# Why I think RSS is based

So if been alive not long enough, you might see those wifi looking
things in an orange square. That\'s RSS.

That\'s right folks, we\'re talking about RSS feeds.

Here\'s a brief summary of RSS: RSS was created in 1999 after failed
attempts for web syndication back then. At first it didn\'t get much
traction, but when the new millennium turned, RSS started gaining
traction. Famous outlets and websites started RSS feeds, that icon was
everywhere you looked.

The format became more prevalent in around 2005 to 2007. Every website
and blogs have RSS feeds as a way to deliver content to people. As
YouTube, Facebook and other social media platforms became prevalent, the
art of RSS became obscured.

Now, talking about RSS in this day and age was like talking about what
happened to the dinosaurs, but unlike dinosaurs, they still exists, just
hidden like Luigi.

You can still access RSS feeds today, for example this website or
TechCrunch or GMA News. Heck The New York Times still have RSS feeds.

Now you might say, why do you talk about RSS feeds, where you can access
content in Twitter? Well, simply, it\'s much better.

Yes, it does have a disadvantage of having a separate RSS reader but the
advantages outweigh the disadvantages. First up, you can read stuff
without ads floating around or soul being sold to Google and Meta. For
example, I can still access Twitter feeds without the harassment. I also
read a news article without the 90% of Javascript. Heck it\'s basically
better to distribute podcasts here than waiting it for release in
Spotify.

RSS is just better than looking for Twitter about blog posts and such.
You can add your favorite websites to a RSS reader.

If you find scrolling into Twitter, looking for a new blog post and
don\'t want to bother with Javascript, you can access it by going to a
RSS feed, unless if the author doesn\'t maintain it anymore.

Accessing RSS feeds will also help people with a slow connection as they
can also access content without the hassle of loading a full Javascript
site and waiting for minutes.

You could also access podcasts too in RSS feeds! This format is too
versatile for accessing content to the masses, although I\'m not sure
about how to access it in this day and age of social media and
surveillance capitalism.

I honestly recommend using it because it\'s a good way to access content
from your favorite websites. Now, you might ask, \"How about looking at
my favorite celebrity\'s Twitter feed? How about YouTube videos?\", well
it\'s simple, take a look:

If you want to access Twitter feeds via RSS, you can use
`https://nitter.net/username/rss`.

For example, you want to access content from your favorite WordPress
website, you can do it by adding `/feed` in the end of the website URL.

If you want checking out your favorite subreddit, you can use
`https://reddit.com/r/subreddit/rss.xml`

For people who want to see the latest Scott the Woz episode or a new
video on YouTube, you can use
`https://youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=channel_id`. You must
use the channel ID of the channel itself. Searx for a channel ID grabber
so you can add it.

You might ask how to do it, it\'s pretty simple actually. You need some
basic understanding about HTML text formatting and XML. You can get a
generator but I recommend making it yourself.

As for reading feeds, you can use Newsboat for Linux. This RSS reader is
based on vim (based text editor) and can access feeds easily without the
hassle of installing a window manager.

As for alternative to RSS, well there\'s Atom. Atom and RSS are somehow
related because they both use XML but they are different platforms.

I might add an Atom feed soon so expect to see it later. See you!