Thursday 4 December 2008

I WANT IT ALLLLLL!

It's so annoying when people only show the first 100 words or whatever of their blog posts in their rss feeds. There's me, clicking along in my google reader dum de dah...then bam. "Today I was walking along and the most normal thing ever happened [...]"

Come onnn, give me the whole lot.

Half the time it doesn't make me click onto your blog, it just makes me move onto the next one because I can't be arsed.

So I'm just letting you know. If you've got your blog settings so that only the first paragraph comes up, I'm probably not going to be reading. Which is a shame, because I'm pretty good at reading blogs.

(Unless I think your blog is particularly good enough to warrant an extra click. Or I'm really, really bored or I really, really think I'm going to get something good out of it. Like some decent gossip. Or some sort of juicy info. Or a shock revelation. Yeeaaaah. That's worth a click. But normally, no.)

And if you're so stingy that you only have it so just the title comes up, PAH! That's all I have to say about that. "PAH!" with accompanying Italian chef hand gesture.

So, in the same vein as the Jo Hates Guest Blogging post, I want to know:

Does the whole post teaser thing bovva you? (I'm aware it will probably only really effect those who are very bored at work, like err, hmmm, I don't know who. Me? But still)
If you do it with your blog, why dya do it? Are you stat greedy? Want to know who's reading? Just generally like inconveniencing people? Enlighten me.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh it bothers many many of us...have a look here where loads of people share their biggest annoyances. it's the top one for sure

Dungeekin said...

I'm in agreement.

I like to be able to read the post in its entirety before I decide whether to hop to the site itself and comment.

D

Hails said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

^ (that was me, sorry)

Yes!!! This drives me insane. I never ever click on these, and usually end up removing them from my feed in annoyance.

And you know what's even *more* irritating? When you somehow end up on a blog and Every. Single. Post. is set out in this way, where you only see the beginning and have to click to view the post. Arghhhhhhhh! Why? WHY? After a couple of frustrating back-and-forth-clicking moments I give up and decide not to bother. I like to be able to scroll through a blog I've not seen before, reading several posts to see if it's my sort of thing. Why do they make it so difficult and hassley? Grrr...

Anonymous said...

It annoys me too and more often that not, I don't bother going to the blog to read it.
I like to read and then click if I have a comment to make otherwise I'm just wasting time loading pages for nothing!

Anonymous said...

I completely agree. Unless the first few lines are particulaly exciting, or I'm bored shitless, I never click through.

I'd be interested to know why people do it too. Are they paranoid stat whores? It's just inconvenient for the blog reading public.

The Unbearable Banishment said...

Teasing sucks, but not as much as ASTERISKS! Especially multiple asterisks within the same post! I’m scrolling down. I’m scrolling up. I’m scrolling down. I’m scrolling up. I’m not reading your blog.

Anonymous said...

I used to have a short feed (can't think when I changed it? Six months ago maybe?) My reason for doing so was entirely for security purposes. There was someone I didn't want reading my blog and I was concerned they might come upon it - either by hunting for it or by accident. I kept a REALLY close eye on my sitemeter and if I had seen them there I would have made my blog private instantly. If I had had a full feed they would only have had to be there for 2 secs, clicked to subscribe and read all my past and future posts without me knowing. With a short feed they could not do that. I kept the first para purposefully dull.

I have no idea if it lost me readers. It was either that or be private so I went for the short feed.

I switched back to a full feed for 2 reasons: Firstly because I no longer cared whether this person read or not, and secondly because I find short feeds irritating myself.

In terms of stats I found I had more readers after I switched to a full feed - but that may have been coincidence.

I am a little more forgiving of people who use a short feed than you, mostly because I did so myself but also because some of them may have valid reasons for doing so. If I like someone's blog I don't let a short feed/title only feed put me off. But it does mean they only get read by me once or twice a week - whereas if someone has a full feed I scan my Reader each day and if something grabs me (like this one) I will hop over and comment.

Like Hails, I find the blogs where you have to click to see the full post (when you are actually on their site) irritating too. Why do they do that? It seems pointless.

Brennig said...

It's not that simple, unfortunately. My blog RSS feed produces full post output but Google Reader (and only Gooooooooogle Reader) has decided to truncate each post. Bloglines and all the others I've tested produce full length feeds. Apparently the issue lies with how Goooooooooogle Reader handles certain *types* of RSS feeds.

So please don't blame the blogs. The problem might be with the tool you're using.

Cheers.

Anonymous said...

Unless the first couple of lines really grab my attention, I almost never click to read more. I'm speed reading most of the time, so in too much of a rush! RSS feed - no idea about that, never used it!

Anonymous said...

I agree. Unless it's a blogger I know consistently writes superbly entertaining posts, there's no way I'll click through. Even if I'd really like to read their blog...

Unknown said...

It's another of my pet hates too, more so becasuse when I'm at work I can't read blogs directly but I can read them through my google reader, and if I can't read them when I'm looking at work, it's rare I bother to have a look when I get home...

Give me the full monty any day!


*goes off to check own blog gives full rss feed*

Anonymous said...

Well stop using google as your reader then. If one reader shows the full text and the one you're using doesn't, where is the fault - with the blog or with you?

Please Don't Eat With Your Mouth Open said...

Lizsara - yeah I read that post before a few weeks ago. Funny how everyone got annoyed by the same things!

Dungeekin - It's just annoying, especially if you're reading at work...

Hails - I was on a site that did that the other day. I don't understand it either. I also gave up after clicking once. It's just effort.

PJB - and these windows are popping up all over the shop, again bad if you're at work.

cynical - I think it's a lot to do with wanting to know who's clicking and reading - but I'm not sure it increases hits that much.

reluctant - That's the only reason I can think common sense wise why someone would have a short feed for their blog. I completely understand the logic if there's someone you don't want reading and need to keep an eye out for. I have a feeling only a small percent do it for those reasons though.

Brennig - maybe so, but I've only very recently switched to google from bloglines and I haven't noticed any difference in which blogs show as full and which don't. On blogger especially it's an option in the settings. I'll bear that in mind though...

weenie - Indeed! It's just not good when you're speed reading to have to keep stopping and starting. Oh how lazy us computer generation have become!

utterly - I'm the same. There were one or two which I'd always click through to, and those were the ones who limited their blog so they could check who was reading (as in for privacy) so I understood. The rest? Clearly stat greedy :D

Jo - Yeah the ones which don't show the whole lot I tend to mark as unread in the hope of going back to them when I'm super bored or at home, but I rarely do.

IP - It's not just google reader. As I said above, I've been using bloglines up until last week and have noticed no difference in which blogs show up as full and which ones don't. More often than not, it's a choice people make in order to get more people clicking onto their site rather than reading remotely.

BlackLOG said...

Ok "pretty good at reading bloggs" I would appreciate your feed back on my babies.

BlackLOG

"BlackLOG - Historical

Clarissa said...

I don't even know what I've got. *Runs to check*

Please Don't Eat With Your Mouth Open said...

blacklog - Apologies for not dropping by sooner. Quite unlike me. I will add it to my reader...

Clarissa - You're in the clear. However - how come I can't comment any more? The link never comes up :/

TabbyT said...

I'm so new to blogging I literally don't have a clue what you mean! So i hope my blog is set up in the correct way!

Please Don't Eat With Your Mouth Open said...

You're safe too ;) fear not!

 

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