Comment by Dalewyn

2 days ago

Back like 15 to 20 years ago when I ran or helped manage some hobbyist websites, I added RSS functionality if only because it was "popular" back then.

I can confidently tell you not a single bloody soul used it, at the height of adoption no less.

If I run a website again I definitely won't bother, it's additional maintenance for a feature nobody uses. The cost-to-benefit ratio makes no sense because the benefit is zero.

In an effort to bypass Google News and broaden my media bubble - I tried to find RSS feeds from our national newspapers. Most had RSS at some point, but almost none still had it running.

It heavily depends on the target audience, I'd say. Especially if it's not ubiquitous.

  • The audience was hobbyist game developers and people generally interested in computers, so if they didn't use RSS then frankly I don't know who will (and clearly, speaking now in the future, noone has).