Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blogging, Freeware
Daring Fireball feed goes free
John Gruber's Daring Fireball is probably my favorite Mac blog out there (save for the ol' TUAW, of course)-- it was one of the first I started reading, and he consistently provides not only great insight on Apple products and policies (and journalists' treatment of them), but a strong, often funny voice in the community. We're big fans here at TUAW, and that's why we were so happy to hear that even more people will have a chance to read Gruber's work. Because as of today, he's releasing his full RSS feed, free to anyone.Previously, he had a plan where you paid a membership fee (included when you bought a T-shirt from him) and then got access to the full RSS feed. A feed was available for free, but it was partial content only. Now, he says, confusion about which feed is which, and RSS readers without HTML authentication (most notably Google Reader, and the .Mac reader for iPhone that David loves so much-- what's up with these popular readers not providing a feature that supports the content producers that supply them?) have convinced him to try out a free full feed for a month. Additionally, the free feed will be supported from week to week by sponsors.
If you haven't signed on to DF's feed yet, now's your chance. And if, like us, you find it interesting and informative, might as well put a couple bucks in the bucket and pay for it anyway-- Gruber's definitely earning it.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Adam said 1:49PM on 7-31-2007
Clicked through on the feed expecting to see a lot of comments about this, but surprise, surprise, there's nothing. I guess nobody cares.
I for one just wanted to say how outrageous to try and charge readers to syndicate your content that's already supported by image ads and Amazon.com links. Particularly with a personal blog.
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WOPR said 2:08PM on 7-31-2007
I suggest people look into Gruber a bit more closely. He has a terrible track record whereby he takes money and then takes months (or sometimes never) to deliver the shirts that people have paid for. He doesn't live up to the standards he expects of others. My own blog has some info, but there are plenty of other blogs detailing the same thing.
http://ensnaringslimeball.wordpress.com/
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Pat Byrne said 2:35PM on 7-31-2007
I ordered a t-shirt 2 months ago. No t-shirt, no reply to my emails. Gruber is running s scam.
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E.T.Cook said 2:36PM on 7-31-2007
Boy, you are a real winner John. Not only do you swindle a good portion of your subscribers out of their shirts, never shipping some of them, and many not shipping for 6-8 months...and only after begging ensued...but now you don't even give your subscribers the exclusive content they paid for?
Weak John, even for you.
The sad thing is that none of the other bloggers cover this because the Mac blogosphere is a giant circle jerk. When are you going to put yourself on the Jackass of the Day list John...you should be a permanent fixture.
Your stature used to be enough to earn my respect, but your unscrupulous business practices, your dismissal of your customers, and your moral decay should give any decent person pause.
And to all others who don't cover Gruber for what he is...a shyster, should be just as ashamed. I DARE you to open up comments on your blog Gruber...and let the world see just what the public opinion is of you.
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David Chartier said 3:33PM on 7-31-2007
I've been bit by the Gruber shipping bug in the past as well, but I'd like to help clear up a few details here:
1) A good month or two ago John switched to Oddica for all his shirt printing and shipping. PayPal funnels the money and orders go straight to Oddica now, and the shipping problems seem to have evaporated.
2) John announced this as an experiment for August. There's no guarantee this will become the norm.
I just renewed my DF membership for my third year in a row. Am I upset about the free feed? Only slightly, but I don't really give John $30 a year for the exclusive feed anyore. I do it because I'm supporting one of the Mac web's best authors. In that light, I'm honestly happy about the feed opening up - it just means more people can read John's great work in more places, so we can all benefit.
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Sean Flanagan said 3:41PM on 7-31-2007
Well said, David.
I am a paying supporter as well, and did so not for the feeds, but to show support (and get a nice t-shirt). The new free feed is nice since it plays well with My Yahoo beta, which doesn't support authentication on RSS feeds.
I'd also like to add that now Mr. Gruber has an iPhone, so all the "Comments?" emails go right to his pocket. He has responded to my comments within minutes of me sending them.
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Colin Devroe said 3:42PM on 7-31-2007
I, for one, have had nothing but good experiences dealing with John.
Something we must all realize is that this is his personal blog/endeavor and if you don't like it, navigate away. Should he charge for an exclusive feed? If he wants to, sure. I'm a paying member! In fact, I bought a membership for 3 of my friends (and shirts too).
