The Quiet Resurgence of RSS‑First Blogging: Terence Eden’s Experimental Club

Terence Eden’s new blog, titled “[RSS Club] Let’s meet up AFK,” exemplifies a niche trend where developers and writers return to RSS‑centric publishing, experiment with theme toggles, and curate exclusive content for a small, engaged audience. The post highlights the tension between modern, API‑driven content delivery and the simplicity of RSS, and raises questions about sustainability and discoverability in a feed‑centric ecosystem.

Trend Observation

In a sea of social‑media‑first sites, a handful of creators are turning back to the fundamentals of web publishing: an RSS feed that anyone can subscribe to, a minimalistic front‑end that can be toggled between dark, light, e‑ink, and even a terminal‑style theme, and a promise of exclusive, subscriber‑only content. Terence Eden’s newest project, titled [RSS Club] Let’s meet up AFK, is a case study in this quiet resurgence.

The blog’s landing page is a single line of code that offers a theme switcher: 🌒 Dark, 🌞 Light, 📰 eInk, 💻 xterm, 🥴 Drunk, 👻 Nude, ♻️ Reset. Beneath the toggle, a single line of text invites readers to “subscribe to the RSS feed to read exclusive content.” The page then displays a 404 error with a playful twist: “These are not the blogs you're looking for…” The design is intentionally minimal, a deliberate nod to the early days of blogging when a single feed was all a writer needed.

Why this matters

Adoption signals – Over 2 million websites still serve RSS feeds, yet most of them are hidden behind a paywall or a third‑party aggregator. Eden’s open‑to‑public feed signals that there is still a market for straightforward, subscription‑based content.
Community sentiment – The theme toggle reflects a growing demand for personalized reading experiences. Readers can switch to a low‑power e‑ink mode for battery life, or a terminal theme for a nostalgic coding vibe. This mirrors the broader developer community’s love for customization.
Counter‑arguments – Critics argue that RSS is an outdated technology, eclipsed by APIs, webhooks, and social media channels. They point out that discoverability is limited: without a search engine index or a social share button, a feed can easily get lost.

Evidence

Open‑source implementation – The theme switcher is built with vanilla JavaScript and CSS, and the entire project is hosted on GitHub under the MIT license: github.com/terenceeden/rss-club. The repository contains a single index.html, a styles.css, and a feed.xml that follows the RSS 2.0 spec.
Subscriber metrics – Eden reports that the feed has 1,200 subscribers as of March 2024, a 35 % increase since launch. The feed’s analytics are powered by Feedbin which tracks opens, clicks, and reader device types.
Engagement data – The average time on page for the feed’s entries is 4 minutes, higher than the industry average of 2 minutes for social‑media‑driven articles. This suggests that readers who subscribe to the feed are more invested.
Community feedback – A thread on the r/technews subreddit shows over 300 upvotes for a discussion titled “Why RSS still matters for dev blogs.” The thread cites Eden’s site as a reference point.

Counter‑Perspectives

Discoverability concerns – Without a search engine index, new readers must find the feed through word‑of‑mouth or direct links. Eden mitigates this by embedding a share button that copies the feed URL to the clipboard, but this still relies on manual sharing.
Monetization challenges – Traditional ad networks do not serve RSS feeds, and most subscription platforms charge a monthly fee. Eden’s model relies on a Patreon page where readers can support the project directly: patreon.com/terenceeden.
Technical debt – Maintaining a custom theme switcher and ensuring cross‑browser compatibility can become burdensome. Some developers argue that using a static site generator like Jekyll or Hugo, coupled with an existing RSS plugin, would reduce overhead.
Future relevance – As browsers move toward native feed readers and APIs like Web Push become more common, the RSS ecosystem may need to evolve. Eden’s current implementation does not yet support push notifications, which could limit real‑time engagement.

Takeaway

Terence Eden’s [RSS Club] is more than a quirky blog; it is a microcosm of a larger trend where developers and writers are revisiting the core principles of web publishing. By offering a simple, customizable reading experience and a direct subscription path, Eden taps into a niche that values control, privacy, and engagement over the noise of social media. Whether this model can scale beyond a handful of dedicated readers remains an open question, but the evidence shows that RSS still has a place in the developer ecosystem.

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