over the past day or two we've had the benefit of talking to some Very Smart People who've shown us alternate ways to foil scrapers. (See? We even learned what "scrapers" are. Told you they were smart.)
Therefore, and here's the part you want to hear: we are restoring the full feed tomorrow.
Who loves ya? Huh? Huh? That's right: we do.
(Well, except for those sourpusses who started the name-calling and excessive nastiness the second we touched the feed. Can't say we love them. Nope. In fact, those guys - just being honest here - kinda suck. Fortunately, most of you are NOT those guys - so thanks for that.)
Reader Comments (90)
Some people don't do well when you mess with their routine, and they blow things all out of proportion. But I just imagine that at home, they're sitting in the floor of a closet, wearing foil hats or maybe with lipstick all over their faces, and then I feel better. Not about the world, but about the role I play in it. Hang in there, CW! :D
Huh, I didn't notice any difference in the RSS feed on my end. Though I would have been very sad to see it disappear. Glad you got it worked out!
Wat's a scraper?
Thank goodness! Glad you've found an acceptable solution, I missed being able to read your posts over the last few days while the feed was non-functional.
thanks so much! i was worried!
I was wondering why you changed the RSS, but figured you had your reasons. I was disappointed, though. I'm glad to see it's back to normal and that you figured out a solution to your spam problem! Keep up the good work.
YAY!! good for you guys! way to show 'em who's boss :)
All I had to do was click through for the full post. It's not *that* big a deal! I mean, the full feed is certainly more *convenient* but, please, it's a blog about cakes. Let's not take things too seriously here!
I'm glad you're putting it back up, but I'm sorry you had to deal with such awful people!
Hooray Full POSTS!!! From a google reader stalker - THANKS!! And Im with Robin - whats a scraper?
So...let me get this straight. You provide hilarious and insightful content nearly everyday all year round for free and people get all up in arms as soon as there is a hiccup on the site? I'm I understanding this correctly?
People suck.
I'm glad the feed is returning! I wasn't aware that the change was deliberate - thought you were just having technical problems. I read all of my blogs and such through RSS, so anything without a feed doesn't get read!
Thanks for posting such awesome cakes. :)
Thanks for restoring the pictures to the feeds. However, now there are ads showing up as well. Is this part of the deterrent to the spammers, or is it a fluke? (I'd almost rather just have a simple link than to see ads in the feed.)
Yay :) Thanks.
Yay, feedback!!
Get it? The feed... is back...
Yeah, I really should just leave the punning to the professionals. ;)
That said, a sincere and honest thank you for getting the feed back up. I'm one of the (no doubt many) people who does rely on the feed as my daily cakewrecks fix... though I'd like to think I didn't resort to name-calling or other such inane immaturity... and it's really great to hear that it's coming back up.
Really. Thank you. For setting up the feed in the first place, for getting it back up so soon after having to take it down... and, of course, for doing those things in spite of the apparent influx of foolish people trying to ruin it for the rest of us. You guys rock.
We love you and are grateful, O kind mistress of wrecked cakes!
Thanks for restoring the feed. I still clicked over, but I like being able to read everything in Google Reader.
Thank you for your blog - it is so funny!
LOL I was wondering what had happened to the pictures on the feed, but just figured it was a blogger thing.
Yea! Thank you! I hope I wasn't one of the Sourpusses you mentioned! I did comment about the feed but only because I had missed your previous warning about working on it. Sorry! If I had seen the warning, I would have kept my mouth shut. Thanks for bringing the feed back! I need my wreck-fix every day in my reader! :)
No worries, you guys are just doing what you need to do.
Imho, the REAL fans won't mind clicking over to see all the wonderfulness that we love so much. :)
How does not having a full feed ward off scammers?
I am so glad you are fixing it! I came to the site finally after getting two days of empty emails. :p
Hey guys,
I'm glad you guys are happy again. Jen and I have been struggling with this for a while. As far as the ads, they were always supposed to be there but something got messed up somewhere. We've always tried to be gentle with the ads though so they're at the bottom of the posts and I don't think they effect load time or anything. You might even be able to get an RSS ad blocker if it really bothers you.
Thanks for being patient as we continue to fine tune this.
john
Oh thank you! I missed the last couple days because I thought the posts were mistakes...
um, people...how do you think Jen and John pay the bills? We get to read this stuff FREE. Ads are part of the system. If you don't like ads, don't dis CW. Instead set up your system to block them.
I forgot to add - Enjoy your Saturday!
Oh, thanks goodness. I almost had a meltdown when I reveived the message "site not found"! What would I do without my daily chuckle! Love you guys!
I loves ya! And fortunately for me, unlike certain atavistic infants, I knew instinctively that if there were no pictures, I could magically click on the link to see them. What won't they think of next?
Hooray!! Thank you so much for finding another solution. I love being able to look at the photos in my Google Reader. I know that clicking through to the full post isn't *that* big of a deal, but it's way more convenient to not have to.
Jen and John, you guys are the best! I have no idea what a scraper is, but I'm glad that you've found a way to foil their evil plans.
And, people, stop buggin' Jen. You all do realize that if, with all your whining and cranking about the horrible misfortune of having to CLICK A LINK (gasp), you drive her away from my personal source of daily entertainment, then... well I just don't want to think about that.
