Summertime, and the living is geeky

The next couple of weeks are going to be rough. Just warning you now, just putting it out there like a PSA. Preschool ended for M on Friday, and there are three long weeks stretching out ahead of us until we hit the promised land of YMCA camp (which I'm so geeked for -- not simply because it'll give me a break from 24/7 childcare, but because I never went to anything like a day camp as a child... I'm bordering on jealous. Crafts! Popsicles! Running around like a crazy person in flip-flops all day! Man, that's The Life!). And judging from yesterday's trial-run of Stay-At-Home-Summer, the three weeks ahead look like something out of Laurence Of Arabia: arid, expansive, and bleak, smelling of sweat and sandy grit. I feel like I'm getting a case of the heat stroke just thinking about it.

This is a long way of saying that things might be a little light posting-wise around here for a spell. Light AND/OR lite, I guess. Of course, whenever I've said that in the past I've suddenly been struck by irrepressible inspiration, and ended up posting MORE than usual. But let's keep our expectations low, shall we?

. . . . .

Wholly unrelated to any of that (except perhaps L-I-T-E-ness), I feel compelled to pass the following nugget of wisdom on to my blogging brothers and sisters, gleaned from long years slaving in the blogging coal mines: Dudes, please stop with the partial RSS teaser-feeds. Please, I beg of you. Srsly. For my sake, but also your own.

And I say that as someone who tried out the partial feed life and followed that path for a good long year. And you know what? It killed my subscriptions. Because people are smart, and they were doing precisely what I now find myself doing when I subscribe to an RSS feed that turns out to be a partial one: clicking on the feed, scanning the sentence (or two, or three) provided, and then moving on to the next item in the feed reader. Oh and then after a month or so of doing that just going ahead and unsubscribing, having forgotten why I subscribed in the first place because I'm not being given anything of substance to engage with unless I jump through the contrived click-through hoop the author has fabricated. And again, speaking from personal experience from BOTH sides of that, I can guarantee you that most people aren't trained, hoop-jumping monkeys. Sad, I know.

I switched to a full feed about six or so months back, after having a partial feed for a year. Two important things I've since noted:

1. Absolutely ZERO reduction in my on-site traffic -- the thing I think most bloggers fear, which keeps them clutching at the partial feed as though it were some kind of page-impression life raft.

2. An enormous leap in my RSS subscriptions, which continue to grow at a staggering rate, ultimately meaning that more people are reading Sweetney than ever before.

And here's what I realized from all of this: I just want people to read my writing. Period. Maybe that sounds Pollyannaish, but it's the true bottomline. Do I want people to come to my site? Do I want people to comment on my site? Hells yeah. But more than anything I just want them to engage with me and my writing, and if they feel most comfortable doing that from the safety and comfort of their RSS reader, so be it. If they take the time to subscribe to my feed and insert me into their reading lives, I kind of owe it to them to let them decide if how and when they want to visit my actual place of web residence. Makes sense, right?

This subject is a hotly contested one I know, but because, as we're all painfully aware, I'm a complete and total web geek, I'm curious to hear your thoughts about this. Does it matter to *you* if a blog has a full or partial feed? Does it effect your decisions to subscribe/unsubscribe? Do you find yourself not keeping up with blogs that have partial feeds and becoming more involved with those that have full feeds? What say you, dear reader?

Comments

[NotAMeanGirl]

I HATE partial feeds. There, I've said it. I'm much less likely to click on your feed and go read the whole post. I only go to the actual website when I have something I wanna say in comments. Otherwise I'm a feed readin baby.

[Nic]

HATE partial feeds. HATE.

[foodmomiac]

I switched to full feeds a few months ago as well, and I noticed the same things. Increase in subscriptions, no decrease in site visits.

[Mandee]

Hate, hate, hate partial feeds. I'll usually keep a subscription, but I rarely click through to read the full entry.

[Fairly Odd Mother]

This is where I feel like a complete blogging idiot. I had no idea if I was a 'partial' or full feed so I had to subscribe to my own blog to check. Phew. I'm sure everyone is thrilled.

Even worse than a partial feed is when I only get the headline for the post. There isn't even any text to draw me into the site.

[unacoder]

i'm glad it's not just me. i hates me some partial feeds. i react the same way.

[kelsi]

full feeds all the way. especially since I read from work (shh, don't tell anyone).

[Paula]

I am a relatively new RSS user and I hate hate hate the partial feeds.

[Susan]

I'm an blog/web illiterate so I really haven't got into the RSS feeds. I guess I should check them out huh? I could up the number of blogs I read if I did that right?

