RSS - "do not download" favourites vs category list

[magao]

uTorrent 1.8 has two options for each RSS feed. In the favourites dialog, there is a "Don't start downloads automatically". If you edit a feed in the category list, there is "Do not automatically download items".

What exactly does each of these options do? I want to have torrents automatically added to uTorrent from feeds, but I do not want downloading to start. In 1.7.7 I'd configured it to not fownload. Each of the feeds from 1.7.7 were carried over with "Do not automatically download items" (category list), but *not* "Don't start downloads automatically" (and I didn't notice that option).

I'm guessing that the category list option is whether or not the RSS feed is periodically retrieved and parsed, and the favourites option is whether torrents added automatically from the feed are automatically started, but that's not matching the behaviour I'm seeing.

The behaviour I've seen with the above settings is that a single item matching the criteria in the favourites is added and downloaded - what I might expect from "Automatically download items published in the feed" with "Use smart episode filter".

Speaking of which - why is there a "smart episode" filter checkbox both here and in the favourites?

I've got to say, I *much* preferred how RSS was set up before ...

[Firon]

"Don't start downloads automatically" makes it so the torrent doesn't automatically start when it is added to utorrent. In 1.7.7 this was an advanced option.

Favorites should not be used in tandem with the options given when editing a feed. Use one or the other.

[magao]

So in the edit dialog, I should just leave it on "don't download items"? I'm afraid I really don't understand what you mean when you say "favourites should not be used in tandem". When I upgraded to 1.8 from 1.7.7, all my favourites appeared in both locations.

I'd suggest that any such options that might interact should be in the one location - it's very confusing the way it is. It also doesn't help that the RSS guide on the web site hasn't been updated since uTorrent 1.3 ...

Cheers.

[Ultima]

Basically, the Add/Edit RSS feed dialog's options are for creating a quick filter that automatically downloads all items (it creates a favorite with * as its filter).

I do agree that the options are redundant/confusing. The radio items in the Add/Edit RSS Feed dialog could probably do with a bit of rethinking. Perhaps something along the lines of renaming the items to "Automatically download all new RSS releases" and "Let the user create custom rules to automatically download select RSS releases" (something less verbose would be preferable ).

[thelittlefire]

It's not all new though. It's all items CURRENTLY in the feed. Time-based selection of RSS items has been in the queue

[Ultima]

When you first pull the feed, everything in it is considered new. In fact, if a torrent hasn't hit the history, it's really still "new." There are newer RSS items, sure.

[thelittlefire]

Indeed. Also thinking of making it easier for the user might include some different wording in the established Filters pane... but truly I'm thinking of the translators here. Ideally, some(one/group) could go through the strings for 1) sizing and 2) meaning in the GUI... and then alert the translation team to see if any changes would affect them negatively (I'm thinking mainly of German here, as we likes to make multi-word-phrases).

I like your wording personally, but maybe something more succinct would be useful if people read your manual to know about it in the first place (>< people freaking out about the change to the Ctrl-R dialog)