I have switched my RSS feeds to “summary.”
Annie and some others have been writing about having their posts “stolen” and used for content at fake forums. Evidently sites like this use a subscription to your RSS feed to publish your content and pretend that it’s their own. The object is to get search engine hits to a site that is selling stuff.
I haven’t seen this happen to me, but as a preventative measure I decided to join the trend and go with the summary instead of the full post.
I have mixed feelings about doing this because I read a lot of posts in a RSS reader myself. So if the switch inconveniences you let me know.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about go read up on it starting with this.
Comments (4)
Yes, but then your readers have to suffer for someone else’s stupidity. This is why I continue to publish full feeds. Why make the good folks go through extra hassle to read your stuff?
Douglas
I disagree with Doug. Although there are some sites I skim over the summaries to see if there is anything that make me want to click-through to read (just like skimming headlines in a newspaper), I always go to the actual sites to read my favorites, like you. In fact, I so associate each site layout with each person that when someone updates his theme, I feel a bit off-balanced.
I feel that my favorite bloggers are “worth it” to read in the original format. A site is not just the words but the layout, the sidebar links, and the photos. I hope my site is worth a click-through, too. And if someone doesn’t think so…well that’s the beauty of this kind of publishing. I’d prefer to lose a few casual readers to having my words used to front porn sites.
The funny thing about this is that all “experts” in the field of publishing all recommend blogging with a full feed and caution against shortening your feed because you’ll lose subscribers. I’ve actually gained some since I shortened mine and have realized I’ll have to learn to write attention grabbing titles.
I’m late to this comment, but you should always do what works for you. I’ve had this issue before myself.
If a person won’t read your stuff because they have to click through to your site, ask yourself something: are they worth keeping?
Your site loads fast, with not a lot of garbage to slow it down. It is not a hardship to click through.