#five minutes PLEASE

[ghostandsoap]

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[imeriayapping]

Guys real question why noone talks about this picture

[unpretty]

How To RSS: 2023 Edition

An updated version of the guide I keep rewriting even though no one asked.

What is RSS?

Really Simple Syndication. Websites generate feeds, you plug the feeds into your feed reader of choice, you get updates as they happen instead of manually checking bookmarks. If you are using an actual podcasting app instead of spotify, you're already using RSS, because that's how podcasts work. In the same way that you can follow someone's blog and have everything they post appear on your dash instead of manually checking their blogs, RSS lets you build a dash for the entire rest of the internet. Assuming they have an RSS feed. You'd be surprised how many of them do and will learn to be annoyed at any that don't.

Picking an RSS Reader

For the purposes of this post I'm assuming you'll be using inoreader.com, because it's what I use and it has a free option and I'm lazy. Inoreader also has Android and iOS apps, so if you interact with the internet entirely through your phone you can still do all this. The only limitations of a free Inoreader account is that there are ads, and you're limited to 150 feeds. That's still a lot of feeds imho. There are a ton of alternatives and you can look into them if you want but I'm not worrying about that here.

It is unbelievably easy to change your mind later and switch to a different RSS reader without losing anything. Do not get hung up with decision paralysis trying to pick The Perfect App like it's a commitment. You can port everything you do in Inoreader to any other app or website in minutes. It's fine.

Subscribing to the Internet

If I weren't lazy I'd go make a new Inoreader account to walk you through that process but here we are, with me not doing that. Once you make an account, it's probably going to suggest some things for you to follow. You can do that if you want, but the real things you care about are the search bar at the top left and the 'add new' button at the bottom of where all your feeds will go.

For most websites, Inoreader can actually automatically detect any RSS feeds, so you don't have to go hunting them down. I'm going to use my own website for this because fuck you that's why.

If you're using the Android or iOS apps, search is hidden under the 'discover' menu item. When you click on the feed, you'll be subscribed! You can also click the 'add new' button, which will give you a bunch of options, but the one you want is 'Feed'.

A lot of the options listed there are locked behind a pro account, I don't know if they even show up if you're on free and I'm not checking. Once you click 'feed' it just takes you to another search bar, so you honestly might as well just use the search bar up top tbqh. 'Add new' is more useful for creating folders to organize all your stuff.

Mastodon, Cohost, and Tumblr accounts all generate RSS feeds automatically, just enter the URL of whoever you want to follow and the feed will get detected. But on Tumblr specifically, username.tumblr.com/rss will give you a feed of everything, while username.tumblr.com/tagged/fanfic/rss (for instance) will get you a feed of nothing but posts tagged 'fanfic'. This is actually a very useful way of following blogs that post way too goddamn much about things you don't care about.

If Inoreader is having trouble detecting a feed, try searching the website for an icon that looks like this:

That's usually where the feed is hiding. Just copy the URL and paste it into Inoreader to subscribe.

Okay But Now What

NOW YOU WAIT

Or don't, there's probably already recent articles your reader has now been populated with.

I don't remember what the default settings are, mine are currently set to only ever show me unread posts in 'magazine view' which is like a list with a little preview I can scroll through, sorted by oldest first. Clicking on an article opens it up in a reader view.

Personally I'm partial to scrolling through and only opening up things that look interesting to me. If I realize it's actually too long for me to read right that minute, I'll hit the 'read later button' to save it. Once I've scrolled through the whole list, I hit the 'mark all as read' button. But that's just how I do things, I'm an inbox zero kinda bitch.

If you really want to make it feel like Tumblr, you'll have to set it to expanded view and newest first.

In this mode scrolling past articles will mark them as read, but if you set it to still show you articles you've already read that probably doesn't matter as much.

By default most RSS feeds will contain previews of articles rather than the full thing in order to prevent scraping, but here's a fun thing: Inoreader has a 'full article' button that will automatically pull through the article text, and which bypasses a surprising number of paywalls.

