This site publishes or "syndicates" content via RSS (Really Simple Syndication), an XML-based format for sharing and distributing content over the Web. Using an RSS reader, you can view data feeds from various news sources and blog sites, such as this one, in a central location (the RSS reader).

• Blog RSS
• Blog Comments RSS

Above, you can choose to automatically track our blog postings; you can also choose to track our users' (as well as our own) comments to the blog.

RSS, which stands for "really simple syndication" (and also for "rich site summary"), is an information-delivery system. It allows you to get information from sources that you care about piped directly to your computer---in fact, it allows you to get that content piped directly to your RSS reader or aggregator.

As such, it is nothing more than a system for "feeding" content to you over the Web. A better term for it, perhaps, would be "Web feeds."

When you surf the Web, you are hunting around, looking for information. You might be following links to certain pages, typing in URLs, conducting Google searches, or using your My Favorites folder to locate and go to the sites you choose.

By contrast, RSS allows you to pull information from sources that you specify (such as Stracia, or CNN, or other sites that offer "RSS channels"), without all the hunting and pecking and clicking on links. You are said to "subscribe to" the channels that you choose, or to "subscribe to the RSS feed."

You need some kind of an RSS reader or "aggregator," and then whatever news or information is published to the channels that you select, appears in the aggregator's window. So if you subscribe to 15 different channels, you get to see all of the updates to those channels in your aggregator, without having to visit 15 different Web sites.

There are many good RSS aggregators. Some of them require that you download and install the software on your computer. Of these, we like NewsGator (free to try) and the always free Snarfer. Or you can try this Google search for an RSS reader that suits you.

If you would rather not install software on your system, there are several good online-only RSS readers, including NewsGator Online and My Yahoo.

Once you set up your RSS reader, you tell it which RSS channels you like (i.e., want to subscribe to), and whenever new information is published to one of those channels, the RSS reader automatically pulls it to you. You simply open your aggregator and see the new content.

Simple enough? If not, but all of this sounds interesting, just make your way to NewsGator Online and start tinkering around. It's free and it won't ask you to download any software, and it may save you some hunting, pecking, and linking.

If you already have a reader and want to subscribe to Stracia's RSS feeds, click here to return to the subscription page. (It's free to subscribe to our public content.)

Finally, if all of this is too intimidating, just forget about it... as long as you visit the sites you like frequently (including Stracia), you won't be missing any of the content that RSS users can see.