Much to my surprise (and delight) Chris Coyier mentioned CommonRSS on the latest episode of ShopTalk Show. I really couldn't believe it when I checked Vercel Analytics (which I hadn't done in days) and spotted the ShopTalk favicon in my referrers list. It could only mean one thing! I tuned in and not to my surprise Chris's assessment was very reasonable and kind-spirited.
One concern he raised is completely valid: who knows who I am, or whether this is a serious project? There's a possible flimsiness there that might give someone pause before switching their RSS setup over.
Entirely fair. Nobody out in the world knows who I am or what to expect from me. But I'd like to say this: I would love nothing more than to make CommonRSS a real thing. I've been building things with code for a long time (primarily for myself or for my libraries) and that work has only been accelerated (incredibly so) by AI tooling. I love my career and that doesn't change, but I'm dedicated to finding a way to bring in extra income for the fam. If CommonRSS could be that thing, I would absolutely focus on it and do the best damn job I could.
Perhaps it's just that I don't know what would be in store for me if this site 'caught on' even a little bit but I'm confident nevertheless. I believe in my stack and services and it's scalability. I believe in my stack, my services, and their scalability. I believe in my ability and genuine desire to add features and create great UX. And with the resources available to developers today, I believe I can work through any bug or issue, at least eventually.
I've wanted to make something 'real' with code for a long time. I never thought I'd be able to make a game — now I have two in development. I always wanted to build a web app with auth, a database, real users, and subscriptions — and now I've built several (though none with paying subscribers lol). I won't prognosticate on what AI means for the future of software development, but right now it's a tool I'm using to pursue goals I've had for years.
I remember reading "Design for Hackers" by David Kadavy back when I was getting into learning web development (around the time of HTML5 and CSS3) and it left an impression. A core idea, as I remember it, is that "hackers" in this sense means exactly what I described: making things happen with code, even when it's imperfect, even when you feel like you don't belong.
I'd be happy to grant access to my codebase to Chris or another trusted party if they wanted to review it for soundness and non-maliciousness.
Being honest, if I even get a few paid subscribers those paid subscribers would have TONS of input on the app and features that get added. I just want to make something that people use and like. And, hopefully, make some money off of it. And if something like that happens, with CommonRSS or something else, I'd keep on keeping on with it until I get hit by that proverbial bus.
Thanks for reading! If you'd like to reach out please find me on Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/studio303.bsky.social) or send me a message through the Studio303 contact form.