Comments v8

I've snuck in a Version 8 as the same problems of updates that was affecting earlier ones affected v7, which was supposed to be a feed that amalgamated the Atom, RSS and Google Data feeds into one.

As v7 uses an RSS feed from Yahoo!, there may be some delays being introduced.

I'm using a notepad text file to keep track on these meanderings:

8.24 posted Ctrl+F5 comment
8.43 no update 3 browsers
0859: v2 updated on IE, safari, ff ... hmm, v7 empty (IE + Safari)
0921: safari - v2 & v5 updated
      firefox - v2 & v5 updated
      IE - v2 & v5 updated

If v7 is truly working with 3 feeds, then surely it would have updated when v2 (atom) updated.

--hmm, does Pipex (my isp) cache feeds?

0938: safari - v2 & v5 updated
      firefox - v2 & v5 updated
      IE - v2 & v5 updated
-- Spoke to Darren, and he's seeing what I am. So, not being affected by caching.

The last thing I can try (before following Darren's suggestion) is to merely use the Google Data feed. Not quite the last thing, as I re-jigged the feed order in Yahoo!Pipes v7, in case that makes a difference (which it should not).

No update on Blogger Help Group.

To recap, the sidebar widgets are not picking up the comments that are being left behind by readers (the social networking side of blogging). For a couple of days last week, Blogger failed to send me the email notification to tell me that I have a new comment. So, between the two failures in the service, I missed replying to new comments.

So the long road starts. Sadly, it appeared at the weekend when Google's staffers were off resting (suggested a nominated "blog*star"). Monitoring the delay in feeds suggested a 30 minute to 3 hour delay in updates to the system that supplies the feeds (either Atom or RSS). Like trying to find the quickest road between home and destination, I tried different routes to get the data. I tried amalgamating the two feeds into one, like a smart SatNav, using the quickest route at that time of day.

I eventually found that "home" was not where I thought it was, and that the feeds were being supplied by a single source (Google Data). Bolting that in to the "satnav", it should have provided me with faster data than the other 2 feeds. But it did not.

So, version 8 is simply a direct feed from Google Data. It should be faster than the other feeds. It is better to scratch this itch than the itch on my leg that the Piriteze is easing whilst I rest it to get ready for the oscar-bravo-foxtrot weekend in the danger zone.

Oh, and Google Reader tells me that v7 was updated at 1053hrs today. I posted the comment at 0824. not quite 3 hours late, but sodding close. That's Yahoo!'s "pipe" program picking up 3 of Blogger's feeds and transferring it via RSS to Google reader. But when I run the script on the Yahoo!Pipes page, it all works fine.

Like I noted yesterday "So long as it all works, I think that may be it for comments, and I'll get rid of the earlier feeds. Of course, that's a big assumption."