mastodon - Link to source

Forget billionaire algorithms, use RSS. Most sites have them.

Both the Thimbleweed Park Blog and Grumpy Gamer do. Full text feeds.

I've been using and serving RSS since 2005.

All the cool kids are doing it.

toolbox.rss.here.now/

The RSS Universe

A living directory of RSS readers, feed generators, monitoring tools, directories, and standards.
toolbox.rss.here.now
Esta entrada fue editada (viernes, 16 de octubre de 2026, 0:44)
in reply to gbsills
glitchsoc - Link to source

Azuaron

@gbsills There are degrees of probability with that, though. I'm currently using FreshRSS, which I don't generally recommend for people because it requires you to have an understanding of Docker. But, it is open source, so if the maintainers go out of their minds with, for instance, AI slop or something, I can always pause updates, and it's not like the RSS standard has frequent updates. If I need to, I can fork it and make whatever minor tweaks are required.

What I really want is a dedicated desktop app that's open source and I could recommend to people, but I haven't found a good one.

All that being said, this may end with me writing a Servo-powered RSS desktop app and hating that it's come to this.

And that being said, bold of you to assume I wouldn't let myself down. 😅

@gbsills
in reply to gbsills
mastodon - Link to source

Ted Johnson

@gbsills @Azuaron Any decent RSS reader will let you export your subscriptions. Right? Switching costs are low.

I use the RSS feature of Google Alerts to find news on specific topics across the web. I often wonder when/if they'll discontinue that service, or enshittify it with ads. For now, it's great - Google without Google

@gbsills @Azuaron
in reply to gbsills
mastodon - Link to source

Leeloo

@gbsills @Azuaron A standalone RSS reader can let you down, but that will only result in needing a new RSS reader.

An all in one program like Vivaldi that letting you down means moving over your browsing, your RSS, your email, etc.

(I do use Vivaldi myself, for browsing. I don't use the built in email or RSS).

@gbsills @Azuaron
in reply to Azuaron
mastodon - Link to source

Lesley Lai

@Azuaron @gbsills I've migrated my feed readers many times, from local software, to free online services, to payed services, and then to self-hosted freshRSS. It's easy enough (just one file to export). Glad that this technology is so interopable
@gbsills @Azuaron
in reply to Lesley Lai
mastodon - Link to source

Leeloo

@lesley @Azuaron @gbsills It's easy to move when you do so because you found something better.

I tend to switch when the old one breaks, in which case pulling your feeds out of whatever obscure database the old one used can be quite a hassle.

@Lesley Lai @gbsills @Azuaron
in reply to Ron Gilbert (GrumpyGamer)
friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Carlos Solís

My Fediverse app of choice is the venerable #Friendica , precisely because it natively supports #RSS feeds since before Mastodon even existed. An useful fact: Tumblr, BlueSky, Mastodon, YouTube and most WordPress blogs support RSS. It's entirely possible to use an RSS reader as a relatively private YouTube subscription manager, in particular with FreshRSS and the YouLag extension.
#friendica #RSS
5 likes
in reply to Dan Peterson - Latent Mirror
mastodon - Link to source

Tim Ch-AI-se (now with bonus spooky) 👻

@HobbyHero

Pretty much every¹ blogging platform and static site generator should provide RSS by default without having to do anything special.

@grumpygamer

⸻
¹ okay, every *mature* blogging platform, to the point that I'd consider any platform that lacks RSS immature on precisely those grounds

@Ron Gilbert (GrumpyGamer) @Dan Peterson - Latent Mirror
in reply to Ron Gilbert (GrumpyGamer)
mastodon - Link to source

Aayush Gupta

I use ReadYou from @fdroidorg. Very nice and simple app. F-Droid also has a blog post every once in a while about updates on free softwares. Recommended!

f-droid.org/packages/me.ash.reader

Read You | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

A modern and elegant RSS reader with Material You design
f-droid.org
@F-Droid
in reply to Aayush Gupta
mastodon - Link to source

Socially Distant

@theimpulson @fdroidorg Do have a look at FeedMe (github.com/seazon/FeedMe). Supports a number of services, including self-hosted) and can be configured to download everything, including webpage and images, for full offline use.

