Comments on: Wanted: “test-drive” option for RSS feeds

By: bjkeefe

bjkeefe — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 01:52:25 +0000

I use a “New Additions” folder in Bloglines. I put all new feeds here. If I notice myself reading a particular feed in this folder a lot, I move it to a permanent folder.

I also like engtech’s idea of a “too many” folder. I used to have a “too much” folder, in fact. What I ended up doing with almost all of the entries in this folder was to create a little web page (local to my machines) with the canonical URLs for the listed entries, and then I deleted the “too much folder.” Now, if I’m out of something to read, I visit that page I built, pick a blogger, and try not to worry too much about the hundreds of posts I’ve probably missed.

As for automation: I’d like my feed reader to flag feeds that I haven’t read in a while, and periodically ask me, “Prune?”

But your main points are right, Scott. It’s hard to get rid of existing feeds, it causes a feeling of dread to contemplate adding a new one, and the end result is a feeling of anguish about not keeping up with one’s reading.

By: Danny Howard

Danny Howard — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 18:49:26 +0000

Yes. Google Reader makes subscribing and unsubscribing way too cumbersome. Tags are a waste of my time: you’re in or you’re out.

Amen, toivo: one click to rule them all!

-danny

By: toivo

toivo — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 18:13:57 +0000

Gosh. You want …

one click subscribe
one click unsubscribe
no folders\ categories\ tags

By: Colin Carmichael

Colin Carmichael — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 14:50:50 +0000

I use the opposite approach in Google Reader… I have a special tag for new feeds called “1-Sandbox” (I number my feed tags so I can control the display order). I check the feeds in there individually first, then switch to the river of news approach with ‘All Items’. If I find myself skipping over stuff in the Sandbox, it goes away, anything that’s been in the Sandbox ‘for a while’ gets an appropriate tag and is moved out of the sandbox.

The feature I REALLY need (because I can’t do it manually) is the ability to ‘pause’ feeds. This was a really handy feature on my old client reader.

By: engtech @ IDT

engtech @ IDT — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 06:02:31 +0000

I also have a “too-many” tag for those blogs that I’d love to read but never get the chance.

By: engtech @ IDT

engtech @ IDT — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 06:02:06 +0000

That’s how I use Google Reader

New feeds stay untagged and are read last. If I like them, they get a tag and become part of the family. If I don’t like them, bye-bye.