RSS

I'm a big advocate for RSS Feed Readers! Bring back RSS! I hate how difficult it is to stay updated on artists' work because the majority of those I follow only post to instagram (which is a nightmare to keep up with). Thankfully, I am seeing more and more people sending out newsletters. I subscribed to as many newsletters as I could but ran into two issues:

1. I can't remember who I am subscribed to, especially to those who don't send out newsletters often.

2. When I do receive newsletters, they almost immediately disappear into my void of emails and I forget about them.

I LOVE my feed readers because they neatly compartmentalize everyone into their own little feed, which I can sort into neat little folders, and it doesn't matter if one person is updating daily while another updates once per month. I see it all. I don't miss a single thing. 👁_👁

Feed Readers

These are the readers I currently use (yeah I use three...). I follow Yogo Magpie on all three to make sure that my RSS feed is being pushed through successfully.

Feedbro (Firefox, Chrome(?)) is functionally the best but it can only be accessed via browser extension.

Feedly (Web, Desktop, Android, iOS) is great for mobile devices, but the free tier has its limitations. I think you can only follow 100 feeds? and have three folders? I do not and will not ever pay a penny to Feedly tho, with Feedbro right there

Fraidycat (Firefox/Chrome, Linux/Windows/Mac) is aesthetnically the cutest but it can be a little finicky with feeds that are not 100% validated (so like if my handwritten XML file has a little typo in it, Fraidycat will fail to fetch my feed even though my feed updated in the other feed readers).

Finding RSS Feeds to Follow

Look for an RSS icon or an orange RSS button or a simple "RSS" link. Right-click and copy the link, enter the link into your feed reader, and tada you are now following that feed.

If there isn't a clear RSS button or link, you may be able to follow a site anyway. Try entering the website URL into your feed reader and it'll look for any feeds to follow. Alas, many people don't bother making feeds for their sites, though, so you might have to do some digging to find other places they post to that you CAN follow. Below is a list of different sites that I have in my feed reader.

[note to self turn this section into a table]

Blogspot

https://USERNAME.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Email Newsletters

Use Kill the Newsletter! or Mailnesia.

Ghost

I'm seeing more people leaving Substack for Ghost. idk what the differences are but if someone uses ghost you can follow https://USERNAME.ghost.io/rss

Squarespace Blogs

https://USERNAME.com/blog?format=rss

Substack

Use https://USERNAME.substack.com/feed

Tumblr

YES you can follow tumblogs completely through a feed reader! I usually only follow artists who have an art-only blog and who do not do a lot of reblogging. Use https://USERNAME.tumblr.com/rss

YouTube

Go to the channel you want to subscribe to, right-click and view source code, search the page for "rss", and boom the link will be there.

Recommended Feeds

I'll list some of my favorite feeds here!

• Yogo Magpie ;) RSS
• My Art Blog ;) RSS
• James Gurney: Blog RSS | Substack RSS
• Postsecret: Site | RSS

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Writing an XML File

I'll put a template here. Or maybe build a fillable form that will spit out an xml file for you.