[bluebarbet]

My take on the RSS-renaissance chestnut: The original sin is the name. Only clueless nerds could come up with such a soporific, opaque, geeky moniker as "RSS". It should have been called "Webfeed". Then there would be no explaining to do.

[benrutter]

This is a great point. Maybe we can start now?

Apparently is is called web feed, although I never have heard this until I searched off the back of your comment[0].

Apparently, web feed also encompasses Atom and JSON feed as well as RSS, which is probably more in the spirit of how people actually say "RSS".

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_feed

[TonyStr]

I think web feed is a good name, though I also think invoking "Web" might put off some users. There are a few things that are unknown to new users:

1. How do you subscribe? 2. How do you post your own? 3. Do I need a browser to read feeds? 4. Can I view my feed from any device?

The current status quo for web feeds is very unfriendly to new users. If you click on an rss icon or an rss feed link, it takes you to a white page with a bunch of text that you don't understand. It just makes you think you're not supposed to be here, so you close the tab and leave.

Many feed readers are old and look dated. The UI can often be confused for an email client. And many of these readers don't support synchronizing feeds with different devices.

[tobr]

And at the same time, the fastest growing consumer product of all time is called ”ChatGPT”.

[jl6]

Perhaps if the product is compelling enough, the name doesn’t matter - and conversely, if the product is borderline, it had better have a great name.

[jmogly]

Chat gpt is a great name though — you “chat” with the “GPT” so its self informing (even if you dont know what a GPT is), it’s 4 syllables that roll off the tongue well together.

RSS, has no vowels, no information, and looks like an alphabet term you might see at the doctor’s office or in an HR onboarding form at a corpo.

[wiether]

Randos are just calling it "Chat" now.

"I'll ask Chat about x!"

[msephton]

In Japan it's now known colloquially as 「チャッピー」 ("Chappy" or "Chappie"). High praise that it has received such shortened and personified version so quickly.

[tobr]

It’s the new ”I looked it up on wiki”.

[youniverse]

I've heard 'just ai it' from high schoolers.

[stabbles]

Sure, naming is important, but the RSS icon was well known. It was part of the Firefox address bar.

[saghm]

The number of people who will recognize that will only go down over time. I'm not exactly ancient (at least outside tech) at 32 but have no recollection of ever seeing that icon or confidence that I'd recognize it, which I'd argue puts a rough lower bound on how old someone can be while considering it "well-known". Maybe if people only a few years older than me consistently recognize it then my instinct here is wrong, but I'm skeptical that there are enough people who consider this well-known for the supposed renaissance to take place purely from that.

(It's possible I'm entirely missing that this was intended in sarcasm, but it at least seems like it's was intended seriously to me)

[ymolodtsov]

If you ask regular people around yourself I'm sure none would recognize the acronym.

[andai]

It's simple. It stands for Radically Syndicated Seeds... right?

[euroderf]

But it's pronounced "arses".