The Signal 500: a hand-scored catalogue of 495 news and blog sources, with eight-dimension scores, raw measurements and OPML packs (September 2026 snapshot)

The Signal 500 is FeedsBar's hand-scored catalogue of news and blog sources: 495 sources in this snapshot, each with an overall Signal score (0-100), eight dimension scores (editorial quality, ad restraint, reach, signal-to-noise, access, cadence, aesthetic, independence) and the raw measurements behind the measured dimensions. Every source was loaded in a real browser with the cookie banner accepted; ad entities and third parties were counted, layout shift and reach were measured. The remaining dimensions are judgement scores with published weights. The method, the weights, and which dimensions are measured versus judged are documented at https://feeds.bar/signal-500/method and the live, always-current catalogue is at https://feeds.bar/signal-500/ Files: signal-500.csv (one row per source), opml-packs.zip (the full catalogue as an OPML subscription list plus 13 per-pillar packs, importable into any feed reader), README.md (data card and column definitions). Feed URLs and site content belong to their publishers; this deposit contains only URLs, scores and measurements about them.