We don't have official RSS feed support for now, but we're working on a solution

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Google’s Chrome developer blog has dropped its RSS feeds after a migration to new infrastructure, prompting frustration from users who rely on feeds to track browser changes and other technical updates. Commenters argue that RSS is cheap and easy to support but conflicts with big platforms’ incentives to maximize on-site engagement, analytics, and ad revenue; others attribute the loss to internal prioritization and fragmented responsibility rather than deliberate malice. Several users share unofficial workarounds and tools to recreate feeds, while lamenting a broader trend of the web becoming less open and automation‑friendly.

Context: Chrome Dev Blog RSS Removal

  • The Chrome developer site previously exposed RSS feeds; after a migration to new infrastructure, feeds disappeared.
  • The official page now says there is no RSS “for now” and that a “solution” is being worked on, which many readers found oddly phrased or evasive.

Community Reaction

  • Many commenters are annoyed or angry; some see this as another example of Google being hostile to “open” web standards.
  • Sarcasm is widespread about the idea that RSS is “hard” or resource‑intensive to maintain, with multiple people noting they added RSS to personal blogs in under an hour.
  • A minority say they don’t find RSS useful and are surprised how many HN readers still rely on it.

Speculated Motivations

  • Common theories:
    • RSS use appears small in analytics and doesn’t move key engagement metrics.
    • Feeds are hard to monetize and reduce opportunities for ad impressions and tracking.
    • Google prefers users to discover content via Google Search, social feeds, or proprietary systems.
  • Others attribute it more to internal prioritization and “big company” process than to deliberate malice.

Official Explanation from the Site Team

  • A representative from the team says:
    • The site migrated to a shared Google platform that doesn’t yet auto‑generate RSS.
    • They had to hit internal deadlines and a pre‑holiday feature freeze, so migrated first and plan to restore feeds afterward.
    • Internal issues have been filed; intention is explicitly to add RSS back.

Workarounds and Tools

  • Several unofficial RSS feeds have been created using Cloudflare Workers and scraping of sitemaps.
  • Users recommend generic site‑change monitoring tools and third‑party services to emulate feeds.

Broader Discussion on RSS and the Web

  • Long meta‑discussion about:
    • Google Reader’s shutdown and its impact on RSS adoption and norms.
    • Browsers dropping built‑in RSS support and how that hurt discoverability.
    • Alternative RSS readers and self‑hosted solutions.
    • A wider trend toward a less automation‑friendly, more engagement‑ and ad‑driven web.