61 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
61 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: RSS
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date: 2023-09-01
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description: "Feeds without fuzz."
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tags: [rss, meta]
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---
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## What is RSS?
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Originally, RSS stood for "RDF/Rich Site Summary" but was later changed to "Really Simple Syndication"
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RSS is a way to subscribe to a website.
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Whenever that website updates it writes its changes to a `XML` file.
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You can then read this XML file and see what changed at a glance.
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Many websites use RSS including YouTube, ~~Reddit~~ Lemmy, ~~Twitter~~ Mastodon, most news sites, and almost any blog out there.
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For many blogs, RSS is the main way to distribute new posts.
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RSS is experiencing a Renaissance at the moment:
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Many people are now seeing the damages done by algorithmic feeds and want to go back to purely chronological feeds.
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RSS provides a perfect infrastructure for this.
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## How to read RSS?
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First, you need a feed reader. On macOS and iOS I highly recommend [NetNewsWire](https://netnewswire.com).
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For terminal fans [Newsboat](https://newsboat.org) is the way to go.
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[Thunderbird](https://www.thunderbird.net/) is also a good choice but there are tons of programs that can read RSS feeds.
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That's bascially it. Now you need to add some feeds and you are ready.
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I recommend picking a reader that can also fetch the article without opening the browser and loading a ton of ads.
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Pro tip: You can export your subscibtions to a `OPML` file and import them into any RSS reader.
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## How to distribute RSS?
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This is the hardest question to answer about RSS as there are endless possibilities.
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The easiest way would probably be to use a service such as Mastodon that generates the feed automatically.
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If that platform isn't for you, WordPress is a good way to host a blog.
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I read about people setting up their own scripts that automatically update the feed for new posts.
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I use [Hugo](https://gohugo.io) which is a *static site generator*.
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It generates feeds automatically but lies somewhere between WordPress and writing your own scripts in terms of how tech savvy you should be.
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## How to find RSS?
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Go to a website you like, copy the URL and paste it into your RSS reader.
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Modern feed readers can find RSS feed on their own, you just have to provide a link to the site you want to subscribe to.
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If that is not the case, you could try adding `/index.xml` to the URL.
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Some sites, like this one, also link to their RSS feeds.
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Often those links are a the bottom of the website and are either marked as `RSS`, `Feed`, or just use the RSS logo.
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I additionally provide links to my subprojects such as my [microblog](/micro) or my [photos](/fotos).
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Feel free to add them to your reader.
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## Conclusion
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I think RSS is on the rise.
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It's an old protocol that survived numerous challenges
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It provides an escape from the algorithms and large social media companies.
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It also provides a way for content creators to distribute their content on their own without any middleman.
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