
Ask HN: How do you RSS? - Grae
There is building momentum around a return to blogging and RSS. Perhaps we&#x27;re near a tipping point.<p>To give another push: How do _you_ RSS? What are your preferred tools? What are the highlights of your feed these days and why? What practices and workflows bring you value? What considerations should consumers and producers of RSS content be aware of?
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gpanders
I self host Miniflux [1] and am really happy with it, although recently I have
moved toward using Fraidycat [2]. I really like the way that Fraidycat groups
things by author, whereas traditional RSS readers just give you a feed. This
enables me to follow high-volume publishers (such as Marginal Revolution)
without the anxiety of seeing the Unread count in my reader creep ever higher.

The only downside of Fraidycat for now is that you can only use it as a
browser extension, so it doesn't work on mobile.

[1]: [https://miniflux.app/](https://miniflux.app/) [2]:
[https://fraidyc.at/](https://fraidyc.at/)

~~~
obarthelemy
Firefox/Android accept all desktop extensions.

~~~
unicornporn
...and it's probably the most important reason I wont buy an iPhone.

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tmarman
I have been using Feedly since Google Reader was shut down. Use it across
iPhone, iPad and web. I also use it to capture other articles and bookmarks on
my boards.

I have subscribed to Pro for awhile but mostly for search and a few other
things. I think they do have feed limits on the free tier.

I’ve tried and used a lot of different readers over the last 20 years but for
me the most important is sync of read status across my consumption devices.

I have a lot of feeds across many different categories. HN, lobsters,
dotnetkicks and a bunch of other high volume aggregators make up one category.
Then I have feeds for startup/VC blogs, engineering blogs, some hyper local
stuff, and some other non tech categories I’m involved in (food, wine, etc)

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Shorn
When Google reader shut down I switched to, and now pay for,
[https://inoreader.com](https://inoreader.com) for reading (they have a free
ad-supported tier or paid tiers). The HTML and iOS browsing experience is
excellent.

For dealing with sites that don't support RSS, I run a paid service
[https://kopi.cloud](https://kopi.cloud) \- it allows you to give out
anonymous mail addresses to services such as Twitter, Linked-in, Facebook,
etc. that can be configured to publish all mail received as an RSS feed.

~~~
benrapscallion
How’s your website kopi.cloud different from kill-the-newsletter.com?

~~~
Shorn
Kopi is more broad, it's primarily about handing out burner addresses after
you create a "forwarder". You don't have to visit Kopi each time you want to
use a new address. You can reply to messages sent via a forwarder, but the
sender still won't know your real address. You can block individual burner
address with a single click if a sender leaks it / starts abusing it.

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geoffhill
I use NewsBlur in Firefox and via the Android app, and I'm very happy with it.

~~~
haunter
+1 for Newsblur, also open source!
[https://github.com/samuelclay/NewsBlur](https://github.com/samuelclay/NewsBlur)

I dearly miss Google Reader but that's the best replacement (and even better
now than Reader was)

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obarthelemy
I do most of my browsing from RSS. I've got a handful of sites in my browser's
bookmarks, and about 40 in my RSS feed. I've got Feedly Pro, and use both the
Windows Web client and a few different apps on Android (I'm trying to wean
myself of gReader Pro, but the thing still works after 5+ yrs w/o updates, and
is just perfect). I dismiss 90% of RSS items because dupes or not interested
(there's a reason those sites didn't make my bookmarks). I might dismiss a bit
less is there was a snooze option, but there isn't. I'll do most of my reading
in-app, and switch to the browser only if I want to read or add to the
comments. My main issue currently is sites getting borked by google's "html
simplifier" (whatever they call it). The thing I love most aside caching +
offline reading is Firefox Andoird ability to open pages in the background, so
I can sift thourgh my RSS items, dismiss 90%, and open a few pages that I'll
get to once I'm done cleaning up my RSS feed and have time.

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anotherevan
Most importantly: [http://hnapp.com/](http://hnapp.com/) to produce an RSS
feed for Hacker News. I use a feed that returns anything reaching a score of
50 or gets 40 or more comments.

[http://hnapp.com/rss?q=score%3E49%20%7C%20comments%3E39](http://hnapp.com/rss?q=score%3E49%20%7C%20comments%3E39)

Have used Newsblur since Google Reader closed and been very happy with it on
desktop and Android.

[https://www.newsblur.com/](https://www.newsblur.com/)

I use Pocket to save articles I want to read later, which makes them available
on my Kobo ereader. (I'd switch to Instapaper if my ereader supported it, it
seems to handle sites Pocket often chokes on.)

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Grae
Personal pain point: Math seems to be a growing topic on the web and tools
like MathJax are a popular tool for talking about Math. But (most? all?) RSS
readers won't render MathJax. Does anyone have a simple and effective way to
handle display issues like that?

~~~
postit
There's a bookmarklet that renders Tex/LaTeX, MathML and AsciiMathML notation
on pages dynamically using the MathJax.

