Well, hello! I can't believe the responses to this post. You guys had such awesome ideas which I'll recap in a moment.
But first, the stats...
Less than 20.....................................3
More than 20 but less than 50......4
More than 50 but less than 100....6
More than 100.................................2
Tips for blog maintenance (from you readers)
- no carry over to the next day
- mark all as read
- always keep pruning
- if people don't post for a predetermined time (without saying they're away/ on a break), delete
- limit time for reading
- use folders so if you're limited with time, just read favourites
I officially started with 61 (when I wrote that post) and I'm very happy to say I now have only 50. Here's the proof :)
What I learnt
- I seemed to have no trouble deleting feeds of the blogs I only lurk on. This is because they don't know I'm reading so I'm sure they don't care. BTW, some of this lurking is unintentional because I have problems with Typepad and Wordpress blogs, especially those who have comment moderation. So if I really, really want to say something, I email them. I know, I know, it's crazy.
- I seem to have a misguided sense of loyalty on blogs I comment on regularly. Those are definitely very difficult. However, what I've been doing the last couple of months is this: I delete the blog but when I do my usual thing with the memes (MPM, WFMW, and this one), I scan through the participants and look for those blogs I don't have in my reader but do enjoy catching up with. I then click through and read the whole front page, or the posts that interest me.
- I read LOTS of creative blogs (this is my biggest category)! I looked through all of them and did not delete even one because they inspire me!
My folders are named Business, Creative, Cute kids, Still deciding, Friends, Lots of reading (long posts), Organising, Infertility and Memes.
In case you're interested, I like blogs where people live in interesting places. That's how I met Ali (the only blog friend I've ever met...YET) who's in Mocambique. I also read a blog from a lady in Beijing and I've just added someone in Taiwan :)
The blogger with 375 feeds is extremely organised as you'll see when you go read her comment on the other post. So it's not about the number - what can you comfortably control without it taking over your life?
I just cannot mark all as read so I need to have a manageable number. I was happy at 30 to 40 feeds, and now 50 is the new happy medium. When it stretches beyond that, I start twitching (as Barb says ;) ). Incidentally, I counted the blogs I actually comment on regularly and they only number 13 out of the 50!
I like to go through my settings every couple of weeks so that I can check if the blogs are still active, and if I still want to be following them. I start with my Still Deciding folder and then do a quick scan of the rest until it's displaying a number I'm happy about.
What is your comfortable number? How many blogs do you comment on regularly?
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4 comments:
I regularly comment on 5-6 blogs, yours included of course :)
I found your blog via a comment you left on Org Junkie's blog about the upcoming organizing contest. I'm so glad I followed your link! Can't wait to keep browsing through your archives. Your guest poster on this page had fantastic ideas and I love the muffin tin organizer. GREAT stuff! Thanks!
I have left comments on most all of my 80 subscriptions at one point or another, but I would say that about 10 or so of them are as a form of social communication... (does that make sense?) The other percentage are actually "comments on the post".
I also wanted to say that I never delete subscriptions if they haven't posted in a long time.... #1. It costs me no time in Google Reader if they aren't posting, and #2. I never know what I might miss if/when they come back from long illness or whatever was keeping them away... I have seen that happen a few times now - people come back from hiatus and start a really good blog back up again after a death in the family, etc, and I would have missed it due to deletion. But, thats just my opinion.
Thanks for a great topic, really useful information on something we all are interested in! :)
Ali, thanks - I do appreciate it!
Melonie - I'm so glad you found me. Yes, I also enjoyed Beth's post very much. I love anything to do with planning :)
Dawnie - you raise a very valid point. Usually if someone hasn't updated their blog for a month, I send an email if I've commented before to say "is everything okay?". I can see you're a social butterfly and you love the social side of blogging :)
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