(*wince*). Yes, 1000. I suffer from the dreaded FOMO (fear of missing out) disease and am terribly nosy.

I’m nosy too, but I can’t imagine 1k feeds! Goodness gracious. lol

RfP wrote:

having feeds in a newsreader allows me not to think about checking them.. I don’t feel obliged to keep up with any of them.. Searching my subscriptions is much more productive than googling the whole internet.

Readers work for me in a similar way: I like not having to go out hunting- they’re all right there. And I feel it’s “more productive” than simply surfing. That’s probably just my own justification, though. LOL I’m still working on feeling less obliged to read them all, though.

~Amanda

It’s the opposite for me; having feeds in a newsreader allows me not to think about checking them. I have one newsreader account for work-related feeds, and another for fun sites, each with probably hundreds of subscriptions. I don’t know exactly how many, and I turned off the count of how many new posts are waiting. I don’t feel obliged to keep up with any of them. (Of course, I may be an outlier: I don’t even feel obliged to post on my own blog. I strive to out-Tumperkin Tumperkin.)

For me, feeds are primarily for when I have some down time, or a resource when I want to search for something in particular. Searching my subscriptions is much more productive than googling the whole internet. That’s one reason I dislike partial feeds: they prevent me from finding articles that I remember reading and want to reference. It’s a futilely pinchpenny approach to intellectual property, IMO; scrapers don’t need RSS feeds to scrape their scrapy scrapings.

Or I even type in the URL!

A virtual Luddite among us!!!

Sunita wrote:

But then, I don’t have a blog, I’m primarily a lurker and occasional poster, so my sense of what I owe the communities I visit is different.

I wonder if bloggers generally feel more of a responsibility to read and comment on others’ blogs. Probably.

carolyn jean wrote:

I made my own sort of reader on my sidebar of my blog, where I can see my little buddies’ sites (all 95 of them!) and the topics of their posts, but I don’t feel like I have to go around to all of them every time, but like I’m still keeping up. It doesn’t pressurize me like GReader did.

That’s very interesting. I thought you did it out of the goodness of your heart, trying to share some of your bounteous hit wealth with us noobs.

I would say that was a good strategy, and it IS a good one if it works for you, but I have to wonder if 95 links on the sidebar would feel like an improvement for me. Maybe I’ll try it.

Holly wrote:

Yes, 1000.

I think we have our first intervention candidate people. We will show up at Book Binge armed with delete buttons, a spray can filled with Mark All As Read, and a blind fold. Maybe we can get Maria and Maris to film it!

Holly wrote:

I’m sure that isn’t always the case, but that’s how I feel about it.

I feel kind of coerced to click through, so usually I don’t. But it obviously works for some bloggers, and for many readers.

The only thing saving me from insanity at the moment is labeling and separating my subscriptions. I only read about 100 blogs regularly (read: each and every post) and I have a special folder for them. The others I either skim titles only, or skim the posts themselves (ex: if it’s a review I’ll skim to the grade and then either read the post or move on from there).

As for the full feed vs. partial feed debate: I personally prefer a full feed. I hadn’t considered the issue SB Sarah raised, but I always thought the partial feed screamed, “I NEED ATTENTION, SO CLICK ON MY SITE!”. I’m sure that isn’t always the case, but that’s how I feel about it.

I’ve gone to visit my google reader now and then, and just feel this crushing weight.

I used to subscribe to Bloglines, but I invariably fell behind. Now I bookmark the bare minimum and use links within blogs to reach ones I haven’t bookmarked. Or I even type in the URL!

I think aggregators are great for some people, but for me it made me feel that I had made some kind of commitment to reading a blog, that it was more important, and therefore I *had* to catch up when I fell behind. Which is ridiculous, I know, but I still had that nagging feeling of guilt when the number of unread posts that Bloglines tracked kept climbing. I can immerse myself in surfing for an afternoon, but this way when I don’t for a few days, I don’t know what I’m missing! But then, I don’t have a blog, I’m primarily a lurker and occasional poster, so my sense of what I owe the communities I visit is different. I think there are only three or four sites I’ve posted on more than once.

I found myself devoting more & more time to my online life, to the detriment of my RL needs & commitments.

Thanks for your suggestions about marking and saving.

I agree that the online world can be addicting. And it’s very important to keep that balance. I do know that people form genuine and important connections online, and I definitely feel that I have made some of those since staring this blog, but since I have a partner and/or kids (and/or parents) in the house, there’s no contest as to who should be getting the bulk of my attention.

If I’ve fallen behind for any reason it takes me ages & ages to catch up even if I’m mostly deleting posts unread. For example, my college age son was home for spring break last week & so I avoided my reader & my blog in favor of spending time with him. It was great. However, I’d accumulated 600+ posts!

I open tabs on the posts I want to comment on & I check the box for followup comments. That way I keep track of conversations that are important to me. I also use stars for things I want to return to when I have more time. Sometimes I add a feed & then later decide the site doesn’t fit somehow & I delete them. I’m not a person who has a static amount of feeds. It’s like dating- sometimes the chemistry is good and sometimes it isn’t. No hard feelings.

I found myself devoting more & more time to my online life, to the detriment of my RL needs & commitments. I’ve steadily become a lurker on nearly all of the blogs I visit. I simply don’t have time to stop in & say hi to everyone- which saddens me, but RL demands intervene. I used to frequent a couple of message boards, but I’ve dropped off that too.

Nevertheless, the online book world remains very important to me & my feed reader is a great way to keep my finger on the pulse.

~Amanda

Well, aside from reviews, but that’s a different dynamic altogether, no?

This is a good point. Reviews don’t generate that many comments, unless they are really positive or really negative.

Janice wrote:

I do a quick triage

I like this idea. I will have to utilize the stars and other means of coding the posts.

ReacherFan wrote:

I read blogs as they interest me and feel no obligation toward them as I would if I had them on google reader.

I agree with you that you feel more obligated with a reader than with bookmarking.

KristieJ wrote:

I often get even goofier when I’m commenting on someone’s comments on one of the goofy posts I do.

Really? I never noticed.