Appreciation of the mark-all-as-read button

> Every time I open my RSS feed, there’s nothing there. I can’t doom scroll through it. Because there’s nothing there. So I only open my RSS reader when I want to read something

That's a waste of a manual refresh action - if you only open the reader when you want to read something, there is no point in not auto-refreshing on open so you can... read something.

> I can mark everything as read and get back to a neutral state. And just like that, I’m done with my timeline. Isn’t that amazing?

Not really, you've described a workflow with the same "FOMO" and "chore" downsides: you have to invest time into reviewing the whole batch of downloaded content otherwise if you mark everything as read you fear you've missed something important that you haven't reviewed it. Some clients can even auto-mark links on scroll so you reduce the risk of mislabeling, but these are still not refined enough controls to tacke the issue.

(and yes, of course there are ads in RSS)

I had to log back in HN to reply to this because it was worth it.

I’m not wasting a manual refresh action. I’m adding some intentionality and some friction in my digital interactions.

Life is not just about optimizing everything.

As for the FOMO, I disagree. Posts are still there. Blogs are still out there. An RSS reader is not where the content lives but just an interface.

And no, there are no ads in RSS. Because the people I follow don’t share ads. Same is not true for social media where a 3rd party can inject whatever the hell they want.

>there is no point in not auto-refreshing on open so you can... read something.

I hate things that auto refresh instead of just coming back to where I left off. Obviously if it's empty, sure refresh, but if it's outdated because I backgrounded it for a couple of days, let me decide to refresh or not.

The original argument here is against your "obviously refresh empty" point.

> adding some intentionality and some friction in my digital interactions.

That's what's opening an app is

> An RSS reader is not where the content lives but just an interface.

Yes it practically is, do you remember all the source links to be able to visit and read them without RSS? Do you also remember which ones you've saved in your favourites so you haven't skipped something important on second review?

> Same is not true for social media

It is true, if you can be so selective about sources you read, you can also be selective about social media you choose, and there are some that have no ads