How do you stand it?

Phil Ringnalda recounts his dream about the history of RSS, in which he finds himself in a conversation with early RSS developers discussing the technical choices and philosophical debates that shaped the format.

In the dream, Phil is asked by one of the developers: "How do you stand it?" — referring to the frustrations and complexities that came with RSS adoption and the various competing standards that emerged.

The post reflects on the tensions between simplicity and functionality, and how different visions for what RSS should be led to fragmentation in the ecosystem. Phil uses the dream narrative to explore the human and technical dimensions of this important web technology.

Note: The original source link appears to be from Phil Ringnalda's blog from 2005, discussing RSS history through a dream sequence narrative.