An RSS icon has an important signaling function, if you ask me. Automatic discovery is good, but why not also have a textual link or icon pointing to your feed!?
The original link to the feed is preserved for my users to click on. My system - in use with the user - pointing the user to someone else's website accompanied by a GET var containing the user's own URL is not tracking. The end website can also know that info from the HTTP referrer. It's a very crude implementation of a webmention, in a sense. Because it's not necessarily about the linking website, but about telling someone's RSS feed is in use!
> but why not also have a textual link or icon pointing to your feed!?
Sure. I was only providing my perspective, the perspective of a RSS feed aggregator writer. To me, automatic discovery is more important than an icon.
I am not sure you and I are talking about the same thing. I am against appending random query string to an otherwise perfectly fine url because it adds to the burden of the feed aggregator if it wants to de-duplicate the links gathered from various sources. Of course you are free to append anything to the URLs on your website for any purposes.
> I am not sure you and I are talking about the same thing. I am against appending random query string to an otherwise perfectly fine url because it adds to the burden of the feed aggregator if it wants to de-duplicate the links gathered from various sources.
The appended query string is only added to links in my system, not to any public feed. Otherwise, I agree with you.
The original link to the feed is preserved for my users to click on. My system - in use with the user - pointing the user to someone else's website accompanied by a GET var containing the user's own URL is not tracking. The end website can also know that info from the HTTP referrer. It's a very crude implementation of a webmention, in a sense. Because it's not necessarily about the linking website, but about telling someone's RSS feed is in use!