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> The tragedy isn't some Google tool being retired, the tragedy is the way feeds are slowly disappearing Can't it be both? They probably contribute to each ot

> The tragedy isn't some Google tool being retired, the tragedy is the way feeds are slowly disappearing Can't it be both? They probably contribute to each other too.

interfixus 10y ago
Yeah, the Reader retirement probably did a lot of damage. But nothing fundamental, I believe. Feeds are dying from lack of interest. The proverbial 'general public' never could be bothered to spend those ten extra minutes getting to understand that orange icon with the stripes. Go out there and ask. Say "feed" to everybody. 99 percent of them will give you a blank stare in return. "What's the problem? We got Facebook".
- studentrob 10y ago
  > The proverbial 'general public' never could be bothered to spend those ten extra minutes getting to understand that orange icon with the stripes Eh, the general public didn't care about smartphones for awhile either (email on blackberry? who needs it?) The same can be said for VR right now, I think RSS never got its chance. Google Reader seemed to have growth until it was killed Google could win a little bit of confidence back from the dev community if they brought it back. I wonder how much it would cost them. Admitting your mistakes is nothing to be ashamed of. When big companies do it and provide what their most passionate users (computer/tech addicts) want, it shows strength, not weakness.
- Ntrails 10y ago
  What's facebook got to do with anything? I have never used an RSS feed and never felt the lack (though I have only a vague idea what it is). My not using RSS has precisely nothing to do with my facebook account - and your attempt to diminish others usage of t'internet by saying "ugh it's those fucking drones just using facebook" is pretty arrogant.
  - studentrob 10y ago
    > I have never used an RSS feed and never felt the lack (though I have only a vague idea what it is). RSS is just another form of a customized news feed. You decide what blogs or blog categories you enjoy, and in one location, you see all the new posts about things you've followed. This allows you to customize your view of information in a different way than HN, Reddit, subreddits, Facebook, etc. and you don't need to give out your email address, receive e-mailed newsletters, or set up any accounts that have auto-subscribed mailing lists. > What's facebook got to do with anything? In some countries, such as Cambodia, Facebook is an important source of news reports. So far, media there remains uncensored, and Facebook is the easiest way for news to get legs, even moreso than the US I would say. Cambodia uses Facebook like the US uses Reddit and HN. There's some semblance of voting and comment threads, so it provides more features on top of the reputable newspaper websites. However, Facebook is not really the best way to get discussion going. Threads are difficult to navigate and the loading is slow. I tried to show a few people Reddit while I was there, but for many reasons, that is a hard sell. Anyway, I think some Americans use Facebook in the same way. They get a lot of their news from friends there and don't feel the need to seek out much else. It's too bad because yeah, you'll probably find more relevant information for you if you seek it out yourself, but at the same time I get why people use Facebook. You have your group of trusted friends and presumably there's some overlap in your interests. It's easy to look at news they've already vetted.

> The tragedy isn't some Google tool being retired, the tragedy is the way feeds are slowly disappearing Can't it be both? They probably contribute to each other too.

interfixus 10y ago

Yeah, the Reader retirement probably did a lot of damage. But nothing fundamental, I believe. Feeds are dying from lack of interest. The proverbial 'general public' never could be bothered to spend those ten extra minutes getting to understand that orange icon with the stripes. Go out there and ask. Say "feed" to everybody. 99 percent of them will give you a blank stare in return. "What's the problem? We got Facebook".

studentrob 10y ago
> The proverbial 'general public' never could be bothered to spend those ten extra minutes getting to understand that orange icon with the stripes Eh, the general public didn't care about smartphones for awhile either (email on blackberry? who needs it?) The same can be said for VR right now, I think RSS never got its chance. Google Reader seemed to have growth until it was killed Google could win a little bit of confidence back from the dev community if they brought it back. I wonder how much it would cost them. Admitting your mistakes is nothing to be ashamed of. When big companies do it and provide what their most passionate users (computer/tech addicts) want, it shows strength, not weakness.
Ntrails 10y ago
What's facebook got to do with anything? I have never used an RSS feed and never felt the lack (though I have only a vague idea what it is). My not using RSS has precisely nothing to do with my facebook account - and your attempt to diminish others usage of t'internet by saying "ugh it's those fucking drones just using facebook" is pretty arrogant.
- studentrob 10y ago
  > I have never used an RSS feed and never felt the lack (though I have only a vague idea what it is). RSS is just another form of a customized news feed. You decide what blogs or blog categories you enjoy, and in one location, you see all the new posts about things you've followed. This allows you to customize your view of information in a different way than HN, Reddit, subreddits, Facebook, etc. and you don't need to give out your email address, receive e-mailed newsletters, or set up any accounts that have auto-subscribed mailing lists. > What's facebook got to do with anything? In some countries, such as Cambodia, Facebook is an important source of news reports. So far, media there remains uncensored, and Facebook is the easiest way for news to get legs, even moreso than the US I would say. Cambodia uses Facebook like the US uses Reddit and HN. There's some semblance of voting and comment threads, so it provides more features on top of the reputable newspaper websites. However, Facebook is not really the best way to get discussion going. Threads are difficult to navigate and the loading is slow. I tried to show a few people Reddit while I was there, but for many reasons, that is a hard sell. Anyway, I think some Americans use Facebook in the same way. They get a lot of their news from friends there and don't feel the need to seek out much else. It's too bad because yeah, you'll probably find more relevant information for you if you seek it out yourself, but at the same time I get why people use Facebook. You have your group of trusted friends and presumably there's some overlap in your interests. It's easy to look at news they've already vetted.