[Steph T.]

I have to agree that I hate a partial feed. I use a feed reader, because I can keep up on my favorite blogs better (and more efficiently). The only time I click to the site is when I have something to say...which some weeks is a lot and other weeks, not so much. I'll admit it...I'm just damn lazy and the extra clicks annoy me.

[Tamara]

Partial feeds make me itch in a delicate place. HATE.

[Jenny]

Totally get where you're coming from on the partial feed thing. Mine's set up full-feed.

As for reading, I don't mind one way or the other as I only use my reader to let me know when someone has updated and still go to the actual blogs to read the posts. Since I like looking at pretty blogs and tipping the blog writers in Adsense pennies.

[Procrastamom]

Count me in on the HATE PARTIAL FEEDS! group. They bug me so much that I have eventually unsubscribed from all of them, save for one writer who I love more than cheese and have read for years. I know that she always has something interesting to say, so I'll click through for her only.

[Jess in MA]

Dude, I hate partial feeds. Drives me batty and I usually find myself quitting after a while. I don't have time to read all the marvelous blogs out there as it is, and there are more I am missing. So if someone doesn't give me the whole shebang, I just move on.

Being a marketing/SEO dork I know that lots of people use the partials because they want people to see the ads and other stuff on their websites and blogs. They have my full sympathies, but really I visit these sites and blogs for real occasionally to comment or just check stuff out, so maybe they need to worry less. Also, with the end of the ad-free oasis in readers we're getting our PPC harassment now in that form, too. Oy.

[Mrs. CPA]

How exactly am I supposed to waste time at work with some kind of partial feed BS? I need the full thing! There aren't a whole lot of sites that I can actully access from the feeds because they are blocked. And I can always mark it as unread for when I get home to leave a comment. You partial feeders (or those of you with 500 social network clickes at the bottom in your feed), I unsubscribe and don't have a whole lot of time at night to go back and check out your blog. So it may be that you don't care that I don't read anymore, but I bet there are a lot of poeple feel the same way.

[KimAZ]

Unrelated to RSS feeds: I am a teacher who has been home every summer with 2 kids and not gone crazy! I know! It's actually possible. I have many suggestions for surviving the coming 3 weeks. Shall I e-mail you?

[Erin]

Partial feeds are crappy - a fair bit of my reading gets done at work, and many of my favorite blogs are blocked, whereas my feed reader is not. Sorry!

[sumo]

I don't do feeds, partial or otherwise. I prefer to suckle straight from the teat.

WHAT?

[divrchk]

I used to hate partial feeds but I switched to Firefox and to Google Reader and there is an addon called better greader and it pulls the entire post into the preview pane without opening another tab. Now, I don't really care too much. I'd prefer full feeds but partial ones aren't as bad any more.

[Lindy]

I can't be bothered to comment half the time so partial feeders are SOL. If they expect me to click through just to read a post that might be crap well sorry I'll just skip down to the next one.

[Olivia]

I don't like partial feeds. I'm lazy and don't want to have to make that extra click.

[Rachel]

I'm so glad you talked about partial feeds! My guilt for NEVER SUBSCRIBING TO A PARTIAL FEED has been assuaged!

[Lex]

I love full feeders. My blog full feeds. But I have a blogging for dummy question. How do you know how many people read your feed? I have no idea. I get about 10-20 give or take unique visitors to my site but I have no clue how many people read my feeds.

[Kathy]

I switched to a partial feed after getting my feed scraped. I still got scraped.

To Lex: Something like Feedburner actually tells you how many people are reading your site via your feed.

[missbanshee]

Hate partial feeds, but also hate that Google Reader doesn't have the comment option on the feeds, so I have to transfer over anyway. I felt bad with my last post, though, cause it was super long (but worth it, innernets! Read my blawg!) and I thought people WOULDN'T read the whole thing on RSS. I dunno. I love having the feeds, but maybe I need to get off Google for it.

[mj]

I'm not a frequent blog commenter so I love when full posts are in the reader. I usually click over if I have to, but it always annoys me to have so many tabs open and if I'm in a hurry those are the ones I'll skip, for sure.

[Florencia]

Uuuhmm... what are RSS feeds? Partial or otherwise?

[Gwen]

I am a fan of the full rss. I comment sometimes, but as I try to read around my 3 year old I am not able to comment as much as I would like. I also don't have time to always click over to the site but I still like to read.

[Mercy Project]

HATE partial feeds, I just skip 'em and then unsubscribe when I can finally be bothered with the extra clicks to do THAT...

