RSS is Not Dead

By Sean Kleefeld | Thursday, September 24, 2026 Leave a Comment
Jey Pawlik posted on Mastodon yesterday
"I was commissioned by filthyfigments.com to draw up a BRAND NEW RSS COMIC!

With all the Tapas news, I thought this would be the perfect time to post the full comic.

This is an up-to-date comic with what I'm using, how I'm using it, and how you can too!"
I've been using RSS for ages and still rely on it for reading webcomics. (Even the ones where creators don't even realize they've accidentally set up RSS feeds!) I don't know why RSS fell out of favor* so I thought I'd share Pawlik's two-page comic here as well.
Digitally drawn comic, featuring Jey and the two mascots from Filthy Figments. The three of them are sitting in a space ship, all looking at their hologram tablets. Jey says 'Hell yeah, that new comic on Filthy Figments just updated!' Ember looks surprised and asks 'WHAA?! How'd you know that? I didn't see it yet!' Pomona responds 'Yeah, what's up? I don't see any posts about it on socials.' Jey points to their hologram tablet and says 'Oh I got the notification on my RSS reader as soon as the page went up!' Ember looks confused and asks 'R-what-what?' and Pomona says 'Sounds sexy, do tell~' Jey explains 'RSS, or Really Simple Syndication', is an update feed for a website. Every time the site publishes a blog post, comic page, or anything else, that feed is updated.' Pomona and Ember then ask 'Okay cool, but how do we access that feed? I'm no hacker or anything!' Jey says 'It's really simple~ heh' All you need is: the feed url from the site, usually a button or a link (ie. filthyfigments.com/comic/feed) and a feed reader! Pomona asks 'Do you have any sexy ready recs, Jey? ❤️' 'Oh, I sure do! I've tried a whole bunch out, and every reader is a little different so try out a few to see what fits you best.' Here's a few I've tried: Feedbro Feedbin (paid, but worth it) Feedly (was good but got into AI) Thunderbird Ukagaka Ghosts (the most fun) 'I like Feedbro the best for my needs~'   Copy the link and add it to your reader of choice: The image shows a mouse copying the url filthyfigments.com/comic/feed and pasting it into the feed reader, which then turns in to a feed of posts and images for the user. The feed shows blog posts, subscription posts, and image posts by people on their own websites, blogs and a tumblr. Jey shows the finished feed off and says 'And VOILA! You've got a feed of JUST the sites you add.' Pomona grins and says 'Ohh, it looks just like a social media feed~' Ember excitedly clasps her hands together and asks 'But-- without algorithms?!' Jey replies with a cheeky little grin 'You got it! Your feed reader wont' ever give you posts from sites you don't follow, it'll always be in chronological order and WITHOUT ADS!' Ember throws her arms up in complete shock saying 'NO ADS?! Are you serious? SIGN ME UP!' The three are sitting together on the space ship again with their hologram tablets. Ember excitedly says 'Hey, I got the update ❤️' Pomona sits back satisfied saying 'Ahh RSS is bliss~' A comic by Jey Pawlik jpawlik.com for filthyfigments.com using the site's mascots Ember and Pomona.
And on the off chance that you're wondering, I've always included an RSS link to this very blog at the bottom of every page! But to be abundantly clear, the link to my blog feed is: http://kleefeldoncomics.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

* I actually do know why: capitalism
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