I Ditched the Algorithm for RSS—and You Should Too - Joey's Hoard of Stuff
Joey Einerhand's Portfolio and tech blog.
I use self hosted FreshRSS. I has:
It is by far the best way to get updates about just the things you care about.
I started using FreshRSS around the same time Reddit killed their API, it has rapidly become one of my favorite self-hosted apps.
Also,
open source software releases I follow
You have just taught me that I can add github release pages to my feed, I love FreshRSS even more now.
Yes. Monitoring GitHub for releases is great (especially if the project posts change logs). Also, if you are a developer and need to monitor library updates for any deps you app might have, many of those sites also have rss feeds. For example: https://libraries.io/
I use Feeder on android, which just lives on my phone instead of on my server.
Would you say there are distinct advantages to self hosting an RSS reader? Most of the time when im browsing sites and reading it's on my phone, not my desktop.
I’m at my laptop all day for work so I use it on my laptop, desktop, and phone so syncing is important. Since it support Google reader api, there are a ton of different clients for it too.
I’ve also set my wife up with her own account and it makes sharing articles and feeds with her easy.
I’m a big self hoster and already have an environment set up for it. I don’t know if it is worth setting up servers and vpns and security just for rss.
You can do both. FreshRSS for example allows you to subscribe to it like you would subscribe to any RSS feed
Hey, Joey, don't say that shit out loud. Once they realize that there is a way to access content that isn't sufficiently monetized, they will block it. Keep it secret!
The content creators should be shouting about RSS from the rooftops. The only people that lose out are social networks, and startups. It would be more difficult for a new person to get a foothold, but at least we decide what we want to read on our own.
The hardest part is when you have to curate by yourself. To me RSS feels like a lot of work upfront. Is there a tool to help discover items to add to your feed aligned with your interest?
You start with vlogs you like.
Then see who they have in their blog roll.
More seriousl, I have literally used RSS regular since like 2006 or so. And I will NEVER forgive Google for killing Reader.
Anyway, what I mean to say is, its just a growing process. Someone links an article and you say, "Well, this sote seems interesting" and you stick it in your RSS reader.
Next thing you know you are pulling 1000-2000 articles a day, even with limiting filters.
One last bit of advice. Most systems let you export your subs.
DO THIS FROM TIME TO TIME BECAUSE YOU WILL HATE YOUR PAST SELF WHEN SOMETHING GOES WRONG AND YOU LOSE ALL YOUR SUBS.
Feedly does a great job of that.
This is where I've struggled. I've gone and tried once or twice and just kinda got confused and lost and came back to reddit, at that time.
Algorithms done right are useful. Make sure things that are likely important to be bubble to the top. I don't have time to read/watch it all, so prioritize the important things for me.
Done right is the hard part. It is too easy to prioritize memes that make people angry even though if you really investigate you discover that while there is a little truth it is grossly exaggerated and whoever is being mocked isn't that stupid - because things that make people mad tend to get attention.
The algorithm really needs a "there is plenty more but you have seen all the important stuff - go outside and do something" after I've seen what is important. Of course it then needs a "but I'm currently confined to a hospital bed so just show me something so I'm not bored out of my mind". The likes of facebook of course cannot allow such a thing as once you stop scrolling their ad revenue is gone. However that is what the world needs.
The companies deploying the algorithms aren't taking any of what you said into consideration though. They only want to feed you what has the most interaction as that can garner the most money from ad revenue.
Would be nice if open-source aggregators like Lemmy allowed users to "Subscribe" to community developed algorithms.
I'd love to (attempt) to build an "ethical" algorithm for content sorting, have it be open-source, and be able to have clients use it without having to actually modify the client itself.
The problem isn’t the algorithm just because it’s an algorithm, even chronological sort is technically an algoritim.
The problem is closed source algorithms with no user choice that implement dark patterns and other addictive and psychologically abusive tactics to make users engage with their app as much as possible
I don’t personally have any issue with algorithms - they work quite well for me, though it does require some active management. For example, if I watch one or two 30-second videos on YouTube, it quickly starts recommending more, which quickly floods my feed. However, when I start ignoring those recommendations, despite the temptation to click, the algorithm eventually stops pushing them and shifts back to suggesting accurately tailored, long-form content that genuinely interests me. The same goes for using the “not interested” button. This aligns with my experience on platforms like Twitter and Instagram as well, though the latter I no longer use.
Algorithms obviously don’t care whether the content they show you makes you glad that you saw it. They simply serve what captures your attention. If it's outrage, then that’s exactly what you’ll get. The algorithm knows plenty of other users engage with that kind of content, so it rationally assumes the same will apply to you.
If it's outrage, then that’s exactly what you’ll get
I don't know how fix this, but this is one of the things a good algorithm needs to prevent. Outrage does get my attention - but it isn't where I want my attention.
"there is plenty more but you have seen all the important stuff - go outside and do something "
That is lemmy for me. I have removed communities I don't want to see, and subscribed to a lot of them and sort by hot.
Once the posts start losing quality (up votes) I move on.
The only problem with RSS is that it doesn't work for many many news sources as well as niche interests.
The RSS feeds on most of my country's news sources are literally a headline with a link to their website. Plus the ones that it does work for break multiple times per year (at least on feeder) so being able to actually fetch the article is a toss up. Right now even with freshly added feeds, 9 out of 10 are "cannot fetch full article".
I find most people's blogs rather boring and uninspired or extremely longwinded. I much prefer the kind of organic conversations from forums. Algorithms point me to the 4-5 pieces of content from people that I find interesting. I don't often subscribe to them because their other content is not as interesting.
