Ask HN: Is RSS dying? Or coming back?

#1

Post by bundleunbundle » Tue, Aug 16, 2022, 3:19 PM UTC

Is RSS still actively developed as a protocol? If not, why not? Are there any viable alternatives on the horizon?

I find it really troubling that we seem to have resigned ourselves to web content discovery and distribution belonging to corporations like Google and Meta.

Also grateful for any reading recommendations on this subject, both on RSS specifically and on the question of web content discovery/distribution broadly. (I’ve read through most of the stories/posts pronouncing RSS dead or resurrecting it and I’m not convinced either way.)

Re: Ask HN: Is RSS dying? Or coming back?

#2

Post by metadat » Tue, Aug 16, 2022, 3:28 PM UTC

What about the RSS protocol is lacking and in need of further development? It seems to get the job done.

I do agree about discovery in general, it's uncomfortable counting on Google, Microsoft, and Meta / TikTok for content discovery. Thankfully there are some smart folks working on fresh takes on the search engine.

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

Re: Ask HN: Is RSS dying? Or coming back?

#3

Post by emodendroket » Tue, Aug 16, 2022, 3:44 PM UTC

metadat wrote: post #2

What about the RSS protocol is lacking and in need of further development? It seems to get the job done. I do agree about discovery in general, it's uncomfortable counting on Google, Microsoft, and Meta / TikTok for content discovery. Thankfully there are some smart folks working on fresh takes on the search engine. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

In fact changing is a barrier to wide adoption of technology. But as far as people actually using RSS, I don't think it has ever recovered from the consolidation with Google Reader and subsequent killing of the project.

Re: Ask HN: Is RSS dying? Or coming back?

#4

Post by jabroni_salad » Tue, Aug 16, 2022, 3:48 PM UTC

My personal observation is that writers get some kind of intimacy from mailing lists and so prefer that. Whether RSS is happening depends on the platform they publish on rather than any conscious decision.

(keep in mind we are both hackernews users before you hit me with the 'um actually' in regards to your own blog. i already know you like rss.)

Re: Ask HN: Is RSS dying? Or coming back?

#5

Post by kevincox » Tue, Aug 16, 2022, 3:51 PM UTC

I still get all of my news so I'd say it is still going strong.

I think you are right that the big platforms tend to remove RSS as they grow because they would rather have lock-in than providing the ibterfaces that their users want but that is a minor strike against RSS.

I think the biggest problem is just that users don't really know about it. The easy-to-discover auto-discovery buttons have been removed from browsers so most users don't even know. Based on my experience a lot of people are very happy with RSS ones you set them up with a feed reader and an extension that adds the RSS discovery back to the browser.

So I guess the biggest problem isn't the discovery of RSS feeds but the disicery of RSS itself.

Re: Ask HN: Is RSS dying? Or coming back?

#6

Post by bundleunbundle » Tue, Aug 16, 2022, 3:54 PM UTC

metadat wrote: post #2

What about the RSS protocol is lacking and in need of further development? It seems to get the job done. I do agree about discovery in general, it's uncomfortable counting on Google, Microsoft, and Meta / TikTok for content discovery. Thankfully there are some smart folks working on fresh takes on the search engine. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

100% agree that it does it what it does beautifully but it seems to me like there's little to no stewardship around it, and no one actively making sure that it can work with new types of content and provide a viable channel to professional publishers (in effect looking after both sides of the RSS "marketplace".)

Search engines are part of the puzzle for sure, but would love to see more transparent/open source recommender systems integrated with something like RSS to foster discovery without explicit queries.

Re: Ask HN: Is RSS dying? Or coming back?

#7

Post by leephillips » Tue, Aug 16, 2022, 3:56 PM UTC

It was never dying and so didn’t need to come back. It doesn’t require much in the way of development because it serves its simple purpose well.

If a website has the proper element in its header some browsers detect that and display an RSS icon for easy subscription. That’s how I follow websites; I don’t subscribe to newsletters.

Re: Ask HN: Is RSS dying? Or coming back?

#8

Post by InvisibleUp » Tue, Aug 16, 2022, 3:56 PM UTC

metadat wrote: post #2

What about the RSS protocol is lacking and in need of further development? It seems to get the job done. I do agree about discovery in general, it's uncomfortable counting on Google, Microsoft, and Meta / TikTok for content discovery. Thankfully there are some smart folks working on fresh takes on the search engine. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

RSS doesn't work all that well across multiple devices, such as a desktop and a mobile phone. You can subscribe to them on both, sure, but they won't be synced with each other.

Apps such as Google Reader and such resolve that problem, but the death of Google Reader really shook a lot of people's trust in RSS, I think. Plus now RSS has to compete with social media feeds, which are where a lot of people are looking for updates already.

Re: Ask HN: Is RSS dying? Or coming back?

#9

Post by jonathankoren » Tue, Aug 16, 2022, 4:00 PM UTC

InvisibleUp wrote: post #8

metadat wrote: post #2

What about the RSS protocol is lacking and in need of further development? It seems to get the job done. I do agree about discovery in general, it's uncomfortable counting on Google, Microsoft, and Meta / TikTok for content discovery. Thankfully there are some smart folks working on fresh takes on the search engine. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

RSS doesn't work all that well across multiple devices, such as a desktop and a mobile phone. You can subscribe to them on both, sure, but they won't be synced with each other. Apps such as Google Reader and such resolve that problem, but the death of Google Reader really shook a lot of people's trust in RSS, I think. Plus now RSS has to compete with social media feeds, which are where a lot of people are looking for…

Syncing across devices isn't the job of RSS, or any protocol, and certainly not the role of a data format in the case of RSS.

State is an application's job.

Re: Ask HN: Is RSS dying? Or coming back?

#10

Post by shapefrog » Tue, Aug 16, 2022, 4:00 PM UTC

jabroni_salad wrote: post #4

My personal observation is that writers get some kind of intimacy from mailing lists and so prefer that. Whether RSS is happening depends on the platform they publish on rather than any conscious decision. (keep in mind we are both hackernews users before you hit me with the 'um actually' in regards to your own blog. i already know you like rss.)

Email mailing lists are just rss feeds with extra steps.