Stupid RSS How To Questions – Helpy, Helpy, Please.

OK, I’m tired of feeling stupid about RSS. Here’s my situation.

Usually, when I try to tackle this goal, I end up frustrated, wasting time, and stop… going on to something I CAN accomplish. LATER, I need to do this again, try again, get mentally blocked again, and give up again.

Sooooo, lol, can you guys help me get over my mental block dealing with RSS? I’m missing something, obviously.

WHAT I WANT TO DO? Add RSS feeds to various websites, blog posts, pages, etc. I’m constantly asked in plugin setups if I have a RSS feed I want to add to pull post snippets, pictures, etc. from. Yes, I do. But when I go to hunt down the exact ADDRESS of what I’m suppose to type in that box, I end up going in circles.

EXAMPLE: I use a  curation site that pulls data from various websites per specific topic. I then copy their code for my notebook and add it to my posts, etc. But I can also have that curation site notebook pull stuff from specific feeds I want to pull from. So yes, I want to add the ADDRESS of an RSS feed. Just for example, let’s say I want to pull snippets from Social Media Examiner’s site into my notebook on the curation site. There is no example of the format for this anywhere. What EXACT address do I type into the box in order to accomplish this. And where on the target site, for this example we’re talking about Social Media Examiner, do I find the ADDRESS of that RSS feed to copy and paste into the box for my notebook in the curation site?

OBSTACLES: Just using this as an example, but Kristi Hines has a GREAT article about 75 RSS feeds from the top social media sites… or something like that. I follow the link to the site, but if I hit RSS, all it does is ask me to ADD the site to my Google Reader. Eeeeeeck! It does NOT give me the EXACT address to put in a BOX when I’m asked for that. Sure, great, I can add it to my GReader, but I rarely go there anymore and don’t know how to pull stuff from there into my blog either. Bottom line is that I don’t care about reading it yet; I just want to copy the RSS address to paste in the box on my curation notebook site, in a plugin I have or something else that asks me for an ADDRESS, not a Google Reader thingamajig.

QUESTION: So when I get a box asking for an RSS address, what do I put? And what format is that address in? Meaning, what the heck does it look like and can you give me or show me an example? And where can I find the ADDRESS, not an RSS button that just takes me back to the GReader circle I’m caught in.

STUPIDITY FACTORS: Ok… yes… I’m feeling very stupid and depressed right now… boo hoo… that somehow this RSS thangy has eluded me. But, I have once again been asked to fill in a box — OH HORRORS, NOT RSS AGAIN — and have been quite frozen in my icey cold stupid spot all night, lol. Can you please help me get unthawed and unstuck with my RSS block?

I would really like to put RSS feeds to good use… instead of having this RSS phobia that I’ve now acquired!

Robin

@atlantarobin

That did not make a lot of sense as I could not put the code in the response. I’ll go make a picture and upload it to show you but have go get ready for Halloween right now, as I have company coming tonight – lots of it!  

Will get this tomorrow if no one else jumps in with a picture of what you need to find.

Eileen  

@helenazwarts Helena, Google never actually shows me the feed address, just the title, then goes directly into GReader. Perhaps, it’s my browser. I’ll change and look at it again tomorrow evening when I have time to spend on this again.

Eileen, thanks for directing me to the source code. Don’t know why I didn’t look at that, since I’m usually snooping around there looking for other secret goodies.  I thought about it for about a minute, but never looked.

Thanks, you two, for sending me in the right direction. If I can’t make it work, I’ll come back in a few days and have more detailed questions then.

I guess my confusion is a bit exacerbated because I DID input the addresses of several feeds that I had used elsewhere, but they didn’t work. It could be the program/script/plugin’s fault… or browser. I will check tomorrow evening and come back the following day.

Thanks…
Robin

@atlantarobin

Hi Robin, the pleasure is mine!