amznVibe - 3:47 pm on Jul 21, 2004 (gmt 0)

Actually there are alot of users who are very comfortable with RSS for personal use. Many come from a blogging background so they are familar with the format.

With broadband being "always on", they typically will have programs running 24/7 that collect headlines for them. And they typically collect all at the same time, syncronized, on the hour.

Lots of "valid" RSS bots out there too, including MoreOver, News4Sites, Feedster, Technorati, Waypath, Daypop, k-collector, Blogdex, Popdex, etc.

I think part of the problem is that most RSS programs (and bots) do not check the proven technologies for regular web pages like eTags and cache control. They just suck down the whole feed no matter what.