Good luck with your three weeks of bliss with M!

[7aki Fadi]

I don't subscribe to partial feeds, they are a pain in the butt. And yeah I am a new subscriber.

[Walking With Scissors]

Ok, I made the jump from my nice, warm RSS reader (Google, by the way. Does anyone else use this or am I missing out on some other awesome reader?). I just came to say that I agree 100%. (I'd say 110% but there's no such thing!) Partial feeds suck a$$. I hate them. HATE them. And I do the same as you - scan the first line or two and then move on. So I hope everyone takes your advice and dumps the partial feed!

[Dani]

Call me old fashioned, but I still like visiting my favorite blogs every day. I have Google reader set up, but I rarely check it. I just click, click, click all the way down my blogroll.

Partial... Full... Makes not a bit of difference to me!

[Michelle]

I don't HATE partial feeds, but I do prefer full feeds. I don't wish to sound like I'm complaining because I love me some blogs, and I love reading blogs, but it IS time consuming and I am all for anything that makes such a time consuming habit a little bit easier.

Ultimately, it all comes back to quality content, for me. If I really love a blog, I'll read it whether there's a full, partial, or no feed at all. And I've only been using a feedreader for just a few months, myself. Life has just gotten busier lately and seems to continue to do so, so I'm all over anything that makes life easier.

[Ellynn]

I don't know what a partial feed is. I know, tragic, right? When Sweetney comes up in my reader, I go to every post she writes, almost every day. I have a few that I also do that way. Is there any other way?

[Tricia]

I don't hate partial feeds at all. Of course, the first sentence or so is going to have to grab me or I won't click, but that doesn't make me angry. (I would hate just the headline. Nobody writes headlines that good.)

I do have a question though: I recently started feeling guilty for using a reader because I'm not supporting my favorite blogs with page views. So now I try to remember to click over, even if it's a full feed. Am I missing something here? Are RSS readers hurting bloggers? (I would think they're helping in some ways, because I have about 120 feeds and there's no way I'd remember to visit all those blogs every day.)

[feener]

interesting. i don't HATE them but yes, i won't click from my reader all the time on a partial. how do i even know if i have chosen a partial ??? someone tell me feener44atgmaildotcom

[Karen (miscmum)]

Hate, hate partial feeds.

The only way I ever even give them a chance is if they write a killer title so as I have a slight inkling of what the post will be about. But usually - gah. Even if they're 'big' bloggers.

[whoorl]

I hate partial feeds, yet I have them on both of my sites. I think I am going to switch to full and see what happens.

[Kelley]

I have always had full feeds. Mainly because I am lazy and never thought to change it. But I have a few of readers that have Autism and other disabilities and have said that they find it more comfortable for them to read in their reader than click over to my blog with the distractions of the header, sidebars and other peoples comments... something to ponder.

Oh and I just wanted to beg you, please don't buy M Crocs for day camp. They are stuff of the devil I tellz ya!

[Asha {Parent Hacks}]

Full feeds, all the way. I have a ton of RSS subscribers, and read blogs exclusively via RSS myself. I feel whatever reduction in page views is worth the convenience to my readers. These are the people who care enough to want to read my stuff EVERY DAY. That's an honor.

[melanemac]

I'm an iPhone user and once a colleague introduced me I google reader my life hasn't been the same. I'm able to peruse my blogs freely and in any 5 minutebwondow of time I might have free. Before feeds I only read Tao blogs and only occasionally. Now I have probably fifty feeds that I read all the time. Those that are partial feeds are quickly getting dropped from my list. I don't usually have time to click over. That said I do comment fairly regularly when I have something to say

[Kristabella]

Thank you for writing this! And thanks for switching from the partial feed to the full feed. My work blocks almost all blogs. So all I have during the day is my feed reader. If you have a partial feed, I generally don't read you. I won't go back and click on something to read later. There are a few exceptions, but for the most part I'm all "NEXT!" And this way I get to read you, even if I can't comment all the time. Stupid work expecting me to do actual work.

[Suebob]

A-freaking-men on the partial feeds. When there is a partial feed, I will read the partial feed and that's all. After a while I will get bored and delete the subscription.

[jonniker]

If you're a partial-feeder, I will unlikely not read anything else unless I'm feeling particularly benevolent. And you know what else? If you have a full feed, I will STILL totally click over to your site to comment A LOT OF THE TIME. Like, a WHOLE LOT, so your click-throughs, as you noted, will stay the same anywa. I'll gleefully click through! EVEN IF I DON'T COMMENT, I'll still click through!

