5 ms·

RSS is awesome. Bring on its resurgence. But. It is fundamentally not fit as a Facebook or social media replacement because of it's lack of simple commenting

by sago 9y ago

RSS is awesome. Bring on its resurgence. But. It is fundamentally not fit as a Facebook or social media replacement because of it's lack of simple commenting support. It suits some curmudgeonly old farts like me, perhaps. But even I want to feedback sometimes or join in the discussion (hence this comment). Are there solutions that a content creator can provide, via RSS, without requiring its readers to install particular jiggery pokery? Or is the only option HN / reddit style commenting sites, separate from the content?

manicdee 9y ago
RSS for headlines and federation of feeds, Disqus for comments.
- sago 9y ago
  Wouldn't that just make Disqus the new Facebook?
- pmlnr 9y ago
  webmentions and microsub, please. Disqus is just another silo, it has nothing to do with RSS and federation.
  - manicdee 9y ago
    Thanks for the pointer. What facility does webmention have to support moderation of comments on my articles?
modernerd 9y ago
There is ActivityPub: https://activitypub.rocks/ https://activitypub.rocks/ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16222478 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16222478 https://www.w3.org/TR/activitypub/ https://www.w3.org/TR/activitypub/ https://github.com/w3c/activitypub https://github.com/w3c/activitypub But not enough implementations of it yet that tie into blog content.
- mxuribe 9y ago
  I very much look forward to the day when ActivityPub becomes more pervasive in platforms...beyond websites/apps that interact directly with other sites/apps and other use-cases, ActivityPub should be a boon to comment systems. (I myself am in favor of decentralized comment systems...then again I'm biased IN FAVOR of most any decentralized platforms/systems. ;-)
lostlogin 9y ago
I think HN might be the only place I read the comments. Missing the hell stew of a comments section is a feature as I see it.
- O_H_E 9y ago
  50% of the time I read the comments before/instead the link !!!
- chestervonwinch 9y ago
  Agreed. I was glad when npr.org removed their Disqus comments sections. Disqus comments on news websites tend to be very nasty and stain websites more often than not IMO. Disqus comments on local news sites are an absolute cesspool.
  - mlloyd 9y ago
    Funny because there was a time where Disqus comments actually improved the quality of commentary.
PhasmaFelis 9y ago
RSS is, fundamentally, just links to web pages. Why would it need to have built-in commenting? Just go to the linked page and comment there.
- sago 9y ago
  We don't need it to have comments. But I think the lack of commenting is the big problem of an RSS focused ecosystem. Shooting comments off into the ether is fine by clicking the page and commenting there. But, if you have a couple of dozen blogs in your RSS feed, and leave a handful of comments a day, clicking back through the specific place to see if you've been responded to is way too much effort. Sites like HN, Reddit, and Facebook, have a central mechanism by which you can be notified. In the '10s I had a blog with over 1000 readers, I had fewer comments, and less community than the replacement Facebook group has with a fraction of that number. That may not be a problem for publishers who are purely interested in eyeballs. But that isn't all of them. If the aim is to free content from the walled garden (which I think is an important goal), then it matters.
  - username223 9y ago
    Don't most blogging platforms have the option to email replies? In any case, I prefer a bit of friction in the comment process, since it discourages people from "shooting off" without thinking.
    - keypress 9y ago
      Usenet with dial-up was good for this. You'd compose your reply, then look it back up, read over, amend, perhaps delete or send later. It made for more considered responses. I've noticed with HN it's very swarm-like and transient these days. Comment following is also difficult without some thread control. At a minimum you need collapsible threads. Too much to read, don't bother, say something that's been said already - and add to the noise. Or have a bypassed dangling leaf comment.
      - icebraining 9y ago
rb808 9y ago
I love RSS, I think its much better than facebook. But having voting or a score on items would be nice.

by sago 9y ago

manicdee 9y ago

RSS for headlines and federation of feeds, Disqus for comments.

sago 9y ago
Wouldn't that just make Disqus the new Facebook?
pmlnr 9y ago
webmentions and microsub, please. Disqus is just another silo, it has nothing to do with RSS and federation.
- manicdee 9y ago
  Thanks for the pointer. What facility does webmention have to support moderation of comments on my articles?

modernerd 9y ago

There is ActivityPub: https://activitypub.rocks/ https://activitypub.rocks/ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16222478 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16222478 https://www.w3.org/TR/activitypub/ https://www.w3.org/TR/activitypub/ https://github.com/w3c/activitypub https://github.com/w3c/activitypub But not enough implementations of it yet that tie into blog content.

mxuribe 9y ago
I very much look forward to the day when ActivityPub becomes more pervasive in platforms...beyond websites/apps that interact directly with other sites/apps and other use-cases, ActivityPub should be a boon to comment systems. (I myself am in favor of decentralized comment systems...then again I'm biased IN FAVOR of most any decentralized platforms/systems. ;-)

lostlogin 9y ago

I think HN might be the only place I read the comments. Missing the hell stew of a comments section is a feature as I see it.

O_H_E 9y ago
50% of the time I read the comments before/instead the link !!!
chestervonwinch 9y ago
Agreed. I was glad when npr.org removed their Disqus comments sections. Disqus comments on news websites tend to be very nasty and stain websites more often than not IMO. Disqus comments on local news sites are an absolute cesspool.
- mlloyd 9y ago
  Funny because there was a time where Disqus comments actually improved the quality of commentary.

PhasmaFelis 9y ago

RSS is, fundamentally, just links to web pages. Why would it need to have built-in commenting? Just go to the linked page and comment there.

sago 9y ago
We don't need it to have comments. But I think the lack of commenting is the big problem of an RSS focused ecosystem. Shooting comments off into the ether is fine by clicking the page and commenting there. But, if you have a couple of dozen blogs in your RSS feed, and leave a handful of comments a day, clicking back through the specific place to see if you've been responded to is way too much effort. Sites like HN, Reddit, and Facebook, have a central mechanism by which you can be notified. In the '10s I had a blog with over 1000 readers, I had fewer comments, and less community than the replacement Facebook group has with a fraction of that number. That may not be a problem for publishers who are purely interested in eyeballs. But that isn't all of them. If the aim is to free content from the walled garden (which I think is an important goal), then it matters.
- username223 9y ago
  Don't most blogging platforms have the option to email replies? In any case, I prefer a bit of friction in the comment process, since it discourages people from "shooting off" without thinking.
  - keypress 9y ago
    Usenet with dial-up was good for this. You'd compose your reply, then look it back up, read over, amend, perhaps delete or send later. It made for more considered responses. I've noticed with HN it's very swarm-like and transient these days. Comment following is also difficult without some thread control. At a minimum you need collapsible threads. Too much to read, don't bother, say something that's been said already - and add to the noise. Or have a bypassed dangling leaf comment.
    - icebraining 9y ago

rb808 9y ago

I love RSS, I think its much better than facebook. But having voting or a score on items would be nice.