I've had great success with Leader's German rye starter. Of course, I'm a beginner, so my idea of success may be different from yours. It fermented really fast and raises bread very nicely. I believe he uses the word "porridge-like" to describe the consistency (basically oatmeal). Mine definitely fits this description. I had a hard time with his stiff dough levain, but not with the German rye starter. I eventually converted some of the rye starter to a stiff dough levain, and that works great now as well. As far as the breads I've made using the German rye starter: Dreikornbrot, Dark Silesian Rye, and Czech Country Bread. All have come out well using Leader's starter and following the recipes he provides for each bread.
Rye absorbs a lot of water, and so it's pretty thick, even if you go to even weights of water to flour. If you give it enough time, you'll almost certainly get a working starter. Good luck!
Update: Day 4 showed no changes, the starter is still very very thick and has not climbed up the bowl or started to bubble. Any thoughts on this starter and lack of progress?
Two basic ways to mix starter when feeding it, basically: (1) Mix water to the starter and add flour or (2) mix flour to the starter and add water.
I think the second one also works well, pinching the flour over and over until it's like flaky flour disappearing and then sprinkling in water.
Mini O