Add slash:comments to RSS2 feed

[Otto42]

The slash:comments extension to RSS2 basically puts the number of comments available into the feed directly. This can allow some feedreaders the ability to display the comments in the reader itself. Plus it really doesn't hurt anything to have it there.

Patch attached.

Adds slash:comments to rss2 feed

Correction to previous patch: Use get_comments_number() to retrieve the number of comments. This actually works. :)

Fixed version using get_comments_number();

I like it, but do you have any statistics on who actually *looks* at slash namespace stuff? For example, do Bloglines, Google Reader, etc look at it?

It seems if it's not popular, then it might as well go into a plugin...

After a bit of research, +1 for plugin and leaving it out of the core.

The only readers that use the slash namespace are readers that run on the desktop, as far as I know. They're often the only ones that display comments on an item to the user.

The slash namespace only has the one possible element, which gives the number of comments. It's limited in scope, but still useful information for these readers. At least a few of them cannot properly display comments from the comments feeds without knowing the number of comments in advance. Therefore it's useful to have.

While it could be in a plugin, it makes more sense in the core. I've been using it for a while and every reader I've tried handles it perfectly well. It passes through feedburner just fine. There's no real compatibility issues with it and modern feedreaders.

Also, for what it's worth, FeedValidator is aware of the slash namespace and will complain if it contains non-numeric data and so forth. It considers it to be a "normal" extension.

Talked to Ryan, he says he doesn't think it really warrants being in the core. I agree, but I whipped up a plugin (URL at end of this post) in case someone wants to use this.

 http://shorty114.net/2007/04/slashcomments-plugin

I think the decision made 2 years ago should be reviewed now. slash:comments has been reviewed by the RSS Advisory Board and documented on the RSS Best Practices Profile:  http://www.rssboard.org/rss-profile#namespace-elements-slash-comments. In addition, the WordPress Atom feed provides the comment number via the thr:total element yet the RSS 2 feed does not have the same information provided.

Patch for trunk

New patch attached.

shouldn't this get added to the other feeds?

The Atom Threading Extension has been supplying comment number in the WordPress Atom feeds while the RSS 1 feeds do not have comment information. As a result, only RSS 2 feeds need this fix.

it's easily left to a plugin imo.

Not many users are aware of such a plugin I think. They will only notice that WordPress does not provide comment number information in the feed. (Especially because the RSS 2 is the default feed)

Replying to Denis-de-Bernardy:

it's easily left to a plugin imo.

The same information is already in the ATOM feed, and it's considered a best practice for RSS feeds. It's an extremely minor feature that should not need a plugin for it.

let's see if this gets in, then... there are just too many tickets around, and I feel like closing a hundred more.

Looks good to me.

Now we have lastBuildDate this seems safe to add

(In [11272]) Add slash:comments extension to RSS2 feed to give comment counts for posts. Fixes #4023 props peaceablewhale.