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Comment by nanna | Hacker News Reader

If only Mozilla would create an RSS reader, or bring it back to Firefox. That would be a game changer. People are growing sick of social media and RSS is surging again. What we need is an advert free cross platform Foss client of the quality that Mozilla are uniquely situated to deliver.

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Personally, I wouldn't use that unless it synced between my desktop and mobile. At that point it might as well be a webapp...

Currently using FreshRSS and happy with it. Granted, the fact that it installs on a server means it's not for general use though.

Firefox already does some syncing. If they added rss, it's likely that they'd add it to the syncing (as optional).

Firefox Sync would work perfectly for most users, without the need to spin up a server or host data on the cloud.

That could keep track of feeds you're subbed to, but the problem is keeping track of which posts you've already read. Once you're having to sync all of that, it might as well be a web app.

Why? Firefox Sync already syncs my browsing history, bookmarks, and tabs frequently enough that it appears to be real time from my perspective. What is different about an RSS feed's "read" log?

In my experience, the history and tabs sync when they feel like it. All my stuff ends up there eventually, but I can't expect that I'll sit down, close Firefox on mobile, and have the tabs and history show up on desktop.

Likewise, any information or news delivery product being developed today that doesn't take both mobile and desktop into consideration during planning stages is a product you shouldn't use.

I always read about people going on about synching Desktop and Mobile as this killer feature, and it always puzzled me.

I tried using it for a while to check if it would fundamentally make me feel different, but after a couple of years I saw zero benefit.

What are people using that they really need this for?

This is news stories though. You don't want to read the stories on one machine and have it show up again on another machine.

I suppose it depends on how you consume your feeds: do you look at the latest, like a social media timeline? or read every entry of some blogs, like an inbox? I definitely have some feeds I consume like the latter, and I need that to persist and sync.

Maybe that's the thing - the things I read on my cell phone and the things I read on my computer are fundamentally different. I am surprised that I seem to be in the minority on this, maybe.

> If only Mozilla would...

I've read many negative comments about Mozilla every time it's in the news. Although we can acknowledge that there have been some governance missteps, Mozilla has been a consistently positive presence in the modern Web.

> ...create an RSS reader, or bring it back to Firefox.

Here are instructions for using the Feedbro extension:

https://github.com/bigideas-ca/firefox-rss-howto

> Mozilla has been a consistently positive presence in the modern Web.

I don't disagree. What I'm saying is that it would be amazing if they could create a Firefox of RSS or at least bake RSS back into Firefox. Cross platform syncing, no ads and telemetary, free as in beer and freedom, excellent UI, feeds synced across devices, integrated with Firefox somehow, perhaps even some well thought through social features, etc.

Social media displaced rss, but now that so many recognise that social media tends to be toxic, addictive, exploitative, you name the evil, it's a good time reverse this move. RSS is the best way to follow the internet without losing your head.

> RSS is the best way to follow the internet without losing your head.

Egad, Friend! It seems that we are in full agreement. On the Internet, no less. ^_^

I used the Feedbro extension and find it good enough to recommend. When I am in a terminal, I also use a custom script.

I’ve got a sense that this is only true in the tech echo chamber. Is RSS really surging in a general way? Zero of the people I’m with right now even know what RSS is.

and that's good. RSS is a distribution method, it should not matter to the final user.

Exactly, nobody needs to know that it's used for podcasts too.

Yes that’s a good point. So long as it’s sufficiently abstracted. Though I’m not sure people in general are getting tired of social media.

Really like NewsBlur - https://github.com/samuelclay/NewsBlur

If only they can add RSS support and newsletter subscriptions backed by Firefox Relay in Pocket, it can actually become a whole lot more useful.

If you need something like this today, try Omnivore[1]. Their RSS support is a bit wonky but very promising.

[1]: https://omnivore.app

Is that not what Thunderbird is (amongst other things)?

Mozilla dropped Thunderbird years ago, it runs independently now.

Hmm can you elaborate on that?

> Thunderbird is now part of MZLA Technologies Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mozilla Foundation

Are you saying that it technically lives under the Mozilla umbrella but they take a completely hands-off approach?

https://blog.thunderbird.net/2020/01/thunderbirds-new-home/

DuckDuckGo is a nice alternative to Google if you want to research "unusual" things that you don't want to mussy up your search history.

Meh, ffx is fundamentally an email client. I think it's not a great fit for an RSS reader. Eg in RSS you may want to browse posts with images and snippets, laid out in cards. Eg more like a social media site. Thunderbird lays everything as a list of emails. I'm sure this works for some but I think it's far too narrow in scope.

I honestly can't think of any reason for the one-size-fits-all RSS reader to be in the core functionality of a browser. Extensions seem to be better suited for this purpose, and indeed there are several RSS extensions available for Firefox.

Agreed. I like Mozilla but this social app looks like Twitter but with less content. Tumblr or Instagram are better options.

This is a Mastodon instance.

No wonder why it’s so sad

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