Why do RSS readers look like email clients?

“Why do RSS readers look like email clients?” The question was asked by Terry Godier, first on Mastodon, then in a more detailed post.

Godier dubbed the feeling of coming across hundreds of unread items “phantom obligation”: “The guilt you feel for something no one asked you to do.” This applies to so many things…

In the Mastodon comments, Brent Simmons, creator of NetNewsWire in 2002, explained that his inspiration was Usenet, not email. Usenet, a kind of discussion forum, has been around since 1980 and, yeah, it really resembles an email application.

In the same response, Simmons asks:

The part I don't understand and can't explain is why RSS readers are still following this user interface.

It's not that they don't exist, but they are few and niche.

I remembered feeeed, a free iOS app. It allows you to subscribe to a variety of information sources (including RSS feeds) and displays them in a kind of timeline, with different visuals for each type, no counters, no pressure.

I also came across Stream, which does away with counters and one of the three traditional panels of RSS readers (the feeds panel) to instead deliver a stream of items to read, like a “unified timeline.” Also for iOS, also free.

There are also small initiatives, usually undertaken by a single person and available on the web, that promise a calmer experience when reading RSS feeds. I am familiar with Artemis, FeedCity, and vore.

More examples?