DISQUS

cctech · 2 years ago

Nice post Ben. I had to do similar things because I was spending WAY too much time with my RSS reader (too many feeds).

One comment I would make is regarding MyBlogLog. I read your blog daily and since your entire post shows up in Google Reader, I don't always actually visit your site. However, that does not mean that I am not reading your content. Although, I should visit more often so that I can comment and be a better Instigatorblog citizen ;).

Keep it up! And I hope that our blog is one that you will include in your new RSS list :).

Ben Yoskovitz · 2 years ago

Hey cctech- I agree re: MyBlogLog - it's only really effective if you visit the site which excludes RSS readers. And I know RSS readers are less likely to comment because they can consume the bulk of content in their reader...

But ultimately my goal is to be more engaging with what I read - whether through RSS or through visiting the actual blog. If I'm not commenting, posting about, linking to or doing something with the content I'm consuming, I have to question whether I need that content or not...

I know MOST people don't comment. So what I'm saying might turn people off. And it's not just about comments - it could be exchange a link, or really walking away with an awesome idea from reading something - that might be engagement enough...we'll see!

Greg Balanko-Dickson · 2 years ago

Thanks, Ben, I am trying those out on my blog, thansk for the heads up.

Nneka · 2 years ago

Thanks for introducing me to some great tools. I learned early on that I needed to categorize my feeds. I have 6 general must reads and 10 must reads in my niche. The rest I save for the weekend.

I'm going to unsubscribe to those newsletters though. I always feel I'm going to miss something. Guess, I should apply the same principle that I did to TV. If it's that important, I'll hear about it within 3 days.

Ben Yoskovitz · 2 years ago

Good luck Greg! Let me know how it goes!

Nneka - I wish you luck too. Here's hoping the owners of the email newsletters you unsubscribe from don't come knocking on my door! *laugh*

Nick Mercer · 2 years ago

"Stopped looking at my own stats as much. Obsessing over your own stats is so easy, but all it does is drain attention from useful endeavors. And it also encourages you to mindlessly surf around without accomplishing much of anything."

I think this is one of the largest mistakes most web administrators as well as Bloggers make. If you obsess over the numbers, you will only kill yourself in the long run. It's like obsessing over your Page Rank number; it's not effective. Just go about the day to day routine, manage the blog, and most of all, enjoy your time writing and being a blogger.

Ben Yoskovitz · 2 years ago

Nick - you're right. Luckily for me I still have a pagerank of 0 here so there's no obsessing to do over that.

Stats sure are alluring though, but breaking away from them helps in the long run.

Rick Cockrum · 2 years ago

Newsletters - I only subscribe to one : a digest of a yahoo group on the development framework I use. For the most part, I've never understood their allure.

Feeds - I'm subscribed to 41, a quarter of which aren't updated frequently, and another 10 which I only read part of (general news). That leaves about 25 I read regularly. That's still too high, but I like them.

coComment - I signed up for it, but rarely use it. It's just less complicated for me to subscribe to specific conversations I'm interest in. That's why I like the subscribe to comments plugin so much.

TheGoodBlogs/MyBlogLog - Again, something new to learn. I tend to avoid things until I find I need them or hear about a big benefit to make them worth learning.

Stats - I'm a lot better, but staying away still needs work. :-) If I could get myself to ignore them except for once a week I would be happy with this area.

Ben Yoskovitz · 2 years ago

Rick - thanks for commenting. I do agree with you re: coComment vs. subscribing to specific conversations, but not enough blogs allow you to do so, so the result is that most of the time you can't subscribe to specific posts...if everyone did that it'd be easier, although imagine all the emails you might get then if you do a lot of commenting!

Nneka · 2 years ago

I don't like subscribing to comments for that very reason. Most times I'm more interested in the blogger's response than to the entire conversation.

Unfortunately, there are a few blogs out there that default to comment subscription. Sometimes I forget to opt out and I'm flooded with comments that I'm not interested in at all. Also, there's no way to unsubscribe from a comment feed, so when the long tail starts wagging, I get emails 3 months later from a post. Happened to me just today.

Ben Yoskovitz · 2 years ago

Nneka - I enjoy subscribing to comments once in awhile - oftentimes it's on posts that don't get too many, so it's not terribly overwhelming. But that's also why I'm experimenting with coComment - so I can track conversations at my leisure.

In terms of unsubscribing - there should be a way. If you've subscribed to comments on any of my posts you can unsubscribe. If there's no automated way I'd try emailing the blog owner and asking them about it.

Nneka · 2 years ago

Thanks for pointing that out Ben. I did unsubscribe. Yay! Thanks :-)

Nneka · 2 years ago

BTW, I wasn't talking about your blog in particular. Sorry, if I implied.

Ben Yoskovitz · 2 years ago

Nneka - no problem. If you unsubscribed from my blog it's OK, I won't hold it against you. But I'm glad you're only referring to unsubscribing from comments on a post!

Rick Cockrum · 2 years ago

Hi Ben,

Just wanted to say I've paid more attention to coComment since this post. I'm actually starting to like it quite a bit. It's reduced the amount of mail in my mailbox, and I'm keeping track of the conversations I'm participating in better.

Ben Yoskovitz · 2 years ago

Rick - good stuff. Although I like coComment, I still forget to check it regularly. So I'm fairly certain I'm not keeping up with conversations as much as I should...but even coComment requires you to check something, scan through to find recent comments, etc. I need a brain transmission device that tells me when comments are posted, without spamming my brain.

Adria Burns · 2 years ago

I see that this is an old post, but very timely for me. I'm finding that the feeds in my RSS reader are starting to hang over me like a never-ending "To Do" list. I don't think I can bring myself to delete everything, but I should thin it out a bit.