What's your view on RSS - is it dead technology?

[phenomlab]

I’ve been a consumer of RSS feeds since the 90’s (yes, I am that old) and find them increasingly useful given my role in information security. Using an RSS aggregator for example enables me to consume data from multiple sources, and only those that I choose. RSS (for me at least, and likely other security professionals) continues to be a mainstay and staple technology in order to gain access to content considered useful and valuable.

From its humble beginnings in the late 1990s to its peak in the mid-2000s and its resilience in the face of challenges, RSS has played a vital role in shaping the way we consume content online. While it may no longer be the dominant force it once was, its enduring presence and potential for future innovation ensure that RSS will continue to be a valuable tool for information dissemination and consumption in the digital age.

I’ve read a number of articles where people consider RSS to be “dead technology”. However, if you look around Github (for example) for RSS feeds relating to information security, you’ll find literally thousands of them. Sadly, many of these have been removed - much to the dismay of those (like me) who appreciate the valuable content they provide.

What’s your view on RSS feeds? Do you use them?

[DownPW]

Personally I don’t use them, I go manually to the sites I need but I understand their usefulness.

what do you use as an aggregator?

[phenomlab]

what do you use as an aggregator?

@DownPW In my case, I actually use the RSS plugin for NodeBB

[JAC]

@phenomlab looking to use this in my next attempt .

[phenomlab]

@JAC if you pair that with OGProxy, you’ll have a nice preview of the url also.

https://sudonix.org/topic/498/setup-ogproxy-for-use-in-nodebb?_=1721249048145

[JAC]

@phenomlab looks very interesting, good work!

[crazycells]

I still do use RSS, I am regularly getting news from 3 government agencies and new content from one website to my Thunderbird. Especially, since government agencies do not release news regularly, it is nice not to have to check them regularly.

I previously mentioned that I am using Thunderbird as my email client, I am also using it as my RSS reader.

https://sudonix.org/post/8832

[phenomlab]

@crazycells I’ve been using RSS for years. I’ve recently implemented it at work, where I have setup a NodeBB build that is designed to act as a Knowledge Base with articles (there are thousands in there now), and I also use the RSS feed plugin to capture security news, and regular updates of data breaches etc. Extremely useful.

[crazycells]

@phenomlab Yes, I previously tested this to subscribe a topic at our NodeBB forum, and it was working great! However, since I visit our forum regularly, I deleted that feed later.

[phenomlab]

@crazycells We connect to around 20 different RSS feeds so we can get “breaking news” which for the recent CrowdStrike issue, was very useful.

[crazycells]

@phenomlab yeah, it makes sense… actually when I heard the news, you came to my mind but because of my busy schedule last week I could not log in to the forum…

[phenomlab]

@JAC would be keen to get your views around RSS feeds

[Madchatthew]

I used to use RSS feeds as well. Especially when I was in IT. It is a great way to just get the articles that pertain to you and not have to put up with all the fluff from the websites.

[JAC]

@phenomlab said in What's your view on RSS - is it dead technology?:

@JAC would be keen to get your views around RSS feeds

I’ve used RSS feeds over the years to pull in articles on forums and websites. I also have an RSS feed app on my phone that contains selective football news, it’s still an incredibly handful tool for me.