It's just that a partial feed leaves me feeling ... well, ooky. I don't like it, the feeling a partial feed gives me. And this, combined with laziness, is why I don't really read many people with a partial feed. This makes me a kind of judgy ass, but there you go.

[Emily]

Full feed! Served and subscribed, baby.

I'm too busy to clickthrough. Srsly.

[misha]

love full reads. if something interests me enough to comment I click on it (see i just did it :)

[Rachael]

YMCA Summer Camp rocks! I went to both the day camp version and the overnight week long version and it was really great, so I am sure yours will have a great time.

I am new to RSS, and think it is about the best thing ever, and I think partial feeds are yucky! It's so annoying to me to have to click over to the website and then go back to my feed reader, and if my browser crashes (love Vista...) or something, I'll lose it because your partial feed was so short that it already marked it as read. This = me not reading your blog.

[BaltimoreGal]

I think you hit a nerve, lady! I know I have mostly followed through/clicked on/commented on full feeds, plus I usually wanna go look at the comments and pictures with a good piece. But it's the "read o'the feed" that draws me in to click on the actual site.

[BaltimoreGal]

OMG- divrchk- Better GReader is the BEST THING EVAR.
Altho I still prefer the big girls and boys who post the full feeds.

[Mama C-ta]

I hate partial feeds too, never bother to click through. Unsubscribed to most of them, even dear friends. With that said, I was a partial feed up until a few weeks ago, mainly b/c I forgot I set it up that way and never think about my feeds b/c there's like 2 subscribers anyway. Good, good post here.

[vague]

I use a full feed myself, but I don't care what other people do, because I use google reader along with reader notifier, which is, like, the most awesome thing ever. It just sits there in your tray thingy and tells you how many unread posts you have. You get the option to open them all in individual tabs, so with only one click you get all the posts opened, on their individual post pages, and you can read them on the original site with comments and everything. I love it.

It wouldn't be useful for those people who mentioned sites being blocked at work (argh to that!), but it is the ultimate lazy way to get all your subscriptions with minimal scrolling and clicking.

[Lara]

I unsubscribed from you when you went on partial feeds...and now I'm back (thank you!).

I do my blog reading in Bloglines and if I only see a partial feed I go "uhhh, I'll come back later", and often I don't and yes, I have eventually unsubscribed from feeds because of it.

I do like visiting the individual sites but I just don't have time...how sad is that?

[Angella]

Um, ditto to everyone above!

I switched to a full feed a few weeks ago, and I AM A WHOLE NEW WOMAN.

I also am now a hater (and deleter) of partial feeds.

[Schnozz]

Unless I know someone personally, I absolutely will not read a partial feed. It's the online equivalent of shoving my head toward your crotch when we're on a date. It's just not polite.

Google Reader gives that little preview of a feed before you commit to subscribing, so if it's partial, I just move on. There so many bloggy fish in the virtual sea that there's generally just no reason to bother.

[bethany actually]

I'm don't hate partial feeds. I understand why some people use them, but I am MUCH less likely to read the whole post and/or comment on a blog that uses partial feeds. My blog has always been full-feed, just because it seemed like the right thing to do.

[Janssen]

Wow, a big amen to everyone who hates the partial feeds. MOST ANNOYING THING EVER.

I will not subscribe to a partial feed anymore. I just won't.

[Backpacking Dad]

If I don't otherwise feel like I have a connection with the blogger who dishes out a partial feed then I don't bother with them. So, for example, Katie (motherbumper) is really responsive and hilarious, so I don't mind clicking over to the site even though she only gives a partial feed.

I'm also a near-compulsive commenter, so even on full feeds I click over anyway.

[Izzy]

I tried the partial feed a long time ago...thought I was all clever and shit. Then when people started complaining, about a year ago, I caved and went to a full feed. My subscribers have more than doubled since then, FWIW. I don't much like the partial feed but if the first few lines are compelling enough, I'll click over. I guess the moral here is if you insist on using partial, better make the beginning of your post VEDDY VEDDY interesting!

[owlhaven]

Thanks for this. You've convinced me to switch to full

mary, mom to many

[magpie]

i like full feeds. but i have no idea how to check how many subscribers i have. i am not enough of a geek.

[Vicki]

I'm late commenting on this, because I just found you but I had to chime in. I can't stand partial feeds and recently purged my reader of all partial feeds. Even from some of the more "famous" bloggers. I just don't have the time.

So, thanks for going full post and being a proponent of it!