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RSS fails miserably on 2 things: 1. Discoverability 2. Monetization Consider YouTube - it provides discoverability through the algorithmic feed. Giving creato

by snird 4y ago

RSS fails miserably on 2 things: 1. Discoverability 2. Monetization Consider YouTube - it provides discoverability through the algorithmic feed. Giving creators a distribution platform they can't find anywhere else. It also provides monetization through ads, sponsorships and direct support to creators. Consider Newsletters - no discoverability built in, but it does support monetization. Pay to subscribe, and only you will get the newsletter. RSS feed can't limit only to subscribers.

EvanAnderson 4y ago
Authenticated or unique feed URLs are "a thing", but overall the difficulty in "monetization" is a feature to me. I've been a heavy RSS user since 2005. It has served my purposes well and I'd just as soon it not be "disrupted", personally.
strict9 4y ago
>RSS feed can't limit only to subscribers. This practice was common when RSS was popular and is still used today by newspapers and other media outlets. An individual feed provides only a snippet view of the article which encourages you to visit the site where a subscription was required.
beej71 4y ago
You're not wrong. But I do wish more people were happy with those "failures", which basically describe the Internet of yore.
- snird 4y ago
  I'm a creator myself. Why would I want to build an audience on a platform with no monetization possibility, ever? Even sponsorships are not possible, since I can't reliably count reads (which I can even in email). It's nice to think of the "classic" internet, but it's a naivety that will keep RSS on the edges. And I love RSS idea! I want it back! I hate subscribing to email newsletters in a way that makes it hard to manage and organize.
  - ghaff 4y ago
    Plenty of creators create without the expectation of direct payment. Of course, many are not in a position to do so as well. But I expect that, for the most part, the platforms make a lot more money off the creators attempting to monetize than the creators themselves do. And, in so doing, they make the overall experience worse. But, yes, RSS was always pretty fringe. And today there's enough hope being dangled that a newsletter or YouTube channel will make it big that it's even more fringe.
  - cebert 4y ago
    When counting email reads, how do you account for individuals who configure their mail client to not download images by default? I do this in Gmail to avoid tracking pixels from being loaded. I imagine there’s a sizable subset of more technical users who do this?
  - themadturk 4y ago
    You can subscribe to newsletters via FeedBin, which costs $5 a month, and will act as a source to many feed readers (as well as being a web-based feed/newsletter/twitter feed reader itself).
  - beej71 4y ago
    I'm also a creator I do it to hopefully help people out in life. I get enough traffic and thank you notes to make it worthwhile.
ihuman 4y ago
> Pay to subscribe, and only you will get the newsletter. RSS feed can't limit only to subscribers. Patreon has this feature with their podcast RSS feeds.[1] When you subscribe, you get a URL with a personal, unique parameter. This feed has all the episodes that you pay for. Your version of the feed stops updating after you cancel your subscription. [1] They probably also have it for normal RSS feeds, but I've only used their podcast RSS feeds
_Algernon_ 4y ago
>RSS feed can't limit only to subscribers. Authenticated rss feeds are a thing. I have subscribed to some premium podcasts which have a auth token in the feed url for authentication. This allows paid content, and most importantly revocation of access at a later date (if e.g. the subscription is cancelled).
agiacalone 4y ago
Some of us who never left RSS think those two things are features
weberer 4y ago
>RSS feed can't limit only to subscribers The feed doesn't give you the whole article. Only the first paragraph or two. If you've ever seen someone write "after the jump" they're referring to the content that you can only see when accessing the page directly.

by snird 4y ago

EvanAnderson 4y ago

Authenticated or unique feed URLs are "a thing", but overall the difficulty in "monetization" is a feature to me. I've been a heavy RSS user since 2005. It has served my purposes well and I'd just as soon it not be "disrupted", personally.

strict9 4y ago

>RSS feed can't limit only to subscribers. This practice was common when RSS was popular and is still used today by newspapers and other media outlets. An individual feed provides only a snippet view of the article which encourages you to visit the site where a subscription was required.

beej71 4y ago

You're not wrong. But I do wish more people were happy with those "failures", which basically describe the Internet of yore.

snird 4y ago
I'm a creator myself. Why would I want to build an audience on a platform with no monetization possibility, ever? Even sponsorships are not possible, since I can't reliably count reads (which I can even in email). It's nice to think of the "classic" internet, but it's a naivety that will keep RSS on the edges. And I love RSS idea! I want it back! I hate subscribing to email newsletters in a way that makes it hard to manage and organize.
- ghaff 4y ago
  Plenty of creators create without the expectation of direct payment. Of course, many are not in a position to do so as well. But I expect that, for the most part, the platforms make a lot more money off the creators attempting to monetize than the creators themselves do. And, in so doing, they make the overall experience worse. But, yes, RSS was always pretty fringe. And today there's enough hope being dangled that a newsletter or YouTube channel will make it big that it's even more fringe.
- cebert 4y ago
  When counting email reads, how do you account for individuals who configure their mail client to not download images by default? I do this in Gmail to avoid tracking pixels from being loaded. I imagine there’s a sizable subset of more technical users who do this?
- themadturk 4y ago
  You can subscribe to newsletters via FeedBin, which costs $5 a month, and will act as a source to many feed readers (as well as being a web-based feed/newsletter/twitter feed reader itself).
- beej71 4y ago
  I'm also a creator I do it to hopefully help people out in life. I get enough traffic and thank you notes to make it worthwhile.

ihuman 4y ago

> Pay to subscribe, and only you will get the newsletter. RSS feed can't limit only to subscribers. Patreon has this feature with their podcast RSS feeds.[1] When you subscribe, you get a URL with a personal, unique parameter. This feed has all the episodes that you pay for. Your version of the feed stops updating after you cancel your subscription. [1] They probably also have it for normal RSS feeds, but I've only used their podcast RSS feeds

_Algernon_ 4y ago

>RSS feed can't limit only to subscribers. Authenticated rss feeds are a thing. I have subscribed to some premium podcasts which have a auth token in the feed url for authentication. This allows paid content, and most importantly revocation of access at a later date (if e.g. the subscription is cancelled).

agiacalone 4y ago

Some of us who never left RSS think those two things are features

weberer 4y ago

>RSS feed can't limit only to subscribers The feed doesn't give you the whole article. Only the first paragraph or two. If you've ever seen someone write "after the jump" they're referring to the content that you can only see when accessing the page directly.