Livejournal alert!

[mellowtigger]

My bad! I mistakenly thought there was a bug in Livejournal privacy protections.

What's actually happening is that the web browser is storing Livejournal credentials in a cache.  When going to view anyone's RSS feed, the browser is also (behind the scenes) sending your userid/password.  As a Livejournal participant, you can then see posts appropriate to your security level.

If you open a different browser program (which has no cached credentials), you see an RSS feed that offers only Public posts.

You can view RSS feeds for any Livejournal blog using the instructions here:
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=149

You can even view RSS feeds only for specific tags.  If, for instance, someone wanted to subscribe only to my Furry Friday or Autism posts:
http://mellowtigger.livejournal.com/data/rss/?tag=furryfriday
http://mellowtigger.livejournal.com/data/rss/?tag=autism

This convenience is why I'm a big supporter of appropriate Tag usage on blogs.  :)

Comments

[mellowtigger]

I never tested it in the past, assuming it worked correctly.

If it was correct in the past (matching their policy), then it was probably messed up 2 or 3 weeks ago when they made changes to increase cross-posting abilities (to Facebook and Twitter).

It's a very serious bug. It's not possible to maintain a private "me only" diary at the moment, which I had done.

[vocalista001.livejournal.com]

Yoiks.

So, can you read my private posts on your RSS feed? Would you post a(n innocuous) sentence from my last private post to show me what you mean?

I don't even know how to get an RSS feed from LJ to show up on myyahoo RSS reader.