@pluralistic No more likes only feeds :) Recently started a self-hosted microblog you can follow on RSS.

[mishaderidder@mastodon.online]

@pluralistic
No more likes only feeds Recently started a self-hosted microblog you can follow on RSS.
Recommend NewsNetWire as feed reader.

Pluralistic: The web is bearable with RSS (07 Mar 2026) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

(pluralistic.net)

[mikalai@privacysafe.social]

@mishaderidder @pluralistic
RSS doesn't have any middle agent between what you and that site/org/biz/friend you wanted to hear from. No middle with monopolist directing your eyeballs: "... Dave, you must look there."

[cstross@wandering.shop]

@mikalai @mishaderidder @pluralistic Which is *exactly* why Google had to kill Google Reader back in the day: it was undercutting their ad monetization strategy.

[tragiccommons@infosec.exchange]

@cstross @mikalai @mishaderidder @pluralistic I worked at Google back then and it was more complicated than that. Reader had serious security problems with JavaScript in RSS and it used too many Mustang machines for the number of users it had. It was also one of the many conflicting social platforms at the time they were trying to unify around Google+.

[m750@better.boston]

@tragiccommons giving folks control over their own feed is risky

[target@infosec.exchange]

@tragiccommons @cstross @mikalai @mishaderidder @pluralistic +1

As much as I lamented the loss of Reader, I also understood why the decision was made. It was almost an honorable thing for it to step aside and make room for others in the market like Feedly.

[cstross@wandering.shop]

@target @tragiccommons @mikalai @mishaderidder @pluralistic None of those other feed readers facilitate synchronization to other RSS clients, the main/unique value of Google Reader. (As an actual
*reader* it was pants.) Upshot: my use of RSS died (I rely on multiple platforms.) I'm convinced this move destroyed the wider viability of RSS.

[keithzg@fediverse.keithzg.ca]

@cstross @target @tragiccommons @mikalai @mishaderidder @pluralistic For me it prompted setting up what eventually became a Nextcloud instance (was ownCloud at the time) as that seemed like my best bet for sync across clients on multiple platforms, and it's grown into a general setup for that for me (podcasts, contacts, calendar, files,,,) but especially at the time it was fiddly enough there was no hope for non-techie folks, and it's no wonder that these days nearly everyone uses purely proprietary corporate-mediated services.

[angusm@mastodon.social]

@cstross @target @tragiccommons @mikalai @mishaderidder @pluralistic I've been using Feedly for cross-device sync for many years (with, I think, one outage in all that time -- I'd actually forgotten that Feedly was sitting in the middle of my RSS consumption until it stopped working one day). It plays nice with my readers of choice on different platforms.

I am, however, thinking of trying to cut Feedly out of the mix and see if I can replace it with self-hosted FreshRSS.

[cstross@wandering.shop]

@angusm @target @tragiccommons @mikalai @mishaderidder @pluralistic I used to use Feedly until it ate my payment information and I couldn't figure out how to update it. Oops. Dead account.

[mikalai@privacysafe.social]

@cstross @target @tragiccommons @mishaderidder @pluralistic
RSS reading without middle anything is a clean form of client-controlled process.
Google Reader, it seems, was created as a ... SaaS with two sides. Good side allows use on different devices. Bad side manifested in it disappearing, when provider/server decided for client.
One reader on all different devices is easier cognitively than syncing between different apps on different OS'es.
Is this correct reading of your experience?