A major use case for my RSS reader is webcomics. While a lot of them don't actually display the full image inline, and the full article button doesn't really work with these, it's still nice to get the update notification and opening a new tab to read a comic is not that big a deal imho. Keeping up with webcomics this way is so much easier I can't imagine going back to bookmarks.

There are certain YouTube channels I subscribe to via RSS because I don't want to miss any episodes. You can subscribe to podcasts in Inoreader if you want to. Substack has RSS options for every newsletter that's hosted there. Most news websites have had RSS since forever and every Twitter account you ever followed for news was probably actually just reposting from their RSS reader.

Import and Export

Once you have one RSS reader set up, it becomes super easy to try out every RSS reader you can possibly think of because they all use .OPML files. Except maybe Feedly? Seems like they have a special import option for Feedly. Just another reason to not use Feedly, The RSS Reader For Bootlickers. Anyway Inoreader keeps all that under preferences, in Import, Export, Backup.

The full archive is nice to have, but the OPML file is what you want for quick and easy trying out of different readers. Export the file, import it in whatever alternate reader you want to try, and you will automatically be subscribed to all your feeds. It takes, like. Five minutes. I try out new RSS readers all the time to see if I'll like them. Once you switch to RSS you will marvel that you ever used the internet any other way, and also that everyone else has been putting up with websites and apps that use stupid bullshit to keep them from leaving.

[bleeding-seraphic]

Doodles courtesy of dumbass ramblings with my beloved @jaroftears

Honorary mention to the legend (@squish--squash) who introduced me to the concept of heket x forneus. Still unsure of how I feel about this ship but I’ll admit it’s funny to me

[asterkosmos7]

happy 4/20 to all who celebrate

[flowerandthesongstress]

complaints I've already seen about Coral Island, a new Indonesian kickstarter cozy game: the barman selling a ruined dish is an uncalled-for jab at restaurant workers! cats shouldn't hang out outdoors! eew, this woman shouldn't display her pregnancy stretch marks! where are all the kippot! why is everyone in such good shape! preposterous! this partially deaf character talking in caps lock is triggering me! no one in doctors without borders would be that tattooed, this dreadful representation is literal murder! no doctor would forget her paperwork at a library, for that matter! why is a japanese fisherman talking like a scottish pirate, this is inaccurate!

meanwhile in the game: I freed a stone statue from a magical underground prison and he put an enchantment on my hoe. his brother asked me if I liked figs is he flirting. my hippie boyfriend is heartbroken because his bucket-wearing pet duck is sick but shhh watching tv will heal him. last night when I talked to the outdoors cat she mentioned that she has a crippling fear of birds and thinks of getting therapy. a stem academic looks like a kpop idol and is getting enough sleep. he wears his astrophysics degree all over himself like a linguist would have worn alphabet necklaces, just to spite his dad but it's not working why is it not working ah shit it's working. mermaids hired me as a janitor. it's not pro bono I'm paid in diamonds. my neighbor is worried that his shiba inu went back to rejoin the mountain whence it came from. a turtle won't let me pass until I serve her spaghetti. I'm fighting capitalism with a literal scythe. the local blacksmith is asking my opinion regarding a legendary battle hammer and if it's worth the logistics hassle. it's been a year crabs are still dancing in celebration their zeal is admirable but their choreography could use some work. this giant monkey covered in two layers of meta wants to sell me a nostalgic souvenir. I know it because he sent me a polite letter. how many propaganda flyers can I fish out of this pond a challenge. I barged into a local lab and upended a barrel of seaweed over intricate circuitry now my flowers are five percent prettier. the scientist at the lab attached a mermish translator to my diving suit via the power of coffee. hold on I'm doing meal prep for next week let me finish putting ectoplasmic slime on okra

[thesherrinfordfacility]

we bildad this shuhite on rock and roll

[monochrome-sunsets]

happy fucking pride month y'all they killed jason todd AGAIN then brought him back AGAIN

[azmaarts]

Surprised to See Me?

I like to think that Jason sees Talia and Damian as ohana. But at the same time, Talia's like one of those Asian moms. So, Jason's also mildly intimidated by Talia.

