Non-WordPress folks can sit this one out, I guess, as it doesn’t have anything to do with you guys, and it’s totally a post about me making a mountain out of a molehill anyway.
I am– no, really, I’m devoting an entire post to this announcement– about to make a new folder in my bookmarks, and I’m going to put links to a bunch of y’all’s blogs in it.
Why am I doing this? Because while I throw a lot of Likes around on WordPress, what I’m really not doing very much is engaging with people who I actually know, where “know” means “interact with on my own blog.” I’m subbed to a bunch of you, but WordPress’ subscription reader absolutely sucks, and it means I’m missing posts that I would probably enjoy reading all the time. I’m an old-time Xanga dude, right? I got my start over there. It amazes me that with the huge array of ways in which WordPress is vastly superior to Xanga that it seems to suck so bad at basic community-building tools. The process of “keep track of what my friends were writing” was infinitely easier over there.
Don’t tell me about an RSS reader. I don’t RSS. I’ve tried it a couple of times and I can’t figure out why anyone would ever use it. Bookmarks and the “Open All” command it is.
So, yeah. If you’ve been subbed here forever, and you comment a lot, or if I recognize your name because you like every post, chances are I’ll be dumping you into that “Blogs to Go Read, Dammit” folder at some point or another, and you might actually start seeing me interacting with you at your own sites once in a while, because this is nonsense, and it’s high time that I start reading what y’all have to say more regularly than I do.
Alsothebook’soutthisweekendpleasebuymybookthisplugbroughttoyoubyfolgerscrystals.
Welcome to infinitefreetime dot com 
I have this same problem with the WP reader, and I’m currently trying to figure out how to make the reader more productive.
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I was on Xanga before too, so I know exactly what you mean. It was so much easier to follow certain writers over there. But I do appreciate the variety of good writers over here on WordPress.
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Sometimes the reader burps or vomits, I find. Showing me the same posts a couple of times, when I know I’ve seen them before. Very annoying.
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I’m not convinced the Reader knows what to do when a post is updated. Maybe.
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It’s likely showing it twice because of an edit.
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I am so new to the world of blogging that I have no idea what Xanga is or how it would have improved things! I enjoy reading your posts even if I don’t always interact on your blog it is one of my faves !
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Eloquent as always 🙂
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Ugh. WordPress reader. Hate it, don’t use it. Sometimes, I’m able to catch a post because I’ll visit people who comment when I can, and that’s why I get sad when blogs don’t have a “follow by email” button. If it doesn’t come through my email, odds are, I won’t see it.
Sometimes I won’t see it even if it does go through my email, either, so, yeah. Ha.
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I don’t know how many “by email” followers I have– I think not very many– and I kind of worry about them on the days I get logorrheic and put up four stupid posts. I feel like that’s annoying. But then again they can always sub me some other way, so… yeah.
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Some blogs I follow don’t post for, like, a month, and then, all of a sudden, bam, fifteen posts in a row. It’s weird. So, yeah, don’t worry about four.
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I’ve never worked out exactly how WordPress reader is supposed to be read, really. It feels like it’s just this big messy pile when it ought to be … just … organized somehow.
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They still make Folger’s Crystals?
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Y’know, I started wondering that right after posting, and forgot to check. I don’t actually drink coffee…
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I’ll drink coffee, but only if it is incredibly sugared up with a hot chocolate that is at least equal or larger in proportion to the coffee. So I’m not up on the contents of the coffee section of the aisle.
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I drink enough coffee for both of us.
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I started by getting weekly digests, but that’s been increasingly ridiculous in volume (which is my own fault for liking too many subjects and everyone else’s fault for posting so often!) and by the time I get to that email account I’m generally fed up anyway – so, yeah, a better Reader function would be great. I also use sumall.com to see who is tweeting/sharing/mentioning and that helps me track things a bit better – but it’s still up to me to go back and show some love on their site in return. As if being social in the physical world wasn’t enough work!
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Good point on connectivity to the audience. Like LHill1 above, though, I don’t know what Xanga is/was, so I can’t compare the two. I do know that WP seems a lot more muscular than Blogger, which I used in the past and thought was decent for basic blogging. I think I just have a rough time because there is so much to read and do when I am online, and I have an infinitely smaller network than you do (and possibly a lot less time; I’m not sure), so I probably can’t even fathom what it’s like to interact with thousands of friends online. I’m touchy-feely that way, I guess. I really like to interact with those who’ve taken the time to interact with me. On another note, I have so many bookmarks (and I haven’t had time to categorize them to help me out), that I seldom use them.
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I’ve no idea why you would ‘like’ a post of mine, so maybe there’s no human approval involved. But it got me looking at a couple of your posts and I enjoyed them very much. Love the swearing one.
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I spend quite a bit of time looking through posts tagged “art.” Probably liked something you did.
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Oh good! Glad you’re real!
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Very true post. I’m sure there are many of us out there with this same dilemma. Thanks for liking! ^^
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Reblogged this on Gelatinous and commented:
I had similiar thoughts this week. I know there are blogs I read daily at the start of this adventure and they are out of sight, out of mind. I need to revisit organizing my faves.
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I finally had to Just Say No to the The Reader because of all of its restarts and gaps and woes. I went back to the manage click on The Reader (oh, well) and email subscribed to those I know I’m most interested in (yes, you, and four a day is fine) and much prefer clicking on each email to check what I want to read all the way through. Have a good day. If done well, it’s time-consuming no matter who how go about it, I think is the bottom line.
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It really is a lot of work to stay on track with your blogs so you can revisit your favourites ones. Totally agree with your remarks.
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