TL;DR: RSS is how we move documents around the web. That it works so poorly is because the big social media companies want it that way. We need products and services with big installed bases to serve as counterweights and help pull RSS out of corp-tech control.

How I got there...

Yesterday I wrote something provocative about WordPress.

HiMY SYeD read it, and commented, on Mastodon:

• What Mastodon is to ActivityPub...
• WordPress is to RSS.

My first response was:

• Interesting analogy.
• Something to think about.

After pondering a bit...

• The thing is there would be other products that could claim ownership of RSS -- like Google Reader, which still controls the market almost 10 years after its demise.
• And Twitter, by not supporting RSS is also a big definer of RSS, in a negative way.
• I think we'll be on solid ground once RSS defines itself and the products get out of the way.

And I think that's the key point

• RSS has never had a chance to be itself.
• Right from the start, all kinds of people and companies sought to own it. No one succeeded at that, but each of them diluted it, added confusion, took some of its power away and gave back nothing in return. Very typical approach of tech to open tech they didn't create.
• Until we can get RSS leading, as itself, and not being carved up and controlled, we won't really have a good way of moving documents around the web, which is what RSS is for, btw, imho.
• All the usual disclaimers apply.

PS: I hope people at WordPress read this. Right now they're in the best position to help RSS if they're inclined to do so. There aren't many companies I would credit with possibly wanting to do that. Slack was one, and Automattic is another. I still have to write the howto doc for what it would take for that to happen, subject to discussion of course.