I use it mainly with feedbin. It works most of the time

[https://www.checkmyworking.com/misc/mathjax-
bookmarklet/](https://www.checkmyworking.com/misc/mathjax-bookmarklet/)

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jnamaya
I use Tiny Tiny RSS [https://tt-rss.org/](https://tt-rss.org/)

screenshot: [https://snipboard.io/wb27CO.jpg](https://snipboard.io/wb27CO.jpg)

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hombre_fatal
I recently got back into RSS and have been using (free) NetNewsWire on
macOS/AppStore ([https://github.com/Ranchero-
Software/NetNewsWire](https://github.com/Ranchero-Software/NetNewsWire)).

Though RSS clients in 2020 really need to be scraping the origin website. 50%
of my feeds are just one-liner blurbs.

RSS clients that just do RSS feel anachronistic. I've been browsing some other
solutions, but the modern client really should be a hub that can turn any
website into a feed.

Someone linked Fraidycat which is on the right path, objective-wise.

------
nikivi
I read most blogs with Reeder (over 1000 blogs). Top blogs are in 1. folder,
the rest are in 2. folder.

Here is an export of all the subscriptions (stored with Inoreader):
[https://gist.github.com/nikitavoloboev/63b5d2418122fcd6949d8...](https://gist.github.com/nikitavoloboev/63b5d2418122fcd6949d854dc5080689)

How I use Reeder:
[https://wiki.nikitavoloboev.xyz/research/blogs](https://wiki.nikitavoloboev.xyz/research/blogs)

------
ctas
I'm using my self-built reader called Feedist (not public) . It's extremely
lightweight and built in boring PHP. The most important feature to me is the
personal recommendation page which shows me the top 50 new posts in my
subscribed feeds based on my previous reading behavior. It uses almost the
same scoring algorithm as HN behind the scenes. It's so accurate and saves me
a ton of time. Subscribing to a lot of feeds creates a lot of noise and this
makes it easier to find content I might enjoy.

------
vroomik
Moved to inoreader - free tier for up to 150 feeds, works on mobile too

~~~
nickthegreek
Another vote for inoreader. I glady pay inoreader at a higher level than
features that I need in order to help ensure I never go thru a google reader
debacle again. Inoreader also integrates in facebook pages, twitter accounts
and youtube subscriptions to your RSS list.

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neonate
I specifically installed Waterfox so I could keep using SageRSS. It's ancient,
but I've never found anything else that comes close to being as good. People
have made modern copies, but they got subtle things like font sizes and
preview windows wrong so I found that they all fell in an uncanny valley for
me.

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miteyironpaw
I run an instance of Selfoss. I found this thread because selfoss polls
hackernews via
[https://hnrss.org/frontpage?count=1](https://hnrss.org/frontpage?count=1)

~~~
nacs
Same here. I tried tiny-rss and a few others and settled on (self-hosted)
Selfoss.

Super easy to set up (PHP + mysql), supports tagging, inline-images, etc. I'm
also subscribed to HN through the hnrss site (weird that HN doesn't have its
own RSS feed).

Here's a screenshot of my feed:

[https://thumbsnap.com/f/4AcGkWqu](https://thumbsnap.com/f/4AcGkWqu)

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marczellm
I use both [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/feedly-
notifi...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/feedly-notifier/)

(as a browser sidebar it really turns the RSS feed reader "builtin limited web
view's rendering issues" dilemma around)

and [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/livemarks/](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/livemarks/)

and I can definitely recommend both.

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s9w
Inoreader has always been great, better than google reader that everyone is
mourning. I've been using it for 7 years now. Today I use it mostly for Github
commit feeds actually.

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sebastian65
Recently I've created [https://rosselo.com](https://rosselo.com), which
provides useful and elegant news dashboard. Works in browser on every device.

It's under development now - freemium model will be presented soon (among
other things). So don't hesitate to try it out, the current "trial" is in fact
unlimited now so the whole service is currently entirely for free.

Any feedback will be appreciated!

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rcarmo
Reeder on iOS and Feedly as a back-end. I don’t read news any other way,
although I maintained this for a while:

[https://github.com/rcarmo/rss2imap](https://github.com/rcarmo/rss2imap)

Edit: I use Reeder because I can pull in articles in “Reader view” from
obnoxious title-only feeds with a single tap. Don’t do those, post full
articles or I most likely will keep looking for alternatives to your
content...

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agazso
After I stopped using FB I missed a mobile news reader app that works without
having to install a server or create an account.

So with some friends we created an app called Feeds
[https://github.com/felfele/feeds](https://github.com/felfele/feeds)

It does everything on the phone and there is no ads or tracking whatsoever.
You can also mute content with keywords.

It is open-source and currently in open beta for iOS and Android.

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fpadilha
If you are looking for something more robust, I would recommend Fluxonaut
([https://fluxonaut.com](https://fluxonaut.com)). It's only for Windows and is
still in beta but you can mix RSS, Twitter and YouTube quite nicely through
multiple screens!

