Using @netnewswire and @sod’s “conversation on micro.blog” version of feeds is by far the best way to read “the timeline”.
Don’t lose my place. Don’t check too often because I know it will be there waiting for me when I am ready. Can quickly go to the right spot to reply.
@toddgrotenhuis another bonus I forgot to mention:
I read these feeds as a group, so it’s all in chronological order.
@sod @toddgrotenhuis Wait, what is this alternate feed about? That sounds awesome, as I’m also viewing my timeline in RSS.
@pimoore I'm hosting a handful of experimental feeds over at micro.blog.via.dahlstrand.net. They add a Conversation on Micro.blog link to each entry like this:
@sod Oh this is some serious wizardry! 😎 🧙♂️ Will this become a default option or have a plug-in at some point?
@pimoore Those feeds are for subscribing to discovery, emoji, and user timelines, so it doesn't really make sense as a plug-in to your blog. But it could be a default option for the official feeds. That's something for @manton to meditate over. 😊
@toddgrotenhuis I didn’t even know that this was an option. Thank you @sod for making this available. I’m going to play around with @netnewswire and set this up later. Gratitude 🙏🏻
@sod @toddgrotenhuis How often are these feeds refreshed - if I am asking the correct question?! I have just added it to Feedbin (via NetNewsWire) and with my impatience in trying something new, the feed is about 45 minutes behind the timeline despite refreshing.
@sod Just to update. The RSS feed for my timeline does update, but it appears to be almost 2 hours behind the actual timeline, maybe more (just going by what I see as I type this). Is this expected behavior?
@crossingthethreshold To avoid overloading Micro.blog's servers, I cache my version of the feeds for 120 seconds, but that means they shouldn't lag behind the official feed for much more than a couple of minutes or so. I'm looking at my version of your feed right now, and it's identical to the official one. The latest post is from 30 minutes ago.
@sod Thank you for checking on my feed. I have been keeping an eye on it for the last hour or so. The last post the feed is showing is from an hour ago. Since then there have been 7 posts to the timeline, with the last being 8 minutes ago.
@sod I think that it might have something to do with how Feedbin works. If I put my micro.blog feed onto the iPhone account of @netnewswire, ie no third party feed reader, the feed is up to date with the timeline.
@crossingthethreshold Yeah, your provider can cache the files for however long they want: minutes, hours, or days. That's outside my control, unfortunately. 😢
@sod I guess I'm missing the fine print... but I don't see that on my blog... will check if there is an updated version of your plugin.
@numericcitizen This is not a plug-in or something that will change the behavior of your blog, it's about the experimental Micro.blog feeds I provide for use in a feed reader.
@sod This is super cool! I've already tried adding the feeds to NetNewsWire and I see the link that should open the conversation in app. Is this supposed to work on iOS? I tap the link but nothing happens.
@sherif Some services might decide to block the microblog URI scheme that is needed to open the Micro.blog app. I know for sure that Feedbin does, maybe you're using them to sync your NetNewsWire subscriptions? If so, try adding the feeds directly to NetNewsWire instead.
@sod Ah interesting. I'm using iCloud to sync the feeds in NNW. If I tap and hold the link I can see the microblog:// url prefix, but tapping still has no effect. Sounds like it's an issue on my end though (?)
@numericcitizen It's definitely experimental and might go away at any time. That said, I'm subscribing to some of these feeds myself and have no immediate plans to shut them down. But again, it's a random free service on the web (just like MySpace, Google Reader, or Twitter) and will cease to exist someday. So don't depend on it. 😅
@sherif Interesting indeed! Maybe @netnewswire can bring some clarity: is NNW on iOS okay with links using URI schemes other than http and https? microblog, for example.
@sod I’m having the same problem on iOS and the Mac. If I copy the link on the Mac and paste it into Safari it then works.
@tomselmes Yeah, some app developers might choose to block certain links and other elements from the feeds. Unless there's a setting that toggles this behavior, there is not much you can do, I'm afraid, other than making a feature request to the developer or switching to a feed reader that allows links to open other apps.
@toddgrotenhuis This is a great idea! If only NetNewsWire supported Micropub replies, it would be the Holy Grail.
@manton I experience a couple of oddities with this URI scheme. Opening, for example, microblog://open/17620435 works as expected on macOS if the Micro.blog app is already running in the background. If not, the app is opened with the timeline showing instead of the conversation thread.
On iOS, the app is opened on the timeline, regardless of the app running in the background or not. Is this just me, or can you confirm this behavior? 🤔
@sod I do think there's an assumption that the app is already running. Although I can't reproduce what you're seeing on iOS... It seems to work correctly for me. (Testing in the TestFlight beta app, though.)
