RSS

What is RSS?

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It is a standardized format that allows websites to publish their content in a structured form.

Introduced: 1999 (Netscape)
Golden Age: 2005–2010 (Google Reader)
Renaissance: Since 2020 (growing frustration with social media)

How it works

A website publishes an RSS feed (typically /feed.xml or /rss.xml). This feed contains every new article together with its title, publication date, summary, and link.

You use an RSS reader to subscribe to these feeds. The reader regularly checks whether new content is available and displays it automatically.

The major difference from social media

• No algorithm decides what you see.
• No algorithmically inserted advertising appears between articles.
• No platform stands between you and the publisher.
• You decide exactly which sources to subscribe to.
• Chronological order instead of an algorithmically curated feed.

Popular RSS readers

Desktop:

• Thunderbird (free) – also an email client
• NetNewsWire (free, macOS/iOS)
• Fluent Reader (free, all platforms)

Web-based:

• Feedly (freemium, 15+ million users)
• Inoreader (freemium, extensive filtering options)
• Feedbin ($5/month, privacy-focused)

Self-hosted (recommended by Dragons@Work):

• FreshRSS (PHP, complete control)
• Miniflux (Go, minimalistic, fast)
• Tiny Tiny RSS (PHP, feature-rich)

Why RSS is better than social media

No algorithms

Social media decides what you see based on what its algorithms consider profitable: controversial content, advertising, sponsored posts.

RSS shows ONLY what you subscribed to—in chronological order.

No manipulation

Twitter/X can shadow ban your account, change the order of your feed, or recommend accounts you never wanted to follow.

With RSS, a website publishes an article—you see it. No platform stands in between.

Privacy

Social media tracks what you click, how long you read, and who you interact with.

RSS: Your reader simply asks, “Is there anything new?” RSS feeds generally do not require user accounts and usually expose readers to far less tracking than social media platforms. The web server still receives normal connection information such as your IP address and the time of the request.

No dependency

Twitter can disappear tomorrow or delete your account.

RSS: As long as the website exists, the feed continues to work. Your subscription list can be exported.

Practical applications

Follow blogs: Read all your favorite blogs in one chronological timeline.

Aggregate news: Instead of visiting ten different news websites, read everything in one place.

YouTube without algorithms: Every YouTube channel provides an RSS feed.

https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=CHANNEL_ID

Reddit without an account: Reddit subreddits provide RSS feeds whenever Reddit makes them available. Availability may change at any time.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SUBREDDIT/.rss

GitHub releases: Stay informed about updates to your favorite open-source projects.

RSS and digital sovereignty

Decentralized: No company controls RSS. It is an open standard that anyone can implement.
Platform independent: Not tied to Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, or any other platform.
Privacy: With a self-hosted RSS reader, your subscriptions remain under your own control. Cloud-based readers such as Feedly or Inoreader naturally also know your reading behavior and synchronization data.
Own infrastructure: With self-hosted readers such as FreshRSS or Miniflux, you have complete control.

RSS for website owners

Why provide RSS feeds?

• Respect for readers’ autonomy.
• No algorithm between you and your readers.
• Long-term relationships with readers.
• Independence from changing social media platforms.

Hugo: Generates RSS automatically (/index.xml, /blog/index.xml)
WordPress: RSS is built in (/feed/ or /?feed=rss2)

Discovering RSS feeds

Browser extensions:

• Awesome RSS (Firefox)
• RSS Feed Reader (Chrome)

These extensions show whether a website provides RSS feeds.

Common feed URLs:

• /feed.xml
• /rss.xml
• /feed/
• /blog/feed.xml
• /atom.xml

Atom vs. RSS

RSS: Older format (2003), more widely used, simpler.
Atom: Newer format (2005), technically cleaner, with better internationalization.
In practice: Both work the same way. Good RSS readers support both.