GitHub - seazon/FeedMe: The documents and forum of FeedMe

The documents and forum of FeedMe. Contribute to seazon/FeedMe development by creating an account on GitHub.
GitHub
@F-Droid @Aayush Gupta
in reply to Aayush Gupta
mastodon - Link to source

Socially Distant

@theimpulson @fdroidorg The AI option I believe is a user facing feature. As for the source, not sure of that as I don't see any disclosure of license. Need to contact Shawn and ask him. Great guy. Perhaps he'll consider if there are enough devs to assist him.
@F-Droid @Aayush Gupta
in reply to Ron Gilbert (GrumpyGamer)
RSS/Atom (a través ActivityPub) - Link to source

16677

Sure, let's start rebelling by using RSS. But writing about it on Mastodon strikes me as more childish than anything else. The problem itself is very concrete: a handful of giant companies have enclosed public debate inside their own silos, which they control — and that leaves us incapable of making any collective decision as a society. Those companies are Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X and TikTok. So: any concrete ideas about what to actually do about it at the societal level?
in reply to Schneckbert 🐌
mastodon - Link to source

AquaClaire

@waldschnecke I really like Feedbro, in preference to all other RSS readers I've tried. I wish there were also a version on Firefox for Linux. (& Android ?) @grumpygamer
@Ron Gilbert (GrumpyGamer) @Schneckbert 🐌
in reply to AquaClaire
mastodon - Link to source

Schneckbert 🐌

@AquaClaire I'm only familiar with the Firefox plugin Feedbro. addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/feedbroreader/
It doesn't let you install it from the plugin-website on android, but I'm quite certain you can just download the XPI file and install it on android. (I have not tried that)

Client Challenge

addons.mozilla.org
@AquaClaire
in reply to Schneckbert 🐌
mastodon - Link to source

AquaClaire

@waldschnecke Interesting! Thanks for highlighting the possibility. My technical skills are limited, so I'd love to hear from anyone who has done this (install Feedbro on Firefox for Linux or Android).
@grumpygamer
@Ron Gilbert (GrumpyGamer) @Schneckbert 🐌
in reply to Ron Gilbert (GrumpyGamer)
mastodon - Link to source

Florian Schmidt

I wonder about the claim that "most sites have them". In my subjective view, there was a time when an RSS feed (or better several) was an absolute must-have for any website, and nowadays they are often hidden or non-existent.
Do you have any numbers about that? OTOH it might be just worse tools nowadays and less up-front marketing of the feeds, so that I don't perceive as many.
in reply to Florian Schmidt
mastodon - Link to source

Gao

@schmidt_fu I don't have numbers either but I've been poking at this for a few years and many sites don't say they have RSS but actually they do. To list just a few of the big names, in no order: BlueSky, Mastodon, Steam. Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter until it became X (RIP), Reddit just announced they would *stop* having RSS (RIP again), Webtoon, RoyalRoad... That's only the big sites I remember at the top of my head, there are many others of all size. But it is true that many of these don't showcase or advertise their RSS feeds. But if your reader is able to detect feeds in a page you'll suddenly discover a lot of them.
@Florian Schmidt
in reply to Ron Gilbert (GrumpyGamer)
mastodon - Link to source

romli

feedcontrol.fivefilters.org/ is also very handy for making /managing RSS for sites where one is not available

Feed Control

Monitor feeds and web pages, filter content, receive alerts, expand partial feeds, and integrate with your app.
Feed Control
in reply to airakose
mastodon - Link to source

Cake & Pudding 🌱

@airakose @whitequark

also think I owe you an apology. Havent realized.

Was thinking about hijacking this thread + post something fun/ interesting about rss or dave wiener and his first fucking post is about how some slopmachine is not accepting a "source of trough" or some shit.

But it lead to me realizing that massive data center energy demand will also slow or even stop the adoption of solar+wind by guzzling up all possible resources; keeping prices high.

sources:
scripting.com/2026/10/15.html#a140802

Scripting News: Thursday, October 15, 2026

Dave Winer, OG blogger, podcaster, developed first apps in many categories. Old enough to know better. It's even worse than it appears.
Scripting News
@airakose @✧✦Catherine✦✧
in reply to Ron Gilbert (GrumpyGamer)
mastodon - Link to source

Jax UK

Been using RSS again (was an RSS fangirl back in the day haha) for about a year now to curate a news feed from sources I trust, and honestly I don't know why I forgot it existed for so long.

