PC Gamer recommends RSS readers in a 37mb article that just keeps downloading

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

RSS, paywalls, and full-text access

  • Many want to move to RSS to escape algorithmic feeds and heavy pages.
  • Major paywalled outlets often only provide headlines/summaries in RSS, even for paying subscribers, which frustrates users.
  • Some newsletters (e.g., Substack, podcasts, some outlets like The Verge for subscribers) do offer full-text RSS and are praised for it.
  • Workarounds mentioned: “full text” RSS readers that scrape article bodies, using browser reader mode, archive services, or authenticated scraping with one’s own cookies.

Ad bloat, bandwidth, and user harm

  • The PC gaming article is used as an example of extreme ad/JS bloat, pulling tens to hundreds of MB over minutes.
  • Many see this as disrespectful, especially for users on metered or slow connections, and liken it to malware in terms of bandwidth.
  • Some argue “it’s free, that’s how you pay,” others say even paying subscribers get bloated pages.
  • Comparisons are made to how little data text actually needs, and to old OS sizes, to highlight waste.

Impact on low-income and limited-data users

  • Multiple comments describe working with or being low-data users (3–4GB/month or less) where a few such pages can blow the monthly cap.
  • Government-provided phones often throttle to unusable “2G” after a small quota, making many modern sites and job applications fail due to timeouts.
  • Disagreement: some claim 2G is fine for “email and job search,” others provide detailed counterexamples where even basic tasks break.

Network tech and reality vs policy

  • Debate over whether 3G has been fully shut down in the US; some cite official decommission notices, others report still encountering 3G-like service in rural/municipal networks.
  • Consensus that throttled or congested connections often behave worse than specs suggest, and many sites/apps handle slow networks poorly.

Ad blocking, JS control, and practical defenses

  • Strong norm on HN: modern web is “unusable” without aggressive ad/content blocking (uBlock Origin, NoScript, Pi-hole, DNS blockers, iOS/macOS content blockers, etc.).
  • Suggestions include disabling JavaScript by default, using reader modes, lightweight browsers, or text-mode tools; on mobile, picking browsers that support extensions.
  • Some argue it’s now the user’s responsibility to run blockers; others call that “victim blaming,” noting most people lack the skills/awareness.

Ethics and media business models

  • Tension between sympathy for journalists needing to be paid and hostility to surveillance ads and bandwidth abuse.
  • Concern that full-text RSS is withheld partly to deter AI scraping.
  • Ideas floated: RSS readers that share subscription revenue with publishers, micropayments, or “ethical” lightweight ads, but skepticism about incentives remains.

Broader web enshittification

  • PC gaming site is framed as one instance of a wider trend: bloated adtech, autoplay video, hostile UX, and tracking on news/tech sites.
  • Many report retreating to RSS, print, local media, or buying physical media (e.g., discs) instead of ad-driven streaming.
  • Some call for browser-level features: automatic detection/warnings about extreme data usage, or crowd-sourced domain reputation and “bloat” ratings.