I Heart RSS: A New Directory for RSS Enthusiasts

I Heart RSS Launch

Andrew Shell has launched I Heart RSS, a directory designed for individuals and website owners who advocate for the use of RSS. The platform allows users to submit their own websites to the directory and features a live blogroll on its homepage, which is powered by the FeedLand service.

The Role of RSS in Modern Content Consumption

Despite the rise of algorithmic social media, RSS remains a critical tool for decentralized content discovery and consumption. Users and developers continue to value the format for its ability to provide a direct, non-algorithmic connection between creators and readers.

Curation and Discovery

One of the primary challenges with existing RSS directories is a lack of curation. As noted by community members, many existing sites simply "dump their mountain of every feed that was ever known to exist" without providing a mechanism for discovery or curation. I Heart RSS aims to address this by focusing on people who actively "love" and promote the use of the technology.

Social RSS and FeedLand

FeedLand is highlighted as a tool that adds a social layer to RSS. By allowing users to see who subscribes to a specific blog and where else those subscribers are following, FeedLand transforms a traditionally solitary experience into a social one without relying on the algorithmic tricks used by traditional social media platforms.

Technical Debates: RSS vs. Atom and JSONFeed

While the term "RSS" is often used as a generic label for web feeds, there is significant technical debate regarding the actual formats used.

The Case for Atom

Some developers argue that RSS is a flawed format that developed organically and should have been replaced by Atom 1.0. Critics of RSS suggest that Atom is the "final modern form" of the feed standard and that continuing to use the term "RSS" to describe all feeds leads to implementation errors because developers may be unaware of the more robust Atom specification.

Parsing Challenges

Implementing a feed reader is technically challenging due to the lack of strict adherence to standards. Developers have noted that many sites serve feeds in "subtly wrong" formats, forcing feed reader developers to account for a growing list of out-of-spec edge cases to ensure compatibility across different readers.

Alternative Formats

Beyond RSS and Atom, other modern alternatives like JSONFeed are also cited as preferred options for developers seeking a more modern data format.

Ecosystem Tools and Implementations

Several tools and services are currently being used to maintain the RSS ecosystem:

  • Miniflux: A popular choice for those who prefer to self-host their own RSS feed reader.
  • Pico.sh: A constellation of services that uses RSS for notifications, including an RSS-to-email service.
  • RSSVault: A project currently in development aimed at creating a curated directory of RSS feeds to combat the "long slow death of the orange RSS subscribe button."

Community Perspectives on Blogging

There is a strong sentiment among enthusiasts that the decline of the traditional blog has been a loss for the web. Users express a desire for a return to "the old days" where people blogged about high-concept ideas and daily life, viewing RSS as the embodiment of how the internet should work: where the internet itself is the platform, rather than a centralized corporate entity.

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