rss

Warp Point is a directory and webring for independent gaming blogs and newsletters. Unremarkable in 1999 yet almost radical now. Built by Wes Fenlon and Matt Sayer, explicitly modelled on ooh.directory, the idea is to rebuild homegrown networks that fansites and webrings used to foster before recommendation engines flattened everything into a feed of whatever’s already popular.

Worth noting their one editorial line: they’re not accepting Substack submissions, on the grounds that they’d rather build a network effect that doesn’t feed Substack’s platform ambitions. Great choice.

A small tool for pulling things out of the algorithms and into a reader. I already route most of my reading through RSS, so the appeal is obvious: fewer apps, no algorithm, one inbox. Whether the feeds hold up long-term is the usual question with these services (platforms tend to notice eventually) but for now it’s a neat way to follow a handful of people on Instagram without opening Instagram.