One of the problems with RSS is lack of a feedback loop from mere reader to content creator. Said another way, RSS doesn't have a reply function and that makes it harder to iterate around user feedback. Some of which can be very valuable.
It is a tool. It has times and places. It is not mandatory, nor is it always a good thing. It is quite often a really, really bad thing. It can always be adjoined to a piece of content, like we're doing right now. It is not mandatory for the original poster to host it.
If you want a social network that works that way, you are spoiled for choice. If you are unhappy with those social networks, consider the possibility that much of your unhappiness may in fact stem from this very idea. If it seems like everywhere you go is kind of a cacophony of regression-to-the-mean discussion, insults, lowest-common-denominator... this is the root cause.
It is not a bad thing that "replying" to the creator of an RSS-based blog is exactly as hard as they choose to make it, up to and including making it impossible.
Later on, I moved to Pelican, which is a static generator, and below every article there's an info box that indicates that no, there's no commenting system, and lists a couple of ways someone can reach me if they wish to discuss that particular article. So far, it's working.
It's not always just for the benefit of the writer, I mean.
It'd actually be great if this would have happened on Reddit. I learned my lesson: do you want to comment about anything I've written? Please, do so. But not on my piece of land.
Art apparently isn't about a creative realizing their unique vision, its about doing things mouthbreathers like. People seem to be viscerally offended when someone unapologetically makes something that isn't for them.
Bring back gatekeeping.
Did any RSS readers build commenting into them - or even the viewing of comments? I remember subscribing to a blog, and then having to visit the site to view the comments or post a comment. And then subscribing to a separate RSS feed to subscribe to the comments for any post that I wanted updates on.
For me that was where RSS fell short.
Unread is the RSS reader I use on iOS and iPadOS. It does scrape the site and give the entire article. I love it but now I wonder if it's a good idea to circumvent the wishes of the blogger. I use Newsblur as the aggregator and tie Unread to it. The Newsblur portal to my RSS feeds works well enough in the browser on computers.
They could add a comment section to their WordPress blog. They could cross-post to Reddit. They could have an email dedicated to comments and feedback. They could do none of those things because they really don't care what the audience thinks.
Because RSS/Atom doesn't integrate two-way interaction, there are no preconceived notions of how the second direction ought to work.
Some technical blogs I follow use this. They create a public mailing list that they treat as their “public inbox”. Anyone can send an email to it, and all messages are publicly viewable. No signup or account required either since it’s all just email.
I’m a fan of this solution personally.
I think with a little bit of creativity it's still possible to innovate quite a bit with/on top of RSS.
I know there was a Gab browser extension that would effectively make all sites have comment sections, and there are other similar attempts, but none seemed to gain any significant traction.
That's a feature, not a bug.
It's the difference between publish/subscribe and social chat.
When people unsubscribe, there's your feedback. Just like with newspapers.