4 ms·

I use RSS multiple times a day through Feedly and Reeder. It is anything but dead.

by bb101 7y ago

krick 7y ago
Uh, sorta, kinda, I guess... It is a lot less alive than it should and could have been. Sure, you can set up your own web-server, install RSS reader on your phone and use RSS as a protocol to get updates of your cat coming in and out or whatever. But essentially all the major services heavily discourage its usage for the majority of users.
- ghaff 7y ago
  You're both right. Sure, you can use Feedly quite easily and a lot of sites, blogs, etc. still generate RSS feeds. On the other hand, it's not really a first-class citizen, it's not available on major services that want eyeballs, subscription fees, etc. And, frankly, a lot of us have just mostly gotten out of the habit of using it because we figure we'll learn about most interesting or important stuff on social media in some manner.
  - fouc 7y ago
    Perhaps we need to splinter the internet. A second-citizen only internet. A separate internet with strict open web considerations, federated protocols, rss, irc, or new updated things.
    - ghaff 7y ago
      Isn't that kinda what we have? You can write web apps rather than mobile apps, publish on open source publishing platforms, use IRC, use RSS, etc. Yes, there may be discoverability and other downsides but nothing is actually preventing you from avoiding walled gardens for the most part.
      - fouc 7y ago
        The problem is there's an arms race on web browsers and constant upgrading of OSes and software and hidden centralizing effects. So even if some group of people are using IRC and RSS, probably many of them are getting caught up in google, chrome, and the current centralizing trend of the current "Web"
        skybrian 7y ago
        IRC is not in the same situation as websites. Plain HTML pages work fine in mainstream browsers. The web server does need to be upgraded to do encryption, but there is good open source software available for that.
- AndrewDucker 7y ago
  I've reading 74 sources via Feedly, including Hacker News, multiple newspapers, etc. That's a bit more than "my cat."
- plussed_reader 7y ago
  Here's your idea in a different metaphor: How many die hard fans does it take for a musical band to exist; for the business machine to be self sustaining by die hard fans that will consume your material when released? There are lots of bands that have exited the mainstage of public notoriety that are still thriving in various ends.
sergiotapia 7y ago
It's been burning in my mind to build an RSS server that runs on your local machine with a single binary and you just add whatever sources you want. 1. It uses RSS where it's available. 2. It scrapes the content kinda like outline.com but local copies. All data saved to your local machine, as flat files so you can use whatever backend mechanism you require. I want to find some time this year and build this. Would anyone actually use this though?
- japanoise 7y ago
  I kinda sorta use a local rss client myself, based on a screenshot I saw on someone's website: https://git.sr.ht/~japanoise/feedbag https://git.sr.ht/~japanoise/feedbag I'd be interested in other folk's take on this.
- olav 7y ago
  Isn't this what Dave's River pieces are about, e.g. https://github.com/scripting/river5 https://github.com/scripting/river5 ?

I use RSS multiple times a day through Feedly and Reeder. It is anything but dead.

by bb101 7y ago

I use RSS multiple times a day through Feedly and Reeder. It is anything but dead.

Uh, sorta, kinda, I guess... It is a lot less alive than it should and could have been. Sure, you can set up your own web-server, install RSS reader on your phone and use RSS as a protocol to get updates of your cat coming in and out or whatever. But essentially all the major services heavily discourage its usage for the majority of users.

ghaff 7y ago
You're both right. Sure, you can use Feedly quite easily and a lot of sites, blogs, etc. still generate RSS feeds. On the other hand, it's not really a first-class citizen, it's not available on major services that want eyeballs, subscription fees, etc. And, frankly, a lot of us have just mostly gotten out of the habit of using it because we figure we'll learn about most interesting or important stuff on social media in some manner.
- fouc 7y ago
  Perhaps we need to splinter the internet. A second-citizen only internet. A separate internet with strict open web considerations, federated protocols, rss, irc, or new updated things.
  - ghaff 7y ago
    Isn't that kinda what we have? You can write web apps rather than mobile apps, publish on open source publishing platforms, use IRC, use RSS, etc. Yes, there may be discoverability and other downsides but nothing is actually preventing you from avoiding walled gardens for the most part.
    - fouc 7y ago
      The problem is there's an arms race on web browsers and constant upgrading of OSes and software and hidden centralizing effects. So even if some group of people are using IRC and RSS, probably many of them are getting caught up in google, chrome, and the current centralizing trend of the current "Web"
      - skybrian 7y ago
        IRC is not in the same situation as websites. Plain HTML pages work fine in mainstream browsers. The web server does need to be upgraded to do encryption, but there is good open source software available for that.
AndrewDucker 7y ago
I've reading 74 sources via Feedly, including Hacker News, multiple newspapers, etc. That's a bit more than "my cat."
plussed_reader 7y ago
Here's your idea in a different metaphor: How many die hard fans does it take for a musical band to exist; for the business machine to be self sustaining by die hard fans that will consume your material when released? There are lots of bands that have exited the mainstage of public notoriety that are still thriving in various ends.

sergiotapia 7y ago

It's been burning in my mind to build an RSS server that runs on your local machine with a single binary and you just add whatever sources you want. 1. It uses RSS where it's available. 2. It scrapes the content kinda like outline.com but local copies. All data saved to your local machine, as flat files so you can use whatever backend mechanism you require. I want to find some time this year and build this. Would anyone actually use this though?

japanoise 7y ago
I kinda sorta use a local rss client myself, based on a screenshot I saw on someone's website: https://git.sr.ht/~japanoise/feedbag https://git.sr.ht/~japanoise/feedbag I'd be interested in other folk's take on this.
olav 7y ago
Isn't this what Dave's River pieces are about, e.g. https://github.com/scripting/river5 https://github.com/scripting/river5 ?