I see a lot of options for self-hosting RSS subscriptions and I don’t actually understand what they are for. The very nature of RSS is that it tracks and connects to online content. It seems like having a home server track and download the content just so that you can download it on another device from your server instead of the original servers a bit redundant. Also, it seems like the clients are more limited, since it has ro connect to your personal host, as opposed to the many RSS readers available.

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I genuinely don’t get it. What am I missing?

  • cRazi_man@europe.pubEnglish
    51·
    1 day ago

    I host Tiny Tiny RSS.

    • my list of subscriptions and categorisations are centralised so I don’t have to set this up on any other device. I can access this on my phone, tablet and PC.
    • it synchronises read/unread stories across devices so I don’t have to keep sifting through the same articles I’ve seen.
    • I’ve got a long list of blacklisted words. I don’t want to hear about sports news, celebrity gossip, USA-centric news, “he said/she said” bullshit from social media that mainstream news seems to love to report, etc. Now I can set up my blacklist in one place centrally.
    • there are a lot of great apps that will access the server RSS feed. I’m never actually going to to TTRSS browser page.

    The point isn’t to download content to the server at all. It’s to keep the centralised list. I host opodsync (Gpodder podcast server) for the same reason.