Sigh…

I just spent nearly two hours figuring out that Slashdot has changed the URL of their RSS feed. Their old RSS feed URL (http://slashdot.org/slashdot.rdf) generates a 301 “Moved Permanently” HTTP error. If you are using a browser, this will redirect you automatically to the redirect URL, which is http://rss.slashdot.org/Slashdot/slashdot/to.

But my website server reads the Slashdot RSS feed using a piece of code called “lastRSS”- lastRSS connects via file socket, not some sort of web browser-like application that interprets HTTP. This is likely pretty common for people who run websites that might be likely to actually use an RSS feed.

The only URL I could find on Slashdot itself for getting the RSS still refers to the old URL. I’m not sure when they made the change- within the last seven days. I must be the only geek who didn’t get the note…