I noticed yesterday that somewhere along the line I seem to have stopped serving the full text of my post in my RSS feed. This was not my intention and I’m not sure how long it’s been going on — sorry about that! WordPress has made some internal changes to the way it handles feeds, so I hope it hasn’t been this way for a long time. (Perhaps someone will be kind enough to comment and let me know.) Obviously I haven’t been checking my own feed regularly as I’ve installed various plugins, patches, and tweaks along the way.
As of yesterday, I changed this practice — I’ve set up akregator with subscriptions to each of my blogs so I can keep better tabs on what you’re seeing. And as of yesterday, I think I’ve got the right plugins and settings in WordPress worked out to override the right things and get you the full feed content. The odd images or embedded videos that I include should appear in context as well, and if not I should now catch it and be able to make the necessary tweaks for the future.
In spite of all that, the number of feed subscribers has gone up in the past few months… thanks! Normally, a partial feed is enough to make people unsubscribe. I guess… “You like me! You really like me! (Cue music…) I’m curious about a few things though:
- What RSS readers do people use, desktop or online?
- Online RSS readers — do you use the “chicklets” that people offer to subscribe to feeds? (The little “Add to My (Whatever)” buttons.)
- If you don’t use a reader, but visit the sites themselves regularly, why do you prefer that over an RSS reader?
- Anyone who uses bookmarking sites like del.icio.us or Digg, which do you prefer? If the chicklets are present to bookmark/share the item, are you more likely to flag it?
I’m thinking through version 3.0 of the website template and features right now, so some of this will be helpful to me for building that upcoming release. On that basis, anything you want to see or don’t want to see in the new version, let me know in the comments.
What the heck, if there are any topics I write about that you like, or subjects you’d like to see me tackle, hijack the thread and let me have those as well… no promises, but I’ll see what I can do!
Someone once told me rule #1 of blogging is subscribe to your own feed. ;-)
I’m sure I hadn’t noticed your feed being truncated. Do you have more than one feed – maybe only one was affected. Or I’m just not very observant, lol. I have noticed your page getting slower lately – it’s always been a little slow for me, tho.
I used Sage in Firefox and loved it for two years because it enabled me to have my feeds in the sidebar – so I could easily multi-task. Now that I have a laptop, too, I needed to have my feeds sync over multiple computers. Tried Bloglines, it just didn’t do it for me, so I switched to Google Reader. Works well on my Treo, too.
I don’t use chicklets, I use the LiveBookmark button in the FF location bar.
I don’t social bookmark. Honestly I just haven’t felt the need. Does that reduce my geek status?
I use Google Reader (online at reader.google.com), and yes, use “chicklets” to subscribe to feeds. I don’t use del.icio.us or Digg, but I do use Google Bookmarks (google.com/bookmarks), and Google addicts like myself might appreciate a Google Bookmark button…but it’s not a huge plus or minus either way.
Thanks for publishing a full feed. I *think* I just started subscribing recently (don’t exactly remember) but I always am more likely to read a blog if the it’s full syndication unless it’s content I’m really, really interested in.
RSS- online, bloglines. Don’t use chicklets. Didn’t know they were called chicklets. And, ummm, I didn’t put it on my calendar or anything, but it seems like it’s been a while that only partial posts were showing up on your feed. 3-4 weeks maybe? I could be wrong. Maybe someone else has a better memory. You asked a few posts ago about preferences on widgets and such. I’m not much of a geek, so take it for what it’s worth, but, the more widgets on a blog, the less time I tend to stay. It just irritates me. Like I said… for what it’s worth.
1. What RSS readers do people use, desktop or online?
– I have found that Bloglines works best for both my desktop and blackberry. I really like Google Reader but it displays in a manner which is difficult to browse/use on the blackberry.
2. Online RSS readers — do you use the “chicklets� that people offer to subscribe to feeds? (The little “Add to My (Whatever)� buttons.)
