The Good Ship RSS
I've been getting back on the RSS this year.
What I like about RSS is it's very chill. Very slow web. There's no algorithm. There's no impulse to completion ism (for me.) When I've read what I want I mark everything as read. I don't check every day.
Any interesting new blog I find I just add to my reader rather than bookmark or sign up for email. I'm slowly moving older lists, bookmarks, and subscriptions over. I used to use RSS until they shut down Google Reader and then I never moved elsewhere.
I've not found an RSS reader I really like. Though I am fine with the one I have. It doesn't sync so I only have it on my tablet. Which is my preferred venue for reading but means if I come across something on my phone or laptop I have to send it to my tablet then remember whatever the heck I meant to do with it. But I neither need nor want all the bells and whistles of more serious readers.
This is all prompted because I've made a feeds page, which I'm not sure I shouldn't just call a blogroll but the nudge to finally get it sorted was Steve Dylan, who calls it a feeds page, so.
It's frustrating looking at this page, the RSS export, because I know there's so much more stuff. Where have I hidden it, over the years? I'm becoming more and more discontented with my bookmarking too. Not the tools, my own process.
I've not admitted, on my feeds page, to all the Substacks I read. Because I don't like Substack. And you're not really 'supposed' to read Substacks via RSS. But not listing them really skews the look of what I'm reading - most of the arts and humanities stuff is on Substack.
Also, for no particular reason, I've got two lists. One of Bear blogs, one not. I've tagged Bear blogs in my RSS reader so I carried it over. Is it a useful distinction? Not really. The Substacks and gaming blogs are separate too. But dividing things thematically would be too much for my tiny little mind to categorise. So I will remain discontented.
The criticism of RSS that it sort of flattens everything out is understandable. Sometimes I use RSS as a notifications system: this person has posted a thing. And then I go read it on their site, as nature intended. But sometimes I need the font to be at 130%, black on a white background.
I'm glad RSS refused to die, never stopped being an integral part of the internet, and is getting more and more love now. Long live RSS.