--- title: "inReplyTo example" date: "2026-05-16T11:29:00.638Z" updated: "2026-05-16T12:46:28.309Z" author: "JY" summary: "On Scripting News, Dave Winer floated an addition to the source namespace: Thinking about adding <source:inReplyTo> to the source namespace. Itsvalue is..." cards: - type: "link" url: "http://scripting.com/2026/05/15.html#a160244" title: "Scripting News: Friday, May 15, 2026" description: "Dave Winer, OG blogger, podcaster, developed first apps in many categories. Old enough to know better. It's even worse than it appears." site: "Scripting News" --- On [Scripting News](http://scripting.com/2026/05/15.html#a160244), Dave Winer floated an addition to the `source` namespace: > Thinking about adding `` to the source namespace. Its > value is a URL, by default, and has an optional `isPermaLink` attribute, > a boolean, to indicate if it's not a permalink. Works just like the `guid` > element in RSS 2.0. Three examples below, using real comment feeds from [ma.tt](https://ma.tt): the site-wide one, the [Easter Thoughts](https://ma.tt/2026/04/easter-thoughts/) per-post feed, and the [EmDash Feedback](https://ma.tt/2026/04/emdash-feedback/) per-post feed which has threaded replies. --- ## How clients discover the per-post comments feed In the `` of every WordPress post, you'll find: ```html ``` So there are two kinds of comment feeds to consider - the site-wide one and the per-post one - plus the threaded case. --- ## A · Site-wide comments feed **`https://ma.tt/comments/feed/`** Each item is a comment on a **different** post, so `` varies per item. Default form (no attribute → the URL is a permalink). ```xml Comments for Matt Mullenweg https://ma.tt Unlucky in Cards Wed, 06 May 2026 14:46:54 +0000 Comment on Easter Thoughts by Faustine https://ma.tt/2026/04/easter-thoughts/#comment-606592 Wed, 06 May 2026 14:46:54 +0000 https://ma.tt/?p=151842#comment-606592 https://ma.tt/2026/04/easter-thoughts/ Comment on EmDash Feedback by A look into EmDash CMS - Hongkiat https://ma.tt/2026/04/emdash-feedback/#comment-606503 Wed, 22 Apr 2026 13:01:06 +0000 https://ma.tt/?p=151783#comment-606503 https://ma.tt/2026/04/emdash-feedback/ Comment on Taxonomist by Dan Q https://ma.tt/2026/04/taxonomist/#comment-606495 Sat, 18 Apr 2026 21:02:31 +0000 https://ma.tt/?p=151765#comment-606495 https://ma.tt/2026/04/taxonomist/ ``` --- ## B · Per-post comments feed (flat) **`https://ma.tt/2026/04/easter-thoughts/feed/`** Every item is a comment on **the same** post, so every `` value is identical. This panel uses WordPress's *id form* (`https://ma.tt/?p=151842`) - mirroring the existing `` lines already in this feed - so `isPermaLink="false"` is set. ```xml Comments on: Easter Thoughts https://ma.tt/2026/04/easter-thoughts/ Unlucky in Cards Wed, 06 May 2026 14:46:54 +0000 By: Faustine https://ma.tt/2026/04/easter-thoughts/#comment-606592 Wed, 06 May 2026 14:46:54 +0000 https://ma.tt/?p=151842#comment-606592 https://ma.tt/?p=151842 By: Jimmy https://ma.tt/2026/04/easter-thoughts/#comment-606504 Wed, 22 Apr 2026 15:34:32 +0000 https://ma.tt/?p=151842#comment-606504 https://ma.tt/?p=151842 By: JakeJake https://ma.tt/2026/04/easter-thoughts/#comment-606501 Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:21:02 +0000 https://ma.tt/?p=151842#comment-606501 https://ma.tt/?p=151842 ``` --- ## C · Per-post comments feed (threaded) **`https://ma.tt/2026/04/emdash-feedback/feed/`** WordPress threading today is encoded **inside the HTML of ``**: a reply's text is prefixed with `In reply to Author.` Useful for humans reading the rendered HTML; lossy for everything else - a parser has to look inside the description and apply HTML parsing rules to figure out who replied to whom. `` makes the same information **structured**, sitting alongside the existing description - so clients that already parse the "In reply to" link don't break, and new clients can lift threading directly from the feed. Reply structure across the 5 selected items below (real data, copied verbatim from the live feed): ``` yanislav3380 (#606352) → top-level (replies to the post) ├─ Alan (#606358) → replies to yanislav3380 └─ Márcio Duarte (#606374) → replies to yanislav3380 Iqbal (#606397) → top-level (replies to the post) └─ Alberto Prado (#606419) → replies to Iqbal ``` ```xml Comments on: EmDash Feedback https://ma.tt/2026/04/emdash-feedback/ Unlucky in Cards Wed, 22 Apr 2026 13:01:06 +0000 By: Alberto Prado https://ma.tt/2026/04/emdash-feedback/#comment-606419 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 20:55:50 +0000 https://ma.tt/?p=151783#comment-606419 https://ma.tt/2026/04/emdash-feedback/#comment-606397 By: Iqbal https://ma.tt/2026/04/emdash-feedback/#comment-606397 Sun, 05 Apr 2026 13:29:04 +0000 https://ma.tt/?p=151783#comment-606397 https://ma.tt/2026/04/emdash-feedback/ By: Márcio Duarte https://ma.tt/2026/04/emdash-feedback/#comment-606374 Fri, 03 Apr 2026 14:20:10 +0000 https://ma.tt/?p=151783#comment-606374 https://ma.tt/2026/04/emdash-feedback/#comment-606352 By: Alan https://ma.tt/2026/04/emdash-feedback/#comment-606358 Fri, 03 Apr 2026 07:40:53 +0000 https://ma.tt/?p=151783#comment-606358 https://ma.tt/2026/04/emdash-feedback/#comment-606352 By: yanislav3380 https://ma.tt/2026/04/emdash-feedback/#comment-606352 Fri, 03 Apr 2026 04:40:23 +0000 https://ma.tt/?p=151783#comment-606352 https://ma.tt/2026/04/emdash-feedback/ ```