(Full disclaimer: I'm a founder, but I truly feel it's the best way to consume
RSS if you use 2+ monitors on Windows =) ).

~~~
dave333
Pity the beta is closed already

~~~
fpadilha
We are opening it soon, but meanwhile, the waiting period is almost zero.
Depending on the influx, you'll probably get the beta key instantly.

------
rwbhn
Reading this via Feedly on Android. For audio podcasts when I'm biking I use
BeyondPod Pro [1] - tried a bunch of options, it was the only one I found
which reliably downloads episodes while on wifi and plays them with no issue
while offline.

[1]
[http://www.beyondpod.mobi/android/index.htm](http://www.beyondpod.mobi/android/index.htm)

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mantas
Vienna RSS client for Mac does all what I need. Feeds with simple organising.
Flagging interesting articles. Good enough search.

As for producers - depending how noisy your feed is, please keep it long
enough to fetch several days' content. It sucks if I don't open up the client
and something goes missing pushed out by newer content.

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ragebol
I use netvibes.com and have been for I don't know how long.

My dashboard there has some 8-ish tabs for different topics I follow, each
with ca. 6 feeds.

I can mark each feed as read or a whole tab at once. Each tab has a counter of
how much new stuff it has, so I can get a tiny sliver of excitement when there
is some news about topic x.

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chenxiaolong
I use the Feedly web UI on desktop and NetNewsWire (which is open source) on
iOS. I'm not a huge fan of the Feedly web UI because it doesn't support
scraping the source page for the full article text. Too many of my RSS feeds
only include the first paragraph or even just the subtitle.

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bastard_op
Hardest part these days is finding the rss feed. It used to be $url/rss, and
gold. Then people moved on to fakebook and twitting, and it was forgotten.

I use theoldreader.com for news since google reader died, so long as I find
decent content and an actually rss feed, I tend to add here.

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animesh
Feedbro addon for Firefox

[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/feedbroreader...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/feedbroreader/)

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ehPReth
I’ve been using rss2email from
[https://github.com/rss2email/rss2email](https://github.com/rss2email/rss2email)
— seems to works well for my needs

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hitchnsmile
Self hosting
[https://github.com/lawzava/mynews](https://github.com/lawzava/mynews)

Flexible and configurable rss/atom feeds from a single binary

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disposekinetics
I'm fond of FreshRSS. It almost fills the void left by Google Reader.

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biermic
Newsboat (a currently maintained fork of Newsbeuter). It's a wonderful easy to
use commandline RSS reader.

[https://newsboat.org](https://newsboat.org)

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onyva
I use fieryfeeds on iOS. It integrates with Nextcloud news and Pocket and is
quite featurefull. I moved most of my reading off twitter which I used to
access with Tweetbot.

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daledavies
I hosted Tiny Tiny RSS myself for years after Google Reader closed, I must say
it was very stable and hardly ever needed intervention.

But eventually I got fed up and moved to Feedly.

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angelbar
When google shutdown its rss service, I switch to
[https://protopage.com](https://protopage.com) ... its really good

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dave333
Google reader -> Digg reader -> Inoreader free version. BBC and NYT news
feeds, Business Insider and Hacker News for biz and tech respectively.

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pipiscrew
the mother of all parsers
[https://github.com/feedjira/feedjira](https://github.com/feedjira/feedjira)

sure Inoreader for android

sure [https://bit.ly/37Mtlq2](https://bit.ly/37Mtlq2) for browser, perfect to
guest it on 2nd monitor, gets updated every hour.

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vandyswa
I host my own tt-rss, and the install FeedMonkey (via my own sources.vsta.org)
which provides a very nice viewer.

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TwoNineA
Self host FreshRSS and use Reeder on iOS.

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devinegan
Tiny Tiny RSS self hosted. tiny Reader for iOS. There is an open source
Android app as well.

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winrid
I use "Reader" on Android.

Make your content either plain text or HTML that doesn't require JS.

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eiro
i really like [https://newsboat.org/](https://newsboat.org/). very few
keystrokes to remember, super fast, ~/.newsboat/urls is a simple file with 1
feed a line.

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newtronic
I use Feedbin in a browser on a computer, and in an app on phone and iPad.

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sys_64738
My solution for sites that don't offer RSS is to ignore those sites.

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hprotagonist
i switched to feedly when google reader died, and carried on as normal.

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markandrewj
Anyone have recommendations for an Android RSS reader?

~~~
karlicoss
I like FeedMe -- clean and functional interface, supports offline caching,
works with common RSS providers too (e.g. I use it with Feedbin)
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.seazon.fee...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.seazon.feedme)

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captn3m0
Reeder on iPhone + MiniFlux, like many people here.

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moltar
I use Feedly with Reeder app.

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timbit42
QuiteRSS on Linux

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mdrachuk
Reeder + Feedbin

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rp00
Paid inoreader