With RSS feeds I would have to manually search through hundreds of articles and blog posts just to find 3 that I might actually be interested in. For example the less niche Phoronix has like 20 articles per day that are essentially fluff article padding updates like "video acceleration improvements merged for Mesa 25". Like I don't care at all. But the LACT Intel support addition I would be interested in 10 articles down.
this is by far my favorite way of browsing the internet nowadays. if they find a way to monetize or kill RSS, i'm getting off the internet
I think it would be hard to re-invent RSS for money, it's part of why it's so simple.
RSS as a service makes sense for backend, not front end where most of the money would be made.
And killing RSS is... Kinda here? It's difficult to get a RSS feed on most websites, unless you can scrape it or find someone who's done it for you.
Man I should use RSS more...
I get that the idea of rss is sort of a universal protocol for publishing articles, which is really cool, but damnit if you make me parse XML in 2025. As a developer, I would be ok if they modernized RSS feeds.
Is there a project to quickly scrape and rssify and website?
Almost all podcasts use RSS so seems pretty alive to me
ArsTechnica kinda does this too, but in a nice way. You can pay to subscribe to a better set of curated feeds, as a part of your subscription.
If you want to quickly find RSS feeds without having to view source:
Want My RSS for Firefox
openfeeds for Qutebrowser
Apparently Google has an RSS extension but I haven’t looked into it.
Some RSS tools that are useful:
MoRSS (worked for like, one niche website I look at, but still might be useful)
EDIT: By the way, Facebook has been working very hard to fight RSS at every corner, but most other platforms still support it.
Also, if you use Kontact like I do, it supports RSS feeds through Akregator
Thanks because I have no idea how to even start but this is something I would like to try and see if it's a good fit for me.
Small tip for anyone using Thunderbird as a mail client, it supports RSS feeds! And you can import/export them too.
Please do recommend RSS apps for all platforms. Currently using:
Android: Read You iOS/Mac: Unread
I'm using feeder on android and it's working well for me. On desktop I use Firefox extension but can't remember the name
https://search.f-droid.org/?q=rss&lang=en
Personally, Feeder.
I’ve been using Feedly on iOS for a few years since google dropped their rss client.
Android: Read You
Is it available from an app store? I only found the apk on GitHub but I'd rather not update manually.
It’s available on F-droid not sure about playstore.
Newsblur in desktop web browser, 36 USD / year
It has a FLOSS version and a more limited free version hosted by them, but the 2.5 GBP / month was worth the QoL increase for me.
Currently, I use Newblur for subscribing to feeds and then link it with other RSS apps. (The NewsBlur mobile app is terrible.)
Inoreader does this web and Android/Apple clean controls and responsive UI.
Paid version has a ton of enhancements including trending things among other users.
I use https://miniflux.app/. It's pretty small, costs $15/year. I do this because I want to keep my feed status across different devices.
I'm not perfectly happy with it. Perhaps it's a bit too minimal. When I subscribe to an aggregate like Hacker News, it pretty much floods my feed and I get swamped.
If anyone has a slightly better alternative in mind, I'd be happy to hear.
Is there a recommended, shiny RSS reader for Linux and Android? Which I want to try?
I use feeder installed via Fdroid. It sends me notifications that send me straight to the content. I rarely have to actually open the app. No complaints!
+1 for feeder
I use Newsblur, it’s a web site and will fetch feeds even if my computer is offline.
I have been pretty happy with Read You
I used feeder before that. Feeder is fine and may even have more options, but Read You has that perfect layout and text formatting...
I use quiterss on my linux desktop. Its already in the repos on debian and works great for me. I have extremely minimalistic requirements tho, so might not be for you if you want a shiny UI. It has tagging, custom keyword filtering, folders, notifications. All i need.
I use NewsBoat on Linux, but it's a terminal app and not for everybody. On Android I use CapyReader, and IMHO it's quite nice.
I use Thunderbird and Read You
I remember Google Reader back in the day. I miss that a lot. Is there something comparable that I don't have to host?
Newsblur is the one I migrated to and haven’t looked back.
There are good RSS reader web browser extensions. Firefox has a few. Check out Feedbro.
Thanks, bro.
Algorithms have the advantage of finding stuff for me that i wouldn't have even thought to look for. Is there any thing with RSS that sufficiently mimicks this?
I mean you have to subscribe to a feed to be able to see it and I don’t see how RSS could sync a feed you don’t even know about. I suppose if someone started a platform that everyone used to sync their feeds then people could uncover content from the RSS feeds of other users but that seems to take the really simple out of really simple sync (RSS)
No. They're two different tools. the article misses the point
I miss Firefox's Live Bookmarks feature.
I had the same idea two years ago, this seems like a more involved and detailed take
I've greatly enjoyed FeedFlow ( github or the official site ) as my reader since it's minimalistic and just looks so polished. Almost fully cross platform as well.
Thanks! I like it a lot.
Thunderbird has RSS channels you can use and set-up (if you use the e-mail client, it is convenient).
I built https://startyparty.dev/ for just this reason
Very cool! Thanks for making this and sharing.
Looks sick, bookmarked!
I used Feedly since Google Reader was shut down. Then 1.5 years ago, as Feedly was getting more paywalls and AI-crap, I switched to Newsblur, and have been a happy user ever since. I love its Intelligence Trainer that lets me hide posts with certain tags/authors/keywords.
title could be worded better... i was confused at first that there was some algorithm for rss he was no longer using. it should be something like ' i ditched the website algorithm feed and utilize the rss instead'
Great post, thanks!