The MSM media claim he invented it, but see no mention of him here. Is that because it's a typical case of their imbecility? 76.180.168.166 (talk) 18:08, 17 February 2013 (UTC)
- No, he didn't invent it (as The New York Times obituary claims), but he was involved in maintaining and updating the spec and began participating in the RDF Core group in April 2001 (when he was still 14). Mindmatrix 00:44, 18 February 2013 (UTC)
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- [1] gives it as "a Creator of" and "helped create" rather than "inventor" or "sole creator". I would consider this pretty accurate (and I was involved in the same RSS at the time). Some of the best description of this is through the diveintomark site (linked), particularly the articles on RSS versioning and history. Boing Boing has also given pretty accurate, and more detailed, coverage of this.
- The point is that Aaron didn't invent RSS, when RSS was a new format at version 0.90 from Netscape. He wasn't even particularly interested in RSS for itself, his interest was more in the field of RDF. As RDF needed a poster application, and RSS was already making use of it, it made sense to Aaron and others to use RSS as such a technology demonstrator. The result was RSS 1.0, the most developed RSS version and one based on a number of powerful standards like RDF and Dublin Core.
- It's worth noting that RSS split badly around this time, with one version going off after a solo diva and the other following a collaborative and better thought-out approach. Aaron was a much-appreciated member and driving force behind the team effort. Andy Dingley (talk) 01:18, 18 February 2013 (UTC)
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- Thank you both. I guess it's an aspect of the world that Swartz chose not to continue in that such simple minded and distorted reports occur. 76.180.168.166 (talk) 11:17, 18 February 2013 (UTC)
