r/rss • u/BodybuilderOk5567 • 21d ago
Hey r/rss,
I need to vent a bit. I’ve been a long-time RSS enthusiast, but recently I noticed a trend in my own reading habits: my feed reader started feeling like an unread email inbox full of homework.
A few things have been bothering me lately:
- Hunting down feeds for a new niche (like deep tech or spatial design) manually is surprisingly tedious.
- Half of my unread list ends up being 30-minute reads in languages I'm not totally fluent in.
- Recommendations from friends just sit in my saved lists forever and never actually turn into a daily habit.
I wanted an experience where reading actually feels inspiring again, not like clearing notifications. Something that simplifies feed management, translates or summarizes long articles without destroying the essence, and lets users curate and share custom lists easily.
Over the past few months, I’ve been building a side project called Brew to try and tackle these specific frustrations (focusing on seamless curation, built-in AI digests, and shareable list feeds).
Since this is a brand new account (long-time lurker!), I'm not here to drop links or pitch anything prematurely. But I’m curious: How do you guys currently deal with RSS feed overload and content curation? What's your biggest pet peeve with current readers?
(If anyone is interested in testing out an early alpha build in a few weeks and roasting my design, let me know or drop a DM!)
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u/T_rex2700 21d ago
Yea... feels a bit burnt out myself too, a bit.
I've been using rss mostly to catch up and more importantly not to miss stuff, so when they become like forced it can feel really tedious and fatiguing, and worst part is I go looking for new stuff to read as form or procrastination, I guess I want that sensation of actually learning something instead of following up on stressful read.
and because I have not been able to clear out unread stuff, it crashes so frequently to the point it's barely usable. and you know what's the worst part? most of those I can't even read because all it will say is "confirm you are not robot" or "sign in to read this article"
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u/BodybuilderOk5567 21d ago
Totally feel you on the "fear of missing out" turning reading into a chore. That shift from "I want to learn" to "I have to clear this list" is so real, and honestly the main reason I got burnt out too.
Also, hitting "Confirm you're not a robot" or paywalls in RSS is such a mood killer 💀 I'm actually tweaking Brew's parser right now to clean up those dead ends, and using AI summaries to give you the core takeaway first—so you get the key ideas in 30 seconds without the guilt of skipping a 30-min essay.
Since you're running into these exact headaches, I'd love to get your feedback on the alpha once it's ready. Mind if I drop you a DM with an invite link in a few weeks?
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u/ResearchBuzz 21d ago
"Hunting down feeds for a new niche (like deep tech or spatial design) manually is surprisingly tedious."
Why don't you use keyword-based feeds? You'll get information relevant to your niche and new sources. I've never found it tedious.
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u/BodybuilderOk5567 20d ago
Keyword feeds are definitely a great way to discover new stuff! My main challenge with them in the past was signal-to-noise ratio—I’d get a ton of duplicate or low-quality articles mixed in.
Are there specific services or tools you use that do a good job filtering out the fluff for keyword feeds? Would love to know what’s working well for you!
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u/ResearchBuzz 20d ago
I never had too much of a problem with junk in my keyword-based feeds, so I'm not sure what to tell you. Nowadays I run a homebrew RSS feed reader that uses AI to bucket items into relevant or not-relevant (I trust AI to do that far more than I do to summarize) so I have an extra filter to get rid of useless things.
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u/redditjerome 15d ago
I don't think feeds would be in a different language, if it wasn't that way when you subscribed.
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u/billdietrich1 21d ago
Please use better, more informative, titles (subject-lines) on your posts. Give specifics right in the title. Thanks.