I don't mind that the feed is free now (in fact, since I recently switched to Google Reader I LOVE that he finally made this change), it only means that more people get to enjoy the Gruber. My main reason for getting a membership was to say "thanks" for all of the great writing he does (and the shirt is cool too).
Surely there are more people that have gotten their shirts in a reasonable amount of time than there are that haven't. But that doesn't change the fact that he's a "one man shop" and deserves the benefit of the doubt that he's just backed up with orders, needs to make a new order for shirts, or the like. Calm down, its a shirt. If you simply HAVE NOT gotten a shirt, I suggest an email.
And for those of you that say writing isn't work; you've obviously never written anything of any value.
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John Moltz said 4:07PM on 7-31-2007
In addition to all the complaints about him registered above, Gruber is also a Yankees fan.
Just thought I'd point that out.
Oh, he's also a communist.
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Jim said 4:23PM on 7-31-2007
I used to check out Gruber's page, but I got tired of his liberalism.
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WOPR said 4:48PM on 7-31-2007
Colin, do some research and you will see that Gruber ignores emails about the shirt issue.
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Pat Byrne said 6:42AM on 8-01-2007
OK, t-shirt from Daring Fireball arrived today in the mail. I would have liked to have gotten a response to the 3 emails I sent, or an email telling me the shipment was delayed for whatever reason. But I have now received what I ordered. John Gruber being a Yankee fan is a plus in my book.
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Bart said 1:47PM on 8-01-2007
First off, before teaming up with Oddica, Gruber needed to handle the T-shirt business on his own. I can imagine it being very time-consuming, especially with Daring Fireball's large audience. His not replying to emails is indeed rather inconsiderate, but I think he would rather spend time shipping T-shirts than replying to each message with "They'll ship soon." Furthermore, he is probably swamped with emails . (I think I remember him mentioning that his unread mail count for @daringfireball.net was well over 5,000.)
I do have to admit his decision to open the (combined) feed to the public is rather strange. It was the only perk you received for signing up (besides the T-shirt, of course.) I can surely sympathize with people who, for example, signed up a couple of days ago, only to find out they can now get the full feed for free. Plus, it sort of spells "greedy" with the addition of sponsors in the feed and on the web site.
On the other hand, I think a lot of people cannot access Daring Fireball because their aggregators do not support encoded feeds (Google Reader, to name just one).
I still LOVE Daring Fireball and John Gruber, especially his independent status (although astute readers will notice that he is in fact not completely impartial). Gruber is sharp, smart and entertaining, but sometimes a tad too cocky.
And he really needs to drop the [sic], his blog is not a scientific journal. Gruber makes errors, too:
"I loooove how everthing [sic] goes right up against the sides of the windows now. It feels so light. Brushed metal and borders look so “heavy”.
(http://daringfireball.net/2006/01/brushed_metal)
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E.T.Cook said 10:44PM on 8-04-2007
I love when the apologists come out...
@Bart
My shirt took 8 months...he wouldn't ship any shirts for months on end. I certainly wasn't even the worst case scenario...except for those that NEVER got their shirts, many had to wait until AFTER their subscription ended before receiving their shirt...What say you?
Even when he couldn't fulfill the orders already made...he continued to take new orders...what say you?
At least some kind of response would have been nice saying...I received your email, I am working on it...yadda yadda...yet nothing was replied to at all...the emails were COMPLETELY IGNORED...they were stuck in Gruber purgatory...what say you?
I am thoroughly convinced that the reason Gruber won't open up his comments is because he will be outed on his very own website for his shyster business practices...what say you?
So many people have brushed off his thievery by stating he is a "one man shop"...but you tell me sir...what else but greed would force someone who is drowning, to pour more water over his head? As stated prior...if he couldn't cut it...he shouldn't have been taking more orders.
And shame on TUAW for enabling him to do so...but then again, you wouldn't want to get on the bad side of the Mac blogosphere. You guys are like scientologists...if you have the audacity to not support one of the church members, moreso cast aspersions towards one...you are ostracized and vitriol spewed about you.
Have some decency.
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manka said 8:35AM on 8-30-2007
no record found
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