-yes I do and find it very handy especially when browsing on the blackberry.
3. If you don’t use a reader, but visit the sites themselves regularly, why do you prefer that over an RSS reader?
-NA
4. Anyone who uses bookmarking sites like del.icio.us or Digg, which do you prefer? If the chicklets are present to bookmark/share the item, are you more likely to flag it?
-I often use del.icio.us but then forget to check it often. On our blog I use the delicious widget to pull in a particular tag but that is about it. Have not had the time to try digg out yet but it seems I often see people have a digg chicklet more than a delicious chicklet.
Thank you for your ministry.
I use NetNewsWire 3.0 alpha. Great program with more functionality than any of the online readers.
I used to use Bloglines, then tried Google Reader (the first version) and hated it, then used Thunderbird, then when I flirted with Linux, I used Akgregator, and finally am back to Google Reader and hope to stay with that for a while.
I’m not sure your feed was being truncated for everyone. Unless it was always truncating at a fairly logical place that I just assumed was the end of the post. But now I’m starting to wonder if I missed something and didn’t realize it. I always read your posts when they come in, so it’s not like I wasn’t paying attention.
I rarely ever use chicklets. No particular reason. Just haven’t found a need for using them. And I’ve never understood how I’m supposed to use del.icio.us or what benefit comes from it. So I don’t. Same for digg.
Erin,
You got me, making a newbie mistake! I used to monitor it in a feedreader on a now-defunct desktop, so I hadn’t checked it in a while.
Concerning the truncated feed, I do have multiple feeds with WordPress for atom and RSS. I think that WP also changed the format of its feed url, but I think the old format still works. To further muddy the waters, instead of using WordPress’ “More” tag on this blog, I use a “post-teaser” plugin that lets me set an optimal size for the intro, and it will try to find an intelligent place to put the break near the optimal setting. It often lands on a paragraph, so it might not be clear in the feed since the break isn’t mid-sentence and there’d just be two links instead of one back to the site.
Anyway, feed problem solved — if it ever comes up again for more than a post or two before I catch it, feel free to email me. I believe in full feeds for a bunch of reasons.
On the readers, I use a combination myself… my emerging/missional feed is public for anyone to use, but I have two others on different topics plus a few now in my desktop reader. I guess I’ve “compartmentalized” them all ;^)
Thanks for the feedback so far, especially from those of you who haven’t commented here before.
On the speed issues, I’ve noticed them as well. I’m planning a server move/upgrade soon, but the redesign I’m planning is partly to fight the way the page is so “heavy” now — both visually and download time. I’ve got too much stuff just added piecemeal. Redesigning will force me to think it through and cull what isn’t really adding anything. Will probably ditch the link blog, for example, and integrate the content. Hoping for less clutter and more legibility. I don’t want the thing “over-widgeted”, but I’d like to provide chicklets for the most popular tools if I can do it inobtrusively.
The “Share This” link appears on a lot of blogs now, and contains a whole bunch of the bookmarking widgets, which are hidden until needed. Not sure how that looks on a Blackberry though.
I use bloglines.com to read my feeds.
Extra buttons wouldn’t be of any use to me (I use a del.icio.us bookmarklet when I want to add things to my online bookmarks) but might be an easy addition for those who are reading via your webpage rather than your feed.
RE: Subscribing to your own feed…I’m not sure I’d exactly call you a newbie…I’ve been doing this less than 2 years, so you’re more experienced than I.
Good luck on the remodeling – I’ll look forward to it. My own blog needs some upgrading, too. I started working on new code in January, I’ve just been procrastinating on installing it. I hate all the issues that come up.
I use Bloglines, but don’t use the chicklets as most blogs still don’t have Bloglines options with those in. Occasionally I click through but it’s usually to leave comments, check out photos (don’t come through as quickly in Bloglines I find) and also see what’s new on the side (on RSS you lose the whole of the sidebar obviously).