Do you ever feel disillusioned by a particular blog?
Not mine of course. Mine is perfect - that’s a given (*smirk*)
Google Reader is my friend and I admit, at times I get a bit snap-happy with all the RSS subscribin’ as I travel around Bloggityville. Current subscription count? One hundred and sixty-one. Number of posts I actually open up to read? Perhaps a third. Hmmm.
I have a system for managing blogs in Google Reader. It involves multiple folders - Big Name, General, Organizing, Homemaking, Frugality… (I’m a nerd. It helps). When I see a new blog that I might/possibly/could read again, I’ll subscribe but I will leave them in the regular list without assigning them to a folder. Only when I have read and enjoyed them throughout a ‘trial period’ will I put them into a folder. The end result is a hodge podge of folders, loose blogs and guilt for not reading half of what I’m subscribed to.
The problem, I think, is that there is SO MUCH good content out there and SO LITTLE TIME in which to read it. My general ethos tends to be, if five cool homemaking sites are great, then wouldn’t 20 in the same genre be awesome? I follow plenty of big name bloggers just like the next gal - the likes of Big Mama, BooMama, Fried Okra, Like Merchant Ships, Scribbit, Rocks In My Dryer and so forth (by the way, the term ‘big name’ is highly subjective and relates only to my own filtering system) and I’m completely loyal, usually devouring every word.
But what happens when one of the blogs you’ve loved and supported (subscribed to, commented on) starts to fall short?
Does anyone else get the guilts like I do?
It’s likely that I will unsubscribe to this particular site and they will not even feel the smallest ripple in Bloggityville over my departure. I’m fine with that. There are other REALLY big name bloggers who I have never been able to subscribe to for personal or ethical reasons - I was reading through the archives of one in particular over a year ago and came up against a flat-out, deal-off reason to avoid returning. The site was completely fantastic and this one point was mentioned only sporadically, but I knew if I continued to read and support (subscribe to) her that I would be living a double standard. I am probably the only person in the known universe who does not subscribe to this site, by the way.
So, ethics and blogging. In my 161 subscriptions (which, immediately after posting this, will be pared back considerably),I rarely come up against something that shocks me. It is a given that you’ll only ever subscribe to sites which you personally identify with on some level so this is hardly suprising. The problem for me comes when I subscribe to a site based on one awesome aspect and then get blindsided by the blogger’s views on other issues, as is the case with the site I am about to unsubscribe from. Do you stay, and employ some sort of internal filter to ignore the icky parts (as I have done for a while now) because you really don’t want to lose access to the ‘good stuff’? The second blogger, Ms Big-Name-Point-of-Contention, is also in this category for me. But since the particular ’thing’ was a personal deal-breaker, the issue took care of it self. The first blogger, Ms Soon-To-Unsubscribe-From, is a little less clear cut. I have felt this way for some time but have held back because the issue at heart didn’t result in as strong of a reaction in me. But lately, I’ve noticed a bit of repetitive posting. Couple that with clashing viewpoints and that’s pretty much tied it up in a bow for me.
I’d love to hear others’ viewpoints on this. Specifically, how many blogs do you follow through Google Reader or Bloglines, are you discerning about subscribing right from the get-go (or do you do what I do, and kind of subscribe then ‘wait and see’),and are you plenty happy to click on ‘Unsubscribe’ when you begin to question whether you’re getting anything interesting out of the deal? What would be a deal-breaker issue for you in the bloggy-subscription world?
Update: After a mammoth Google Reader declutter session I am now sitting at 108 subscriptions with five ‘on notice’ and twelve ‘new blogs to watch’. Taking those into account I think I did pretty good - I’m going to set a 100 blog limit. And you know what? It felt GOOD. Challenge extended…
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