That's a great resource thanks for sharing 👍

in reply to woollypigs
mastodon - Link to source

Beko Pharm

@woollypigs so.. like on X or other silos? 😆

anyway, I get the sentiment. This is why projects like github.com/RSS-Bridge/rss-bridge#rant (or granary.io) exist.

GitHub - RSS-Bridge/rss-bridge: The RSS feed for websites missing it

The RSS feed for websites missing it. Contribute to RSS-Bridge/rss-bridge development by creating an account on GitHub.
GitHub
@woollypigs
in reply to Ron Gilbert (GrumpyGamer)
mastodon - Link to source

Dodgy Pie 大雞排 ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🎐

It's really not been my experience that most sites have RSS feeds, any longer. That may have been true in the past, but I think sites didn't see the value in maintaining them, because most RSS reader software is so bad that it's a worse experience for users, especially when the feeds are poorly designed, so why bother?

In 2011, I bought a 1st gen Kindle Fire specifically to load CyanogenMod on so I could run Google Currents as an RSS reader, which Google promptly discontinued.

Esta entrada fue editada (viernes, 16 de octubre de 2026, 7:53)
in reply to Dodgy Pie 大雞排 ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🎐
mastodon - Link to source

Dodgy Pie 大雞排 ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🎐

An RSS feed that consists of titles only is almost useless. At least give me a preview or summary, or something, so that I don't have to go out of my reader unless I decide I really want to read the article. If an RSS reader can't even function as an overview of the what's new, there's little incentive to use it.

Plus? Website operators like advertising revenue and tracking cookings.

in reply to Ron Gilbert (GrumpyGamer)
mastodon - Link to source

Ada Homolova

and this github repo from kagi has all sorts of feeds: github.com/kagisearch/smallweb

GitHub - kagisearch/smallweb: Kagi Small Web

Kagi Small Web. Contribute to kagisearch/smallweb development by creating an account on GitHub.
GitHub
in reply to Ron Gilbert (GrumpyGamer)
mastodon - Link to source

Ada Homolova

I love #RSS, it's such a simple protocol, one of the foundations of an open web. And now it's even more cool that with AI agents I can create my own newsletters just using RSS feeds.
#RSS
in reply to Ron Gilbert (GrumpyGamer)
mastodon - Link to source

Marc

This website lists RSS readers that have "AI summaries", which IMHO disrespects the writers of the articles, as if it's too much trouble to read all what the author has taken time for to write.
in reply to Ron Gilbert (GrumpyGamer)
mastodon - Link to source

Socially Distant

Do have a look at FeedMe (github.com/seazon/FeedMe). Supports a number of services, (including self-hosted) and can be configured to download everything, including webpage and images, for full offline use.

Supports:
- Feedbin
- Feedly
- Fever API
--CommaFeed
--Miniflux
- Folo
- Tiny Tiny RSS
- Google Reader API
--Bazqux
--FreshRSS
--InoReader

Also has built-in backup but not sure if it works when switching services.

It's also free but you can donate if you want.

GitHub - seazon/FeedMe: The documents and forum of FeedMe

The documents and forum of FeedMe. Contribute to seazon/FeedMe development by creating an account on GitHub.
GitHub
Esta entrada fue editada (viernes, 16 de octubre de 2026, 12:02)
in reply to Ron Gilbert (GrumpyGamer)
mastodon - Link to source

Incident Creator ❎

Big fan of FeedBro on Firefox for my RSS needs. That coupled with a drag-here-to-download launcher on my desktop that's linked to my audio player does very nicely for my podcast management. Put the advert stripping in to to lop known intro and outro ads on audioboom etc. Serialises the downloads. It's esoteric but you're welcome to it.

Very nice for keeping track of #Hackaday :)

#hackaday
in reply to Ron Gilbert (GrumpyGamer)
mastodon - Link to source

Michael Beecham

I’m fairly new to RSS, but found a little joy in ‘Feeeed’ for iOS and iPadOS. I’m a picky product designer, so how something looks is just as important as how it works.

But, for me, finding quality RSS feeds have been the tricky bit.

in reply to Ron Gilbert (GrumpyGamer)
gotosocial - Link to source

plissken

yes please. Or at least post on the fediverse, then my LLMs powered aggregator can find you so I can have my own algorithm and dodge the dumpster fire that any other big tech feed has become