Earlier this week, Dave Winer posted a proposal for a solution to the "RSS Subscription Problem." The basic problem, as Dave describes it: the proliferation of the "Add to [INSERT SERVICE NAME HERE]" buttons, like those seen on the CNN feeds page.

Dave proposed a solution similar to feeds.scripting.com or Blogdigger Groups; a centralized resource where your subscriptions live, accessible by any application. The ensuing discussion focused on the issues relating to a centralized application, privacy, and eventually focused on the feed:// protocol solution. While there is merit to the feed:// proposal (although it doesn't help with online aggregators), I think this is missing the point Dave is trying to make.

The key is not to get people subscribed to your content, but to introduce them to syndication as a mode of interaction with the web. The problem is not the process of subscription, but what happens once I'm a subscriber. When you subscribe to something on My Yahoo, yes, you are subscribed on My Yahoo, but you haven't become a subscriber in the more general sense; there is no way to get your subscriptions out of Yahoo and into another aggregator. The result is that users are introduced to the concept of My Yahoo, not the concepts of syndication and subscription. Without interoperation, you get vendor lock-in, and your subscriptins are no longer your data. While Yahoo might be the right place for someone starting out, hiding the subscription process only hinders their movement into full-fledged, Web 2.0 if you will, users. This, I believe, is Dave's point, and I think it is a good one.

If the issue that many have is with a centalized resource or privacy, I think we have a good solution in place today; interoperation. I can create a private Blogdigger Group of my subscriptions, and export my subscriptions in OPML into Bloglines, FeedDemon or NetNewsWire, not a problem. I can do the same starting at Syndic8, Bloglines or NewsGator. The point is, I've become a subscriber; how and where I subscribe should be up to me.