I must get asked this questions 5 times each week - "What the heck is an RSS Feed?"

If you've been on AR for very long, you know that lots of folks here have done a good job of trying to explain it in simple terms. Often, even the non-geek attempts go over some folks heads. I was about to take a whack at making it even easier to understand for a post on the RES blog. But, as is sometimes the case, I ran across a post out in the blogosphere that I think does a better job of boiling it down into plain English than I ever could have done. I wish I had written it! Luckily, I don't have to now.

Stephanie Quilao nailed it. It's on her Back In Skinny Jeans blog and it's entitled "How To Explain RSS The Oprah Way."

Here's an excerpt:

"The technical acronym for RSS is “Really Simple Syndication”, an XML format that was created to syndicate news, and be a means to share content on the web. Now, to geeks and techies that means something special, but to everyday folks like you and me, what comes to mind is, “Uh, I don’t get it?”

So, to make RSS much easier to understand, in Oprah speak, RSS stands for: I’m “Ready for Some Stories”. It is a way online for you to get a quick list of the latest story headlines from all your favorite websites and blogs all in one place. How cool is that?"

RSS stands for: I'm "Ready For Some Stories" -  that's just brilliant in its simplicity. Kudos, Stephanie! She has a great RSS illustration and sections on subscribing to RSS feeds and RSS readers as well. It's good reading even if you already understand RSS. But if you're still a little confused, or know someone who is, Stephanie's post may just clear everything up!