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The difference between an email client and an RSS reader is that an email client can parse message/rfc822 entries in a feed and an RSS reader has a prominent Ma
by floatingatoll 6y ago
The difference between an email client and an RSS reader is that an email client can parse message/rfc822 entries in a feed and an RSS reader has a prominent Mark All As Read button.
I patched Thunderbird for a friend back in 2005 to enable it to show the email UI for message/rfc822 entries in RSS feeds, so that you could receive your email by RSS. We got it working end-to-end with SMTP delivery to the feed, which was pretty cool. It looks like he published a whitepaper about the idea: http://mengwong.com/rssemail/rssemail-006.pdf http://mengwong.com/rssemail/rssemail-006.pdf
- rakoo 6y agoMost email clients have a 2-click solution to "mark all as read", which is more than enough in my opinion
- floatingatoll 6y agoSure, but it speaks directly to why the difference between them is really about mindset and not technologies. For example: If email newsletters were just published as an RSS feed there’d be a lot less need to spend big bucks on deliverability providers. And: If people had a clearly visible button “Mark All As Read” in their email client (with confirmation) there’d be a less uncertainty about using it when underwater.
- rakoo 6y agoIndeed, there's a different in mindset between what is and what isn't acceptable to skip. It's too bad it takes work to make the distinction in one's own mailbox between the two categories, but once it's done RSS can be managed the same way email is
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]