Cake Wrecks rocks, feed or no feed! And no tiny little unobtrusive ads are going to keep me from snorting tea out my nose at the hilarity of it.
Keep of the good work Jen and John. And we love you too (except for those whiners - I don't think they love anybody).
Thank you for fixing it! :)
Now I'll hopefully be able to read you again trough Bloglines normally.
Your posts are so hilarious I'd go to any length to read them- I'm just glad you were able to sort it all out! I'm an amateur technophile but I know enough to know what a pain this was! Kudos for patiently sorting it out. Also, yours wasn't the only blog I read that's been hacked recently. Now, onto the wreckaliciousness!
Hey great to see your letting the whiner basher comments go through. You have no idea the reasons or rationale for people choosing to limit their blog reading to readers only. Some work sites block blogger.com. For others, like me, the only possible way to keep up with 100+ blogs a day is by using a reader. I'm glad you turned it back on, but I wish you and your readers would stop calling us whiners and just take a moment to consider that there might be another valid viewpoint out there. Really, whose doing all the complaining here? Seems like it's a lot of fans who are insensitive to some constructive comments.
I'm glad you're restoring it! I wasn't going to say anything though, because it's YOUR blog and it's a privilege to read it, not a right.
And yeah, what's a scraper? No, I'm not going to Google it. Hmph.
CC your comment really cracked me up. love it.
no problems getting your feed. I rarely comment but I look at your blog daily. thanks for everything
No stress, I was sad to see the change and will be happy it's back...
For those interested if you read your RSS in Google Reader on Firefox you can get the better greader add-on and see full blog posts in one click.
P.S. I love this blog! Also, I feel super guilty for not commenting until this whole hullaballoo!
Awesome! Thank you!
As long as "scrapers" aren't people who wipe the errors off of the cakes...I need these cake wrecks for a good side splitting laugh daily. Thanks, Jon & Jen, for the wrecks and the wit - you guys rock!
Yay!!! Thank you.
Nice, having RSS back is awesome! Thanks for your hard work and for going out of your way even when a lot of people responded in a really impolite, reactionary way. Sock it to those plagiarists!
Love yr blog - and don't understand why some people think that it's ok to be rude on-line. Ignore 'em I say!
I noticed the change, thought it was weird, wondered what was up, and otherwise went about my life as usual. But then, I know how to click links in my news reader and I prefer that to throwing tantrums on the net (obviously, some folks prefer the tantrum option).
I am glad to hear the RSS feed will be returning. I presume when it comes back it'll have links back to the site and some other tricks to keep the scrapers a little more honest? (I particularly approve of putting ads in the feed, get some clicks off THEIR site!)
Anyone who wants to know what scraper should go here: http://www.google.com/ and type in the word scraper. Just do a search, for heaven's sake!
In the meantime: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_scraping
Oh, and to those morons who felt the need to have a tantrum over someone else's RSS feed, I'd like to suggest you start your OWN blog, build your readership, get a book published, and then see what sort of morons email YOU! Go on, I dare you! I double dare you, you little whiners. What's that? No, you can't because, yeah, that's right, you suck!
I'm glad you managed to get everything resolved on your end, that's the most important.
As far as I'm concerned, one little click was all it took to get to the page, so really it wasn't too a bother at all :).
Thanks again for all you are doing !
just to let you know, your blog is one of the fantastic site i keep on visiting everyday...because the cakes are hilariously funny and some are breathtakingly beautiful...keep posting, ppl should understand that if it's not working that means there's a problem one way or the other and it needs fixing...have a nice day...
I only use Reader so I know when there is a new post and click through to the full site anyway, so feh on the naysayers.
I love this site. And now I catch myself cruising the grocery store bakery for cakes to laugh at. Oooh, they're out there.
thank GOD...that one extra click the past two days was really wearing me out. [sarcasm] i guess the up side is that i burned a few extra calories so today i can eat more cake!
luv you too! your limited feed didn't bother me at all, just click to go to your blog. duh!
I'm glad you've got it figured out and hope they don't strike again.
take care!
Yay! I noticed that there was no content in the feeds and figured that you guys must be working on something. I like you guys plenty well enough to click through to get my daily Cake fix.
That said, I'm very happy that the full feed is coming back.
Also, I can't believe you have scrapers! Not right!
Of course, I don't think I would know an RSS if it jumped up and bit me in the butt...
Anonymous 10:54 I hope your job is reviewing blogs or something. And if it is, then shame on your "work site" for blocking blogger.com. If not, though, and you're wading through 100+ blogs/day, you must be an Evelyn Wood honor roll student or something to still be able to give your boss an honest day's work. I know it takes me plenty of time just to read CW and the comments. Wow!
And as I'm sure you know, constructive criticism gives helpful suggestions. Destructive criticism whines and complains - not real helpful or constructive. But I'm sure you already knew that and were part of the former.
Wreck on, Jen and John!!! Love ya!
Gee, I don't even use the RSS feed, so as far as I'm concerned, wreck on!
B-But, on the other hand, I thought you said you weren't going to use curse words on this site. Whiners may be one thing, but on my planet, s*** is still a curse word.
With utmost sincerity,
A younger reader.