91–100 of 192 posts
RSS is a nice format, but it'd be even nicer as json. Recently had a client that needed me to read their RSS feed into email templates and update their template after they switched their email service. First time working with RSS. 10/10, would do so again.
> [RSS would] be even nicer as json. Already a standard! https://jsonfeed.org/
While we are at it, we should also bring back Usenet/nntp (though obviously I have nothing against news aggregators with discussion boards such as hn). But long term, only a new distributed p2p web will be able to escape the ever-increasing shilling and censorship. You can start this process right now and be prepared for the future by separating content strictly from web apps and avoiding JavaScript-heavy approaches for content.
I might be biased here as i've built a news aggregator/RSS reader ( https://aktu.io ) but imho RSS was and still is the best way to get news from sources you like. This is so obvious when you compare RSS to social platforms... I mean Facebook was great to share stuff with your friends and get updates but now it's become a huge mess where you get a little bit of everything, you're not even sure you'll ever see all the…
And yet here we are on Hacker News, a social platform for news stories. I honestly have never used a feed aggregator, I used Slashdot, then Reddit, and now a mix of Reddit and HN. Having a filter of some sort is really useful.
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Stuff that the creator/producer wants syndicated will probably have an RSS feed still. As social media platforms benefit from content lock in as opposed to syndication, the publisher (the platform) has no incentive to offer RSS. I am not particularly bothered by the lack of RSS on social platforms.
I dont know if that’s true. If I could consume Facebook via RSS, I might follow it a bot more. When I wanted to respond or like, I would have to switch to the app.
As I point out occasionally, most hard news sources have RSS feeds. The New York Times, Reuters, the BBC, CNN, and Fox News all have RSS feeds. The Hill, Roll Call, and Politico have RSS feeds. The Congressional leadership has an RSS feed. NASA and the ESA have RSS feeds. The National Weather Service has RSS feeds. New York City and the LAPD have RSS feeds. If it matters, it's probably in an RSS feed. It's social med…
RSS never died. On the contrary, its usage for content aggregation & monitoring has been increasing over the years, specially in the business world and niche markets. I'm speaking from my own experience running Feedity - https://feedity.com , a growing startup that helps with custom feeds for unstructured sources like webpages.
I've been wondering why Feedly, which I use exclusively to follow webcomics, has been hammering me with ad copy about "the news you need to stay on the cutting edge" lately. (RSS is, like, objectively the best way to follow multiple webcomics. I don't understand why it's not more popular.)
The core feature of RSS is that it takes content and moves it from a site the publisher controls and into one the reader controls. This is immensely valuable to readers! It's perhaps less valuable to publishers, however.
Many publishers invest significantly in adding value to and gaining value from their websites. Advertisements, links to other sites, merchandise sales, etc. Almost all of those vanish when you feed only the core content to readers through RSS.
With all that in mind, publishers have ample reason to not invest in RSS. The economics of it are not kind to them.
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I dont know if that’s true. If I could consume Facebook via RSS, I might follow it a bot more. When I wanted to respond or like, I would have to switch to the app.
FB couldn't collect data on your usage from an RSS feed, which is what they use to drive their advertising platform, which you are also not participating in. So having you read outside of FBs site or app is not in their best interests.
I still use RSS and it's, in many ways, better than the web stupidity that surrounds us. The title is misleading. People who captured the feedreader market, killed the competitors then dropped it did a lot of damage. Maybe deliberately. LESSON: Never trust a big company that relies on advertising. RSS is a way to escape the nonsense that has come with those, who have no idea what the web can be, but have flooded in a…
Having worked at a giant company, I know there are many competing motivations, teams, and personalities involved - companies are not uniform entities. Still... Google Reader did more to destroy my perception of Google's reputation than everything else evil they've ever done. Conspiracy to suppress wages for tech workers, James Damore, the Snowden revelations - all of those bugged me, but not like Reader. They killed…