RSS Questions

Question/Issue #1

I need to push some information with each rss entry (from a Movable Type blog), so that it appears in the exported rss 2.0 feed for each item preferably just after the entry body).

I do not want to do this at the blog level, because I don't want it to show in the blog itself.

The information will just be a short blurb about the author and a contact link.

Now, I have tried to put this information in both the <author> and <copyright> fields of the xml file, but the aggregators that I viewed my feed in did not show that information - anywhere.

I guess I cannot use the <item> tag, as that would just make a separate entry...

Any suggestions?

Question/Issue #2

Is there a way to know when people are getting my RSS feed? Would I only be able to learn this by stats released by each respective aggregator? Any tips?

Question/Issue #3

When I setup up a new rss feed, can people still get all of my old articles written prior to the feed being setup? In other words, do most popular aggregators have a default amount of time that messages have to be newer than (e.g. 30 days or newer)? Or, are they generally set to show the last X number of entries, regardless of date?

Question/Issue #4

Ok, I would like to find a very nice, modular interface, that will allow me to setup feed blocks (of my choice) all on one page. For example, Netscape has a "My Netscape" page and Yahoo has a My Yahoo" page in which users can select blocks/modules for feeds they want to view, all in one graphical page. However, those services limited the feeds to a select few. I want to find something just like this (web or app based) that will allow me to setup a all in one page like this - by typing in link to an RSS feed for each module. I hope that is clear. I know I can just subscribe to feeds with a reader/aggregator, but this does not show them in a modular layout with graphics -- an easy to manage interface.

Thank you for you help.