UserPreferences

PaceEntryDeletion


Abstract

Create an optional child element of <feed> to explicitly indicate the deletion of an entry.

Status

Open

Rationale

Some systems cache and continue to display entries after they disappear from the "sliding window" into a feed. There is no way to tell the difference between an entry disappearing from the sliding window and an entry being deleted. In some circumstances, such as when deleting blog spam, it is highly desirable to have the entries deleted from external caches. This proposal specifies a light-weight method of explicitly indicating deletion of entries.

Proposal

Add the following as a child element of <feed> (not in <head>):

x.y "atom:deletion" Element 

        The "atom:deletion" element indicates that an entry which previously 
        appeared in the feed has been deleted.  The content of atom:deletion 
        is the atom:id of the deleted entry.  atom:feed elements MAY contain 
        zero or more atom:deletion elements.  Publishing application MAY 
        decline to publish atom:deletion elements.  Consuming applications 
        which cache entries MAY delete the indicated entries from their caches.  
        If they do not, they SHOULD indicate to their consumers that the entry 
        has been deleted by the publisher.  Consuming applications MUST 
        ignore atom:deletion elements whose content indicates the atom:id of 
        an entry from a feed other than the containing feed.

Impacts

Notes

The entry ID could be moved to a child element or an attribute.


CategoryProposals