What is a feed?

A feed is a file format for sharing news, blog posts or other web content across websites. The site that makes its content available as a source of information is said to publish a feed, while the tools and sites that use that content are said to consume the feed.

myFeedz is both a feed consumer because it reads news and blogs from all over the internet and also a feed publisher because it provides feeds for all the lists displayed.

What is an RSS feed?

RSS is an XML format used to export and import feeds across the Internet.

What is an Atom feed?

Atom is a slightly different format that does pretty much the same things as RSS, only better.

What is an OPML file?

OPML is an XML file format used to store a list of feeds. Most feed aggregators allow you to export and import your OPML file.

How are feeds used in myFeedz?

myFeedz constantly watches a number of feeds for new content and automatically tags new articles as they are published. Feeds are added in myFeedz by the users that add them to their profile or upload an OPML file.

If you have a number of feeds attached to your profile, you can use the filters available on any list to view articles from all the feeds in the system or only articles from your feeds.

What is a tag?

A tag is a word or group of words that describe an article. Articles are automatically tagged by myFeedz, but also by any myFeedz user. For instance, an article announcing the release of “Google Calendar”, could be tagged with “software”, “calendar”, “Google” or even “Google calendar”.

Tags help you define your interests and browse news. Clicking on the “New York” tag will display all articles about New York.

What is a tagcloud?

A tagcloud is a visual representation of set of tags. The tags are listed alphabetically and their size differs based on certain conditions. In myFeedz, tag size is based on the tag’s importance within the current context. Too make things more clear, here are some examples from myFeedz:

The navigation tagcloud (found on top of every list or articles)

These are the tags you have added to your profile on the Personalize: Tags page.

The size of the tags is based on how important myFeedz thinks the tag is for you compared to your other tags.

The system tagcloud (found by tags)

Top tags in the system, based on their global importance in the system given by the number of users that have that tag and the number of articles available for it.

How are tags used in myFeedz?

Tags are one of the most important elements of myFeedz. They are related your profile, articles available and also have a global role in the system. Here is a simplified version of the algorithms used related to tags:

Tags and your profile

Your tags represent your interests and they constantly evolve based on the tags of the articles you read and the feeds you have attached to your profile.

Tags and articles

Each article that appears in myFeedz is automatically tagged and an importance is given to each tag for that article based on some algorithms. When users click on an article, that importance of some tags is increased based on the user’s own list of tags.

How does rating work?

You can rate articles on a scale of 1 to 5. Articles with a good rating from many users are given a greater importance and are most likely to appear before unrated articles.

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Why am I not getting any fresh articles for my tags?

If you’re not getting any fresh content it is most likely because myFeedz has not indexed any content related to your tags. Try using related tags or suggesting a feed to a site that you know is related to your specific interests.

Can I submit my favorite sites?

Yes, you can, as long as your favorite sites publish a RSS, RDF or Atom feed. Just sign-in, go to Personalize: Feeds and enter the address of your favorite feeds. You can also go to Personalize: OPML and upload your OPML file.

How do I remove irrelevant articles?

If an article is not related to your interests, you can click the “MARK AS OFFTOPIC” link next to its title. If a number of people all click the “MARK AS OFFTOPIC” link, that article will not be shown anymore to users.

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