Talia: Ya qalby! I'm so glad to see you! :D

Jason: *Violent flashbacks to the Talia's missile-aiming sandals*

[cemeterything]

i don't think i was meant to have emotions i'm so bad at this

[eu-ca-tas-tro-phe]

my favorite percabeth moments because there’s so many i need a list:

- “you drool when you sleep” iconic. first percabeth line and it’s perfect (like them)

- seaweed brain & wise girl are iconic ofc, but when thalia calls percy seaweed brain and he’s like “it’s only okay when annabeth calls me that”

- when annabeth fell off the cliff and percy had to be held back by the hunters to stop him from going over after her

- when annabeth was in danger and all he could think about was saving her and he joined the quest without permission to do so and all he cared about was her

- when aphrodite visited percy and he said she looked like annabeth. you’ve gotta be shitting me.

- when aphrodite told him that they’re the first interesting love story in ages and how she’s invested in their love story. soulmates for real.

- when percy and annabeth danced at the school and then later on olympus he said they never finished their dance and they danced again

- how percy and annabeth had movie plans and sally said it was a date and percy panicked and said it wasn’t a date

- WHEN SHE TAKES A KNIFE FOR HIM AND HE STANDS OVER HER BODY SWINGING HIS SWORD AND SCREAMS “NOBODY TOUCHES HER!” when men go feral over seeing their love hurt it always slaps, my favorite micro trope.

- then when all he does is get her to safety and drags will to heal her and then everyone knows to give them privacy and she tells him “you’re cute when you’re worried”

- how they’re always hugging and telling each other to be careful and always worried about each other

- how annabeth is in danger and just knows to throw her dagger in the water and percy immediately is there and just takes everyone down

- how he thought of annabeth to tie himself to humanity when he bathed in the river stix

- how he jumped into tartarus with her (sorry but my roman empire is how she fell because of her hubris and him his loyalty, like their fatal flaws really dragged them to hell)

- percy jealous of luke and annabeth jealous of calypso and rachel

- annabeth kissing percy in the forge before percy blew it up

- the “don’t i get a kiss for good luck? it’s kind of tradition, right?” afterwards too, like the fucking rizzzzz my dude

- annabeth not knowing who the prophecy meant (percy or luke) by “lose a love to a fate worse than death”

- also when percy asked annabeth about the last line in the prophecy and she started to cry and held out her arms and he hugged her and told her it’ll be okay

- the whole camp being like fucking finally (mood) when percabeth finally kissed and then threw them in the lake to have “the best underwater kiss of all time”

- annabeth breaking the rules and sitting next to percy at lunch

- the fact that after hera wiped his memories he still could remember annabeth

- their reunion and “they kissed, and for a moment nothing else mattered. an astrid could have hit the planet and wiped out all life, and annabeth wouldn’t have cared”

- them falling asleep together in the stables on the argo

- both of their reactions when the other one was offered immortality and them turning it down for each other

- percy having a picture of annabeth in his school binder like guys they weren’t even dating yet😭😭😭

- him holding up the sky for her and then them having matching white streaks in their hair afterwards🤍

[tobythetrashyartist]

Happy birthday to my favorite guy, Desmond Miles!! In another universe, you could've been enjoying your birthday eating cake with your son and friends 😔💔

[yetanotherrc9gnfan]

i've got nothing to say

[lloydfrontera]

i'm also obsessed with lloyd still thinking about javier's looks even when he's five seconds away from dying. he's so upset he's gonna die for javier's handsome ass. he's literally like "you better live a good long life after this you bastard. and i hope you lose your hair and get stinky feet" cause he thinks it's unfair javier will not only get to live but also continue on being unnaturally pretty.

he really said

[nukacourier]

Glad the Fallout show has sparked interest in the series again but on the downside I'm seeing cishet booktok women thirsting over Arcade again. I get he's hot but girlie he does NOT want you!!!!

[stripeydani]

A very normal way to look at someone.

Intense eye contact, mouth slightly open, leaning forward into their personal space... yep, totally normal.